> Yes, I know this. It's just a question if it (the ZIP drive for example) is
> an IEEE1284 compatible device and is detected via the device detection
> according to the IEEE standard.
It's not. Nor, as I understand things, are most of the parallel-port
based drives.
> Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought Windows allows you to
> use a ZIP drive and a parallel printer on the same port. At the moment this
Yes.
> is not possible with Linux, as I know. But it would be nice if the kernel
> auto-detects other hardware, for example the ZIP drive, or a parallel CD-ROM
> - I saw a driver for this too - and blocks the use as normal printer port or
> gives you a small hint.
>
> I just would like to now if the ZIP drive or other hardware are returning a
> "device id" like the HP printers do. Therefore my first posting was a little
> bit misleading. I'm sorry about it.
What you want is probably the `parport' sharing project. In fact the next
release of this will have your IEEE1284 code incorporated. Take a look at
http://www.cyberelk.demon.co.uk/. This provides facilities to share one
port between many devices, as well as `plug and play' support and
autodetection of port capabilities.
phil