Parallel port and Copy protection

[John Temples]

In article <1991Jan13.054159.5184 at cbnewsh.att.com> dck at cbnewsh.att.com (david.c.kwong) writes:
>Has anybody solved the problem with DOS applications that
>talk to the parallel port to satisfy their copy protection
>scheme (they have a connector that you plug into the port)?

>	Does anybody know about this DDA
>	feature, which is supposed to allow a DOS appl
>	to talk directly to the physical HW?

They're related.  I've gotten printer port copy protection devices
("dongles") to work under VP/ix using the DDA feature.  It's been a
while since I've done this, but here are the steps as I remember
them.  I didn't have a printer attached to this port, only the
dongle; so I'm not sure what needs to be done differently if you have
a printer attached (if it can be made to work at all).  Since you're
DDAing the printer port, I doubt UNIX will be able to access it while
you're in VP/ix.

1. Edit /usr/vpix/etc/vpixdevs and comment out PLEL1 if you're using
   LPT1 or PLEL2 if you're using LPT2.

2. Run 'sysadm ddainstall'.  This will take you through the DDA
   installation.  Use the same I/O range as is specified in the PLEL
   line you commented out.  Don't specify an IRQ.

3. Add a line to your ~/vpix/vpix.cnf file containing the name of the 
   device you added in step 2.  Make sure the corresponding LPT
   device is commented out of vpix.cnf.

When you start VP/ix, your application should now be able to see the
dongle.
-- 
John W. Temples -- john at jwt.UUCP (uunet!jwt!john)