[lug] kernel 2.2.17, no parallel port!?

[Archer Sully]

Hi y'all,

I've got a problem on my little HP Pavilion (300Mhz K6-2 + SiS) that's
really vexing me.  

Background:  I'm trying to set things up so that my wife can print 
from her Mac to my Lexmark Optra E312.  Problem:  netatalk was giving
me incredible grief on kernel 2.2.16-3 (ethernet card is some sort
of tulip, I forget which).  After bashing my head against that off and
on for a couple days, I tried switching to 2.2.17.  Which was great!
Netatalk worked.  However, now my parallel port has gone missing!

So far, I have tried the parallel port as a module and as a linked
in driver.  Nothing works.  And yet, on 2.2.16-3, its fine.

On the other front, 2.2.16-3 absolutely refuses to see appletalk 
packets on the wire, although 2.2.17 does.  I have confirmed that
tulip.c is identical in both kernels, so that's not the problem.
I still haven't put a packet sniffer on, but I'm not sure I want
to blow that much more time.  

Maybe I should just use CAP on 2.2.16.  I've at least had success
with CAP, even thought it is a total pain.

TIA for any help and/or suggestions.  And don't forget the "did
you plug the computer in" level of help ;-).

Archer Sully
Boulder, CO