The Parallel Port: Device ID


In order to identify a peripheral, the host wants a device ID from the peripheral. This ID is sent just after the negotiation phase by the peripheral, if the host has requested it. The device ID is sent using the negotiated mode.

The device ID has variable size, so the first two bytes, transferred to the host high byte first, gives the size of the device ID in bytes, including the two size bytes.

A string of attribute value pairs follows. Each pair ends with a semicolon (;) (thus the device ID always ends with a semicolon).

The key and the value are separated by a colon (:).

The following keys are defined. Some keys have an abbreviated alternative name.

Key Abbrev. Description
CLASS CLS

The device's class. The following classes may occur as a value:

PRINTER Printer
MODEM Modem
NET Network device
HDC Hard disk
PCMCIA PCMCIA
MEDIA Multimedia device
FDC Floppy disk
PORTS Ports
SCANNER Scanner
DIGICAM Digital camera
SCSIADAPTER SCSI adapter

Other classes are vendor specific.

MANUFACTURER MFG The name of the manufacturer of the device
MODEL MDL The model name of the device (plain, without the manufacturer ID)
REV revision (may be proprietary)
COMMAND SET CMD A command (,) separated list of languages the device speaks. For example, printers may speak: PCL, PJL, MCL, PML, POSTSCRIPT, PS,...
DESCRIPTION DES For the user: a concise description of the device
SERN SN serial number (may be proprietary)
CID probably Windos stuff

There are more keys that are typical use, but I do not know the precise definition: 1284.3M, 1284.4DL

Example

Index

January 14th, 2013
Comments? Suggestions? Corrections? You can drop me a line.
zpentrabvagiktu@theiling.de
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