I think using serial port is my best option since the microcontroller i will be using contains a rather nice uart for rs232 communication (either 68hc11 or 16f870).
My goal is to have a driver that can be accessed by any program such as Aries (pcb router) from Proteus so I guess I am left with 2 choices. Firstly, as Vitaliy Vasylskyy suggested, to write a kernel mode driver from scratch or Secondly, as Matthias Mansfeld suggested to get my plotter to recognise commands intended for a generic HP plotter (would this work on serial?). I will elaborate more on my situation. Essentially the idea is to build a hobbyist level plotter from scrap because I don't have access to cheap printing facilities where I live. I do not need incredibly high resolution, in fact, it might sound a bit 'slap happy' when i say to the nearest 0.5mm or so should do. I managed to salvage a couple of 600dpi HP printers with identical horizontal drive systems (linear shaft encoder with strong spec. dc motor) which i figure will suit although im worried about the load on one of the motors if I use an XY system (i'll figure this out). Maximum print size will sit around 200*200 or possibly 300*300 mm at the most. So basically the hardware (mechanical and electronics) side are pretty free going, I can change my plan along the way to suit my software, the question is which technique should I use to make my life as easy as possible? I will look into the HPGL and HPGL/2 and look into the DDK from microsoft over the next few days and see what I come up with. Many thanks to everybody who has replied so far, you have all been a big help! ..more suggestions definitely welcome! Regards, Mikael ----- Original Message ----- To: "Multiple recipients of list CHIPDIR-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2002 8:48 PM > Hi > I'm interested in building a pcb plotter for hobbiest use. The mechanical > and electronics side are of no hassle to me, I plan to use a Motorola 6800 > based controller to handle as much of the software and hardware as possible. > The problem is, I have never done any major windows programing. I'm a keen C > programmer (low level only) and am vaguely familiar with visual basic but > this is all the potential skill I have far as windows programming goes. > My need is to develop a simple printer driver for use with my plotter via > either parallel or serial port (or isa bus) but windows programming has > always been so highly modular and protected that logical programmers like me > never understand what the hell is happening!!! > If I were to use my existing copy of visual basic, could anyone point me in > the right direction? > How do i make a custom device driver? > > Cheers > Mikael > -- > Author: Mikael > INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com > San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message > to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in > the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB CHIPDIR-L > (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may > also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). > -- Author: Mikael INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB CHIPDIR-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
