Chapter 6 Bidirectional Parallel Port Printer Test (bpptest)

bpptest verifies the functionality of the bidirectional parallel port. SBus printer cards have two printer ports: one for any SPARCprinter(TM) device and one for a parallel port printer.

The bpptest verifies that your SBus card and its parallel port are working properly by attempting to transfer a data pattern from the SBus card to the printer.

Two indications show that the card and printer are functioning properly: First, you can see from the SunVTS Status window that bpptest made a successful pass, and second, that the pattern transmitted to the printer printed correctly.

If the bpptest passes successfully, you know that the SBus DMA circuitry, the printer, and the device driver are functioning properly.

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Note -

Large PostScript^TM files or raster files may require that the printer has 2 Mbytes or more of memory. Otherwise, the printout may appear on two different sheets of paper.

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bpptest Hardware and Software Requirements

The SBus printer card and device drivers must be installed to run bpptest. A printer must be connected to the SPARCprinter or bidirectional parallel port, and be powered-up. If both a SPARCprinter and a parallel port printer are connected to the SBus card, you can test both devices at the same time.

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Note -

For a SPARCstation 10, SPARCstation LX, or SPARCclassic^TM system, you can connect a printer directly to the onboard parallel port to run bpptest.

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If you are testing the SPARCprinter port, be sure the magnets on the SPARCprinter paper tray are set to the correct paper size. For more information, see the SPARCprinter Installation and User's Guide and the label on the paper tray.

bpptest Options

To reach the dialog box below, right-click on the test name in the System Map and select Test Parameter Options. If you do not see this test in the System Map, you might need to expand the collapsed groups, or your system may not include the device appropriate to this test. Refer to the SunVTS User's Guide for more details.

Figure 6-1 bpptest Test Parameter Options Dialog Box

Table 6-1 bpptest Options

Option	Description
Access	Determines the direction of data transfer; this field is informational only. Writeonly is the only option currently available. Data is transferred only from the SBus printer card to the printer.
Mode	Sets the print intervals. This option lets you select the intervals at which the test image is printed. The default setting is fast. In the online and Functional tests this option is set to medium. In the Functional test, the choices are:   Fast--prints an image every 10 seconds. Medium--prints an image every 12 minutes. Extended--prints an image every 30 minutes.

bpptest Test Modes

This test supports Connection and Functional test modes.

Table 6-2 bpptest Test Modes

Test Mode	Supported?	Description
Connection	Yes	In this mode, bpptest verifies that a bidirectional parallel port is configured on the system. The success of the bpptest in this mode indicates that the bidirectional parallel port hardware and the software driver are installed on the system.
Functional  (Offline)	Yes	The testing done in this mode registers a failure if the port is found busy. This is because SunVTS tests make the assumption that all the resources will be available for testing in the Functional test and therefore the unavailability of the device is interpreted as an indication of a fault condition.

bpptest Command-Line Syntax

/opt/SUNWvts/bin/bpptest standard_arguments -o dev=device_name,access=writeonly|readonly,mode=mode

Table 6-3 bpptest Command-Line Syntax

Argument Description
dev=device_name	Specifies the name of the device. This should be of the form /dev/bpp#, where # is the minor number of the device.
access=writeonly|readonly	Determines test mode: writeonly or readonly. Note: This flag is mandatory.
mode=mode	Sets the test image print rate. The test image is a continuous printout of the ASCII character set. Possible rates are: Fast--prints the test image at 10-second intervals. Medium--prints the test image at 12-minute intervals. Extended--prints the test image at 30-minute intervals.

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Note -

64-bit tests are located in the sparcv9 subdirectory: /opt/SUNWvts/bin/sparcv9/testname. If a test is not present in this directory, then it may only be available as a 32-bit test. For more information refer to "32-Bit and 64-Bit Tests".

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