Hi
I'm trying to use Inkcut v1.0 on Inkscape on a Ubuntu16.10 machine. My vinyl cutter is a Redsail RS500C. Plugged with the USB cable.
lsusb gives:

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 1a86:7523 QinHeng Electronics HL-340 USB-Serial adapter

Inkcut is installed in the Inkscape extentions.
I drawed a simple 3d box, converted to paths and ungrouped. Selecting the hole thing and selecting Inkcut gives :

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "inkcutext.py", line 71, in <module>
effect.affect()
File "/usr/share/inkscape/extensions/inkex.py", line 268, in affect
self.effect()
File "inkcutext.py", line 47, in effect
from app.main import InkscapePlugin
ImportError: No module named app.main

What's wrong?

Thanks

As far as I understand, InkCut is deprecated. (outdated, hasn't been developed for a few years).

However, there's a newer extension which provides the same HPGL export (and maybe even more features, I'm not sure). I think it's Extensions menu > Export > Plot

Thanks for your answer brynn.

I tried the extention you suggested. I still have the following error message. This time I remarked the following: "could not open port".

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "plotter.py", line 227, in <module>
e.affect()
File "/usr/share/inkscape/extensions/inkex.py", line 268, in affect
self.effect()
File "plotter.py", line 96, in effect
self.sendHpglToSerial()
File "plotter.py", line 162, in sendHpglToSerial
if 'ould not open port' in inst.args[0]:
TypeError: argument of type 'int' is not iterable

This time I remarked the following: "could not open port".
It means the program can't find the port to the cutter.
I'm on Ubuntu 16.10 and my machine doesn't have a com port so I specified "/dev/ttyUSB0" as a serial port as proposed by the app.
Is there any configuration I must do in order to have one USB port dedicated to the cutter?
The maker of the cutter doesn't provide linux config app or driver.

Here's part of the hardware list prodiced by lshw -short :



Here I can see that there is a device named "generic" on the "USB2.0-Serial' port. Could that be the actual cutter? and how ot access it ?

I did lshw again without parameters. It gives:


So the cutter is realy there but I can't access it. I tried ttyusb0 to 3 as serial port with no success, always the same error message.

Oh gosh! This is outside my knowledge.....

I think I heard that Timewaster....either wrote that extension (the new one), or knows a lot about it. See if you can contact him on his website: https://www.timewasters-place.com/inksc ... s-the-3rd/ (I think he's a member, but don't see him here very often.)

Actually we had a recent message on a different Inkscape forum, who was connected with a USB port, but the extension only offers serial port, for some reason. That seems rather odd to me, not to be able to accomodate both kinds of ports. Let me re-read it, maybe I can find more info for you....

Edit
Ok, now I remember. They happened to be on Linux, and decided to buy TuxPlot. So they gave up (despite being also referred to Timewasters Place) and decided to use something else. Their traceback was very similar to yours. Not identical, but similar.

But I really would like to get this fixed. Will you let us know what you decide to do, and if you're able to contact him? If you can't find a way to contact, let me know, and I'll contact him from a mailing list, and ask him to visit.

Thanks again brynn for your help

This morning I was on line with the maker's tech. We connected via Teamviewer. They couldn't even start the cutter software or inquiry my system. They don't know linux at all. Result? they learned more watching me walk through the system terminal than I learned from them about their equipment. They said that I should remove linux or buy another computer on windows. Professional ain't it? ! So I'm still left alone with my problem.

I can't understand a company who's saving pennies using rs232 instead of usb especially when they go on the net. Not serious at all. Remember that one, it's Redsail.

I've appointed somebody who supposedly can fix that. He claims being an expert in connecting thing with linux. I'll see. If it works then i'll publish it here.

If it doesn't, please ask for help with the plot extension on timewaster's website.

It's much more difficult to code for usb ports than serial ports, in my opinion serial is far more reliable than flakey usb ports.
Many counterfeit usb>serial chips on the market!
My app "Tux Plot" will use serial, usb, parallel, ethernet.
I'm just putting the finishing touches on a new feature in v4.3 that allows print and cut on cutters that are incapable under normal conditions.

www.securetech-ns.ca

Search youtube for "Tux Plot" videos help on cutter install and other items to help you get the most out of your cutter.

brynn wrote:Actually we had a recent message on a different Inkscape forum, who was connected with a USB port, but the extension only offers serial port, for some reason. That seems rather odd to me, not to be able to accomodate both kinds of ports.

Perhaps a bit offtopic as the OP's cable certainly seemed like an USB-Serial one, but I just filed an MR for supporting USB-Parallel cables: https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/merge_requests/203

BigBill wrote:I tried the extention you suggested. I still have the following error message. This time I remarked the following: "could not open port".

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "plotter.py", line 227, in <module>
e.affect()
File "/usr/share/inkscape/extensions/inkex.py", line 268, in affect
self.effect()
File "plotter.py", line 96, in effect
self.sendHpglToSerial()
File "plotter.py", line 162, in sendHpglToSerial
if 'ould not open port' in inst.args[0]:
TypeError: argument of type 'int' is not iterable

This time I remarked the following: "could not open port".
It means the program can't find the port to the cutter.
I'm on Ubuntu 16.10 and my machine doesn't have a com port so I specified "/dev/ttyUSB0" as a serial port as proposed by the app.
Is there any configuration I must do in order to have one USB port dedicated to the cutter?

Unfortunately that error message does not say "could not open port": what is going on is that it failed to open the serial port, but then ran into the bug reported at https://launchpad.net/bugs/1650480 . This particular bug should be fixed in 0.92.1, but that should just mean you get a better error message.

Could you share the output of the command "ls -alFh /dev/ttyUSB*"?

This particular bug should be fixed in 0.92.1

The current stable version is 0.92.2 already.... Except maybe for Mac, depending on how you install it.