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Thomas Oster edited this page Sep 18, 2013 · 6 revisions

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

Get the driver

* 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)

  • The driver is now in the latest development build

Using the driver on Linux/Unix

  • 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.

Using the driver over the network from Windows/Mac OSX etc

  • 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.