Alvin Penner wrote:
I am not quite sure exactly how to put this, but given the fact that theVidar script appears to run well on non-Windows platforms, and since it is already written in a cross-platform language like Python, would it not be worthwhile to try to run it on a Windows platform? My impression of the previous thread on cutting plotters was not so much that this could not be done, but rather a case that no one has actually tried to do it, including myself ...
Alvin
Hi Alvin...
Thank you for your feedback. So, evidently, you haven't dealt with the usual sort who own CC200-20, CC100-20 or WB100-20 plotters, eh :-)?
I tried to explain the Python install process (BTW, you need GLADE for the GUI as well as a Python interpreter for the graphtecprint application) to some of these people. I could only imagine the blank looks I was getting (internet has a way of filtering that out).
On top of that, the windows USB development driver paradigm is just plain awful. If you are not starting with an HID type USB device you better hope the people marketing the USB hardware have already done the work for you. That's where the WB100-20 fails. I don't believe the company marketing this device is willing to support it into Vista.
Perhaps I should explain. In Linux, this USB device appears in /dev as soon as it is plugged in because it is recognized as a USB-printer device. Using this plotter in Linux is as simple as opening the USB device and writing to it. In windows the CC200-20/CC100-20 driver doesn't work with the WB100-20 plotter (stike 1) -and- the WB100-20 driver apparently does not work in Vista (strike 2). So, if you spent $100s on a WB100-20 plotter maybe 3 years ago, and now you can only buy Vista computers, I think your out of luck.
Currently I am hoping that using a generic text only USB printer driver in conjunction with a port of graphtecprint will be enough to get inkscape images out to the plotter.
...thanks