Fast parallel driver for Unix/Xenix AT?

[Bill Campbell]

In article <256ADBB5.19093 at ateng.com> chip at ateng.com (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
>SCO Xenix, like all AT Unixen, is shipped with a driver for IBM parallel
>ports.  Unfortunately, at least with SCO Xenix, the parallel driver uses the
>internal kernel data structures (clists) intended for use with serial lines.
>The use of clists lowers the speed of parallel to something far slower than
>the hardware could support otherwise.

There are problems with slow printing from Xenix with Tandy
printers in particular.  Most of these problems can be solved by
using the Tandy printer cables (they have some non-standard
crossovers).  There is also a patch to Xenix available from Tandy
to help speed up the printer.

Without the Tandy cables on Tandy printers the drivers shift into
a polling mode and the resulting print seems to have about a
half-second timeout between lines.

Another thing that will eliminate the problem is to use an
intermediate smart printer switch such as the $99.95 intelligent
switch from Tandy.
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