Parallel port... again...

[patdef]

So I try which seem to me the most "standard" configuration from the previous message in this thread :

<LPT>
<Port slot="0" enabled="true" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="5" path="/dev/parport0"/>
<Port slot="1" enabled="false" IOBase="0x378" IRQ="4"/>
</LPT>

With the following command :

VBoxManage setextradata WinXP_20120327_0950 "VBoxInternal/Devices/parallel/0/Config/IRQ" 5
VBoxManage setextradata WinXP_20120327_0950 "VBoxInternal/Devices/parallel/0/Config/IOBase" 0x378
VBoxManage setextradata WinXP_20120327_0950 "VBoxInternal/Devices/parallel/0/LUN#0/Driver" HostParallel
VBoxManage setextradata WinXP_20120327_0950 "VBoxInternal/Devices/parallel/0/LUN#0/Config/DevicePath" /dev/parport0


But my dongle is always not responding to the sentinel key driver... Can I really expected it should work ? Or is it definitively not done for that purpose ?

Thanks for all your advice mpark and Perryg.

[mpack]

There can be no guarantees that a particular parallel device will work. If it's very fussy about timing, say for example a JTAG flash programmer, then I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work. Obviously the implementation details of software protection dongles are not widely published, but no that would not surprise me either.

Edit:  However, if you have an LED breakout box attached to the port then I would expect you to be able to see transmit activity on the port, provided you are configured as discussed here, and not blocked at the host level as Perry describes below.

[Perryg]

I agree with Don here but there is one more thing that you should check. See if this is getting blocked by the host. You should be able to check this using standard Linux testing. Is the user part of the lp group and lpadmin group as an example.

[patdef]

Yes, my user is part of the lp and lpadmin group. And by security, I made a chmod 666 /dev/parport0, remove lp module, and stop the cups daemon.

But how can I test the port access from the host. I try this : cat WinXP_20120327_0950.vbox > /dev/parport0
But the system complains about cat: write error: Invalid argument

I haven't any printer to connect to this port, only a dongle, and leds to see the various state of the parallel port. I connect one led between data0 and ground, and can see it blinking on a regular XP installation on key access. But nothing happen on my virtual XP.

[patdef]

So, I write a little program to test le parallel port on the host, and I check I can write what I want on the port. The problem is not on the host.
I haven't any hope to get my dongle working on XP using VirtualBox. So sad...

[klaus]

At the time this thread was active, VirtualBox did NOT have bidirectional parallel port support, which I guess the software for talking to the dongle is silently expecting. This has been changed (for Windows and Linux hosts) a while ago, but it has limitations. It implements "old style" bidirectional parallel port support and does not support the 'high speed' EPP or ECP modes.