Roland iModela - t-oster/VisiCut GitHub Wiki

We are working on a new driver for the Roland iModela mill. If you want to test, please follow the steps

Change the Input Format

To make the mill work with VisiCut, you first have to change the input format to N-Code:
In Windows, open iModela Controller
Click on Setup
Select N-Code as Format

* The driver is not yet in the develop-version, so you need to download the feature-imodela build: (http://137.226.142.25:5080/wwwshare/VisiCutNightly/feature-imodela)

Right now, you need a Linux/Unix computer to work with the mill.
Plug in the mill and check the output of dmesg to see if a device like /dev/usb/lp0 is added.
Check the access rights (e.g. ls -l /dev/usb/lp0). Probably the group is set to lp, so you need to be in the lp-group to have access (use gpasswd -a <username> lp and log out and in again).
In VisiCut, add a new Lasercutter, use the iModela driver and as hostname enter file:///dev/usb/lp0, depending on which device was added in the previous step
Hint for debugging and developing: You can use any file-URI, so you can read the G-Code which is generated, before sending it manually to the mill with cat somefile.ngc > /dev/usb/lp0
Should work. Be careful, since the driver is not fully tested yet.

If you have one linux-pc, connect it to the mill like above (you do not need visicut for that) and check the access rights.
Install netcat (probably already there).
Run while :;do netcat -l -p 5000 > /dev/usb/lp0; done. (Change the device if you have multiple printers connected).
Now everything you send to port 5000 gets forwarded to the mill.
On the other computers, install VisiCut (from the feature-imodela branch), add a new Lasercutter with the imodela-driver and use the hostname/port combination of the linux-box
Works well with the Raspberry Pi.

I would like comments and suggestions. Feel free to fill the Issues list or improve the Wiki.