chunker
is used to communicate with the pen plotter.
It gets around the plotters 60 byte buffer, by taking in a file of HP-GL commands, and sending each one to the plotter punctuated by a OA
command, then waiting to send the next command to the plotter until a response has been received. This allows sending large files to the plotter without overflowing the internal buffer.
To use chunker
:
- Run
cargo build
- You many need to install
libudev-dev
or a similar package if it fails to build - Run
sudo ./target/debug/chunker ~/path/to/your/hpgl/file
And your file should print!
If you're using a Mac, install this driver and check that the file /dev/tty.usbserial
exists when the serial cable is plugged in, in order to make sure it installed correctly.
The program tries to automatically choose the serial device if only one of /dev/ttyUSB*
and /dev/tty.usbserial
exist, but you can also specify the serial device on the command line if you'd like.
You'll probably need to be root or use sudo
to access the serial port by default, but you should be able to add your user to the dialout
group to fix this - sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
should get you all set up :)
If you run into mysterious problems, try disconnecting and reconnecting the plotter before running the chunker
command.