GPIB / HPGL Plotter emulator for Linux

[Michael-VK2BEA]

FWIW I've written an HPGL plotter emulator for Linux. Once the plot is sent from the instrument, it can be printed or saved in several file formats.
I've tested it on an HP8595E spectrum analyzer and HP8753C network analyzer.
The GPIB adapter (on the computer) must be capable of acting as a listener / talker. (Some devices will only act as a system controller.)

Available for download from https://github.com/VK2BEA/HPGL-Plotter

[ignilux]

Looks like a Linux-friendly alternative to the otherwise excellent tools from KE5FX. I'm curious about the requirement for gtk4, though.. does this imply that it's a GUI-only application? I'm very interested in something that can pull plots via a USB to GPIB adapter without requiring a full-blown desktop. Think Raspberry PI being connected to the instrument, but only ever viewing the plots on my PC. Is that possible with your tool?

[Michael-VK2BEA]

Yes, it could be possible to make the application a command line application but I'm not sure that's worth the effort. If you are using a PC, why not just use John's PC application?

[ignilux]

Because it does not work with Linux. Both the PC and the Pi run Linux.

[MarkL]

If your adapter is supported by the Linux GPIB package, you could use the "ibterm" command to send a plot command to your GPIB device and capture the HPGL output.  ibterm is included in the package.  A small amount of massaging on the output will be needed, such as removing ibterm's prompts, which could be handled by a simple bash script.

The output could then be moved to your PC and viewed with the KE5FX 7470 plotter emulator which can be used off-line.  Off-line operations (meaning no GPIB access) work fine under wine.

Alternatively, you can use hp2xx to convert the HPGL output to PNG, JPG, or a number of other formats, and view that resulting file.  That's a pure Linux solution, but  KE5FX 7470 handles more of the HPGL command set, which might be needed for your device, and in some cases looks better.