PL2305 parallel port adapter doesn't work

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1

Hello, I’ve an old (and robust) HP LaserJet 6L connected via an USB to Parallel adapter.

In Windows it works fine but when I boot the computer in Linux, although it detects it, when I try to send a test page nothing arrives to the printer.

This is the adapter it uses:

[JFP@JFPySRM-T410 ~]$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 17ef:480f Lenovo Integrated Webcam [R5U877]
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0a5c:217f Broadcom Corp. BCM2045B (BDC-2.1)
Bus 002 Device 007: ID 03f0:0324 HP, Inc SK-2885 keyboard
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 067b:2305 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2305 Parallel Port
Bus 002 Device 010: ID 04b3:3107 IBM Corp. ThinkPad 800dpi Optical Travel Mouse
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
[JFP@JFPySRM-T410 ~]$ lsusb -t
/: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/3p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/6p, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 10, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M
|__ Port 2: Dev 6, If 0, Class=Printer, Driver=usbfs, 12M
|__ Port 3: Dev 7, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M
|__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 3, Class=Application Specific Interface, Driver=, 12M
|__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 1, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
|__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 2, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=, 12M
|__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
|__ Port 6: Dev 5, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
|__ Port 6: Dev 5, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/3p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/8p, 480M
[JFP@JFPySRM-T410 ~]$

Any ideas?

2

I’m no guru so take all this with a block of salt. I too use an older port, but that was a serial port and to make it work I had to install a device-serial-port package. However that doesn’t apply to you since that was for Perl. But it may indicate that you need to install or activate/setup some parallel port device. Looking around I found Parport which seems to be included in the linux kernel, so maybe also in Almalinux. Look at

https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/parport.html
https://docs.kernel.org/6.12/driver-api/parport-lowlevel.html

To read more on that. I did not dig into it all yet.

It may also be as easy as re-running your printer installation software on the Alma box. I had to do this for an HP even though it was wired.