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Suggestions Cutter software needed

ShawnE

New Member
I just upgraded our design computer and the cut software doesn't work on windows 10. We print around 95 percent of everything we do and don't use the cutter that much. Can anyone recommend cutter software that is reasonable in price? Thank you!
 

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
Depends on how much you want to spend probably. That and how intuitive you want the software to be. There’s a few free ones like Inkscape you can probably try first
 

netsol

Active Member
since it only involves 5% of what you do, consider using vmware sodtware to virtualize the old pc, then running the "guest os" using vmware player.

assuming you have an external drive to create a file on, this would be an evening's work & cost you NOTHING. you would be using 2 free pieces of software

i would not suggest this for something used constantly, but for an admitted 5% of your work, you could be up and running in a day. it will be quicker than the learning curve on your new cutter software

this is certainly not exactly what you are doing, but will give you the basic idea (virtualize windows xp & run on winows 7

http://www.digiblog.de/2012/01/virtualize-your-old-win-xp-machine-under-windows-7/
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
What communication port is it using? That makes running a VM a little bit more troublesome if it is say a serial port versus USB that the cutter is using. Not impossible, but definitely not plug and play as much as a USB one.

I love my VMs, they are great for this very reason, but they have caveats with them. Can your new rig handle running a VM and still handle your other day to day activities if you have to multi-task during that 5% cutting?

To do a VM legitly, you'll have to have purchased your copy of the OS to activate (non OEM version unless you are using the hardware that is bound to that OEM activation number (which would probably be doubtful)). Win 7 Pro and higher did allow one to get a free XP VM and use VirtualPC, but I don't believe that free option is available, nor is VirtualPC around, it's been replaced with Hyper-V or something like that. Could use VirtualBox (certainly better then VMPlayer, other one that I would suggest is Workstation Player (commercial version from OEM that supplies VMPlayer).

If there is a way (I left Windows (and Mac)) long ago, but if there is a way to setup your cutter as a generic printer that uses raw HPGL on Windows, you could use almost any design software and "print" (cut) from that. Exceptionally easy to do in Linux via GUI, but I never had to deal with that when I was on Windows, so that may not even be an option on Windows, I doubt very easy. But using that method, could even use Inkscape on it and it'll cut directly from there without any drivers. At least, I'm able to do that for my Roland GX24s on Linux, again, may not be an option on Windows. Just throwing that out there as maybe a possibility of looking into anyway.
 

karst41

New Member
Go to eBay and buy Flexi Letter, or Starter not sure what the most basic version is.
Lets say you find a version that runs on Windows XP. then just by an old HP or Dell off eBay for dirt cheap.

Look on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.
FB os loaded with this stuff.
 
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