Plotter Swiss-army-knife

python2 on newer linux machine

it is recommended to use python2 with chiplotle.

however python2 is removed from newer version of ubuntu and difficult to install but you can use "miniconda" for that

to switch to a python2 venv with miniconda you

conda env list 
conda activate plotter

make sure you have python2 or install it with 

sudo apt-get install python2

then the easiest to to create a virtual environement with python 2 installed

for this we need to intall virtualenv

sudo apt-get install virtualenv

here I create a virtual environement that I choose to call plotter

virtualenv -p python2 plotter

then I activate the virtualenv

. plotter/bin/activate

install chiplotle on it

 pip install chiplotle

with python3

(to be written)

plotter connection

Connect the plotter via USB to your laptop and turn it on. It should be in /dev/ttyUSB0, or somewhere similar (e.g. /dev/tty/USB1). Run:

chiplotle

It will ask to create a directory on your laptop; hit enter to continue, then enter again to go into interactive shell. If you get error “no plotter found” when starting chiplotle, exit chiplotle to get back to the bash terminal:

exit()

To change permissions so daily user can write to plotter:

sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB0

Or to avoid doing this every time plotter is plugged in, add daily user to group “dialout”. Now restart chiplotle: 

chiplotle

Choose the plotter that best fits your hardware. When in doubt choose the generic “Plotter”.

[0] DPX2000
[1] DPX3300
[2] DXY1300
[3] DXY880
[4] HP7475A
[5] HP7550A
[6] HP7575A
[7] HP7576A
[8] HP7585B
[9] HP7595A
[10] HP7596A
[11] Plotter

OSP’s plotter “Roland” is a DXY-1100, so type 2 and press Enter.

to plot a hpgl file

chiplotle> plotter.write_file('my_file.hpgl')

Then folklow the documentation on how to use a plotter some documentation links: