Chiplotle
Chiplotle is an HPGL plotter driver that implements and extends the HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language) plotter control language. It provides direct control of your HPGL-aware hardware via a standard usb<->serial port interface. Chiplotle is also a general purpose vector drawing library with functions for creating and transforming shapes, which can then be sent directly to your HPGL plotter for printing.
Chiplotle is written and maintained by Víctor Adán and Douglas Repetto.
- Main web page: http://sites.music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/
- Documentation: https://chiplotle.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html
Use
Connect to plotter to computer with usb.
Start the plotter.
Wait! until the plotter is fully running.
Activate the venv you made.
In Linux:
$ source FOLDERNAME/bin/activate
In Windows (using Powershell):
$ FOLDERNAME\Scripts\Activate.ps1
Now you can start chiplotle:
$ chiplotle3
And send hpgl file to plotter:
plotter.write_file('FILENAME.hpgl')
When you're done, close chiplotle:
exit()
Install
Install pip, venv
First install pip and the virtual environment python module, if you don't have them yet.
On Linux:
$ sudo apt install python3-pip $ sudo apt install python3-venv
On Mac and Windows:
follow the instructions at https://www.python.org/.
Make a virtual environment
On Linux and Mac:
$ python3 -m venv FOLDERNAME
For example:
$ python3 -m venv plotter-venv
On Windows:
$ py -m venv FOLDERNAME
For example:
$ py -m venv plotter-venv
Activate the virtual environment
On Linux and Mac:
$ source FOLDERNAME/bin/activate
On Windows (using Powershell):
plotter-venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
You can exit again by writing deactivate.
Install Chiplotle
Install Chiplotle inside this virtual environment (the Python library to speak HPGL to the plotter):
$ pip install Chiplotle3
- Project site: http://sites.music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/
- Manual: http://sites.music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/manual/chapters/tutorial/intro.html
Run Chiplotle
$ chiplotle3
It should find the plotter automatically. You can check if it did so:
> plotter
Send a HPGL file to the plotter
> plotter.write_file('FILENAME.hpgl')
Errors
Windows: Script Execution Policy
See: https://www.makeuseof.com/enable-script-execution-policy-windows-powershell/
Mac: ImportError: module not found "imp"
?
Windows: "port" not found (?)
?