I recently bought the XY plotter, version 2.0. After building it, I realized that the software package was designed for use on Windows, and I have a Linux system (Mint, 64 bit). I have not completed my project on Linux, and thus, I cannot say with certainty that I have solved all of my problems, but I have certainly solved several major ones, so I was hoping my experience would be helpful for other Linux users.
The first problem I ran into was with the serial ports. The instructions say (readme.md) say “Click Tools->Serial Ports, choose COM XX (Not COM1 and COM2).” Linux does not have COM ports at all. At first, even the menu item for “Ports” was grayed out. Thankfully, I was not the first one to have this problem; thank you to user “madworm” on the arduino forum, http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,27666.0.html. My port was named differently - ttyACM0 - but the fix was the same, and it solved the connection problem.
The next problem was with the file “GRemoteFull->GRemote.bat”. Batch files are for windows only; fortunately enough, by renaming it “GRemote.sh” and changing the file a little (it was a very simple file), I could get it to run on my system. Here is the entire original file (.bat):
@echo off
for %%i in (%0) do set aa=%%~dpi
cd /d %aa%
cd java/bin
java -Djava.ext.dirs=../../lib -Djava.library.path=../../lib GRemote
echo %aa%
and here is my “fix” (.sh):
cd java/bin
java -Djava.ext.dirs=../../lib -Djava.library.path=../../lib GRemote
I trimmed off some useful things along with what was unnecessary, I’m afraid - for instance, the old version (on windows) worked from any directory, while my version works only if your working directory is GRemoteFull - but it achieves the main purpose, namely, opening the java applet that controls the plotter. Run the shell file from the correct working directory, and you should be fine.
My third problem was with the applet. After selecting the correct port, the corresponding buttons did not appear, and the command line complained of an error. I will not provide the entire error message here, but it became apparent that the error had something to do with “jssc.jar”. Looking in the GRemoteFull -> lib folder, I found that there was a file called jSSC-2.8.dll - and dynamic link libraries, again, are a windows-only instrument.
Fortunately, there was a linux analog - libjSSC-2.8.so - that I was able to download from http://code.metager.de/source/history/processing/processing/java/libraries/serial/library/linux64/libjSSC-2.8.so. That appeared to have solved the problem, and after that, I was able to control the XY Plotter from the applet as recommended in the readme file.
Along the way, I also had to install several linux packages which were out of date and which the applet needed to function, but this will vary from system to system. In short, read the error messages that will appear as you attempt to run GRemote.sh and install any files it asks (or “recommends”) you to install.
Those are all the hiccups I found; if I find any more, I will post more on this thread.