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Enabling StarTech PEXIP2 Parallel Port Card (AX99100)

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23 Jun 2022 02:23 #245645 by longtimer
Sorry if this is the wrong location. I was not sure on the appropriate one.

I have been trying to get a parallel port card that works with LinuxCNC and finally purchased the StarTech PEXIP2 PCIE card thinking that it would work based on the following posts:

forum.linuxcnc.org/42-deutsch/43693-para...-treiber-instalieren
forum.linuxcnc.org/24-hal-components/459...d-but-stepconf-works

Unfortunately, I am not sure what I am missing and the card is not working.

I am using the latest version of LinuxCNC
Linux cnc 4.19.0-17-rt-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT RT Debian 4.19.194-3 (2021-07-18) x86_64 GNU/Linux

When I run 'lspci -k', I get the following indicating that no drivers or kernel modules were loaded for it so I think that this is the core issue:
02:00.2 Parallel controller: Asix Electronics Corporation Device 9100
        Subsystem: Device a000:2000

Likewise, listing /dev shows no parportX entries.

When I run 'lspci -v', I get: 
02:00.2 Parallel controller: Asix Electronics Corporation Device 9100 (prog-if 03 [IEEE1284])
        Subsystem: Device a000:2000
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 7, NUMA node 0
        I/O ports at d880
        I/O ports at d800
        Memory at feafd000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Memory at feafc000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>

As per the first link to the linuxcnc forums above, there is a zip file with make files and code for the driver. However, it is dependent on the contents of /lib/modules/4.19.0-17-rt-amd64/build/ and I am not sure which source to download or if it was required based on the forum posts mentioned above. It didn't seem like a build was ultimately required.

Any suggestions on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason

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23 Jun 2022 11:05 #245665 by tommylight
Use "sudo" in front of lspci to see the drivers in use.

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23 Jun 2022 14:52 #245683 by longtimer
Thanks for the reply. I see that I did not run the second command as root user. However the first command was run as root and the list of kernel drivers/modules is empty - 'lspci -v' gives only the following:

02:00.2 Parallel controller: Asix Electronics Corporation Device 9100 (prog-if 03 [IEEE1284])
Subsystem: Device a000:2000
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 7, NUMA node 0
I/O ports at d880
I/O ports at d800
Memory at feafd000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Memory at feafc000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/8 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [78] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [80] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting

In contrast, I can see kernel modules and drivers for the USB, video, audio, etc.

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23 Jun 2022 15:19 #245689 by tommylight
In hal
loadrt parport "0xd880 out"
Should do the trick, if it does not change to 0xd800 and reboot the pc.
Although not listing the driver is strange, it still might work, but you never know without testing, so test with something attached to it.

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23 Jun 2022 16:00 #245695 by longtimer
I tried changing from
loadrt hal_parport cfg="0 out"
to
both options
loadrt parport cfg="0xd800 out"
and then
loadrt parport cfg="0xd880 out"
but it gave me the following: parport: dlopen: /usr/lib/linuxcnc/modules/parport.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
so I reverted back to options
loadrt hal_parport cfg="0xd800 out"
and then
loadrt parport cfg="0xd880 out"
but no success.

Is it likely that I have to build a driver? If so, where would I pull the kernel headers from for this distribution?

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23 Jun 2022 16:19 #245698 by tommylight
sudo modprobe parport
?

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23 Jun 2022 16:31 #245699 by longtimer
modprobe parport returns nothing

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23 Jun 2022 17:32 - 23 Jun 2022 17:34 #245705 by tommylight
That is OK, if it did something would be off.
Did you do another lspci or cat after running modprobe?
Edit:
or did you try running LinuxCNC after?
Last edit: 23 Jun 2022 17:34 by tommylight. Reason: more info

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23 Jun 2022 18:03 #245709 by longtimer
I did try running with 0xd800 and 0xd880 addresses individually in the hal without success following the 'modprobe parport' commend. In both cases, the same complaint came that there was no parallel port at that address. I know that the parallel port has some output because whenever I reboot the computer, I can hear the servos click momentarily. That doesn't happen if the parallel port cable is not connected.

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23 Jun 2022 18:12 #245711 by tommylight

I know that the parallel port has some output because whenever I reboot the computer, I can hear the servos click momentarily. That doesn't happen if the parallel port cable is not connected.

I would not bet on it, it can be due to outputs getting tied to ground on boot.
If it is happening after say a second or two of pressing the power button, that would be more promising.

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