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