Driver for the Xerox XPRESS Plotter

Running the xpress_plot Utility

xpress_plot has a number of command line option; to see a summary use the -h command line option:

          $  ./express_plot  -h

Testing the Installation

You should run the following tests on the plot server to determine that you have a working connection to the XPRESS plotter: Make sure that the device driver is installed. For the purposes of this document we assume that it is called /dev/express0.

  • Verify that xpress_plot can communicate with the XPRESS plotter by sending it a "test unit ready" message, using the tur command line option; 

              $ ./xpress_plot    /dev/xpress0   tur

    a successful exchange should return the following:

              xpress_plot: test_unit_ready
          Device '/dev/xpress0' is ready

    An exchange may not be successful if the plotter is turned off, if some other application is using the plotter or if the device driver is not installed. Error messages include:

    plotter turned off (after a few minutes                /dev/xpress0: I/O error

    device driver in use by another application        /dev/xpress0: Device busy

    missing or wrong driver                                   /dev/xpress0: No such file or directory

  • Issue an inquire command to the EXPRESS plotter.

              $ ./xpress_plot /dev/xpress0   inquire   0x00

    You should get in return:

              xpress_plot: get_inquiry

          xpress_plot: get_sense
          Sense, status = 0x0

          Query: Standard, status = 0x0

          Standard:
             Vendor ID: XEROX   
             Product ID: Xpress          
             Product Version: 0067

          xpress_plot: get_sense
          Sense, status = 0x0

  • Generate/Send a Monochrome Test Plot

              $ ./xpress_plot /dev/xpress0 monotest 5 5

    this should cause the plotter to plot a 4x4 black and white checkerboard pattern 5 inches on a side using the A0 roll.

  • Generate/Send a Color Test Plot

              $ ./xpress_plot /dev/xpress0 colortest 3 3  -quality:6 -roll:2

    causes the plotter to plot a 4x4 CYMK checkerboard pattern 3 inches on a side on the A1 roll.

  • Checking Paper Roll Status

              $ ./xpress_plot /dev/xpress0 inquire 0xc1

    should result in a response:

              xpress_plot: get_inquiry
          xpress_plot: get_sense
          Sense, status = 0x0

          Query: Roll information, status = 0x0

          Roll information:

          Roll         Size    Has Paper      Width      Width
                                             (dots)     (inch)
      
          Roll1          A0       yes        25920      36.00
          Roll2          A1       yes        16838      23.39
          Roll3          A3       no            0       0.00
          Roll4         A0R       no            0       0.00

          xpress_plot: get_sense

          Sense, status = 0x0

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