tipar.txt 2.8 KB

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  1. Parallel link cable for Texas Instruments handhelds
  2. ===================================================
  3. Author: Romain Lievin
  4. Homepage: http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tidev/index.html
  5. INTRODUCTION:
  6. This is a driver for the very common home-made parallel link cable, a cable
  7. designed for connecting TI8x/9x graphing calculators (handhelds) to a computer
  8. or workstation (Alpha, Sparc). Given that driver is built on parport, the
  9. parallel port abstraction layer, this driver is architecture-independent.
  10. It can also be used with another device plugged on the same port (such as a
  11. ZIP drive). I have a 100MB ZIP and both of them work fine!
  12. If you need more information, please visit the 'TI drivers' homepage at the URL
  13. above.
  14. WHAT YOU NEED:
  15. A TI calculator and a program capable of communicating with your calculator.
  16. TiLP will work for sure (since I am its developer!). yal92 may be able to use
  17. it by changing tidev for tipar (may require some hacking...).
  18. HOW TO USE IT:
  19. You must have first compiled parport support (CONFIG_PARPORT_DEV): either
  20. compiled in your kernel, either as a module.
  21. Next, (as root):
  22. modprobe parport
  23. modprobe tipar
  24. If it is not already there (it usually is), create the device:
  25. mknod /dev/tipar0 c 115 0
  26. mknod /dev/tipar1 c 115 1
  27. mknod /dev/tipar2 c 115 2
  28. You will have to set permissions on this device to allow you to read/write
  29. from it:
  30. chmod 666 /dev/tipar[0..2]
  31. Now you are ready to run a linking program such as TiLP. Be sure to configure
  32. it properly (RTFM).
  33. MODULE PARAMETERS:
  34. You can set these with: modprobe tipar NAME=VALUE
  35. There is currently no way to set these on a per-cable basis.
  36. NAME: timeout
  37. TYPE: integer
  38. DEFAULT: 15
  39. DESC: Timeout value in tenth of seconds. If no data is available once this
  40. time has expired then the driver will return with a timeout error.
  41. NAME: delay
  42. TYPE: integer
  43. DEFAULT: 10
  44. DESC: Inter-bit delay in micro-seconds. A lower value gives an higher data
  45. rate but makes transmission less reliable.
  46. These parameters can be changed at run time by any program via ioctl(2) calls
  47. as listed in ./include/linux/ticable.h.
  48. Rather than write 50 pages describing the ioctl() and so on, it is
  49. perhaps more useful you look at ticables library (dev_link.c) that demonstrates
  50. how to use them, and demonstrates the features of the driver. This is
  51. probably a lot more useful to people interested in writing applications
  52. that will be using this driver.
  53. QUIRKS/BUGS:
  54. None.
  55. HOW TO CONTACT US:
  56. You can email me at roms@lpg.ticalc.org. Please prefix the subject line
  57. with "TIPAR: " so that I am certain to notice your message.
  58. You can also mail JB at jb@jblache.org. He packaged these drivers for Debian.
  59. CREDITS:
  60. The code is based on tidev.c & parport.c.
  61. The driver has been developed independently of Texas Instruments.