can't copy to /dev/parport0

[Steve Kleene <skdeb@syrano.acb.uc.edu>]

I've successfully installed VMware Server 1.0.2-39867 on my Etch machine (as
host) with the help of the any-any-update109 patch.  To print to my parallel
printer, the VMware virtual machine needs the ppdev and parport_pc modules
loaded in Linux, and they are.  It also requires that the lp module not be
loaded.  (This is all in the VMware manual.)  When I set all that up, the
virtual machine prints fine.

I have a problem, though, because I have Linux programs I like that print to
/dev/lp0 and require the lp module to be loaded.  So now they fail.  I
thought I might just recompile them to use /dev/parport0, but that failed.  I
can copy the console to /dev/lp0 and see it print (if lp is loaded).  But
when I try "cat > /dev/parport0", I get

    cat: write error: Invalid argument

with or without lp loaded.

Should I be able to copy to /dev/parport0?  If not, how can I copy to the
parallel port without having lp loaded?

A minor question is also how lp gets loaded.  It's now in /etc/modules.conf.

Thanks.  My kernel is 2.6.18-4-686.