This is probably a dumb question but I can't find an answer to it.

I built uisp, a linux program for programming atmel controllers.
The NetBSD lpa/lpt won't open without proper handshake on the
parallel port (apparently).

How does one open the parallel port to directly control it without
expecting printer handshake?

$ uisp -v -dlpt=/dev/lpa0 -dprog=maxi --wr_fuse_l=0xda
/dev/lpa0: Device busy
Failed to open ppdev.

(url2pkg)
------------------
DISTNAME=               uisp-20021201
CATEGORIES=             devel
MASTER_SITES=           http://savannah.nongnu.org/download/uisp/

MAINTAINER=             mlh@goathill.org
HOMEPAGE=               http://savannah.nongnu.org/download/uisp/
COMMENT=                program atmel controllers

GNU_CONFIGURE=  YES

.include "../../mk/bsd.pkg.mk"
------------------