Re: Zip 100 parallel + Fedora [newbie warning]

From: Kamus of Kadizhar (yan_at_NsOeSiPnAeMr.com)
Date: 01/09/04 

Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 05:53:41 -0500

On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 10:04:50 +0000, Tom *** wrote:

> Thanks everyone - clearly I am going to have to learn a lot more
> about Linux before attempting this! Never mind. :)

It sounds far, far more complicated than it is. There are no 'drivers' in
linux, instead you have 'modules'. Each module does one specific thing.
So, in order to achieve what you want, you need to chain multiple modules.

The modules are not external but typically come pre-built with the kernel.

In your case, you need a module to talk to the drive hanging off the
parallel port, and then you need a second module to tell the system how to
talk to the first module. It makes sense to do it this way. The first
module simply speaks the often proprietary language of the device, and
traslates to a universal language. The second module then takes that, and
makes it look like the computer is talking to a hard drive.

Thus, all sorts of things look like hard drives - USB cameras, parport
cdroms, etc. It makes things simple in the long run.

You can then mount the device like any other drive.

There is a huge learning curve at first - it seems like everthing you get
into requires you to learn ten other things first. But the beauty is that
once you learn it, the process remains the same, only the names of the
first module change.

So, when the time comes to mount your USB camera, you will use the exact
same technique, just change the name of the modules..... No learning
curve there anymore.

Far, far, far, FAR easier than the cacophony of windows, where you have to
download a driver from a website, then wade through an installer, and if
something breaks, you're screwed. (I know whereof I speak, my Windows
installation 'destabilized' itself over the holidays. After 3 days of
work, I've thrown up my hands and started over. Never had that happen
with any linux.....)

-Kamus 

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