Roland Camm-1 CX24 and Flexi Sign 7.5

[signsbyjess]

Good Afternoon,

I'm a bit new here and have ran into a problem. I've been using flexi-sign pro 7.5 since 2004, on an old computer running windows XP that was used to just cut vinyl. (Roland Camm-1 CX24 parallel port). I have not upgraded any software or hardware as I've just used the plotter here and there for little things, not really running a business.

Anyhow, the other day flexi-sign wasn't able to send to the plotter, in retrospect I believe that I moved the dial on the plotter and changed the origination port, but I can't be sure. I spent a good four hours trying to make changes to the port on flexi.... Then I tried putting a copy of my original disk of flexi in the computer. HUGE MISTAKE- now I get a notification that the user name 2 doesn't match the security key, and who knows where I put the dongle from 14 years ago.

Since all of my stuff is outdated, is there any software suggestions that would work with my existing plotter? (I do have a newer computer that has a parallel port that should support it, but I did read something about there not being drivers available anymore. I was not using the Roland Drivers previously, but a General Printer type, I could get the name of it later today if need be.

Sincerely,
Jessica Brennan

 

[ewded]

VinylMaster Cut works with CX24 and it's around $30 only. https://vinylmaster.software/

 

[WildWestDesigns]

If you have the driver for the GX24 on the system, you should be able to download Inkscape and cut directly from that using the GX24 as a "printer". I would suggest a GX-24 specific driver for this on Windows. I can get it to work using generic drivers on Linux, but I have no experience with this process on a Windows rig and using generic drivers. Although, I have had no reason to try as there are specific drivers for that cutter on Windows.

That has some pros and cons, but that would be the cheapest method of cutting. If no frills cutting is all that you are looking for.

 

[signsbyjess]

VinylMaster Cut works with CX24 and it's around $30 only. https://vinylmaster.software/

Would I need to download a driver to use VinylMaster?

 

[signsbyjess]

If you have the driver for the GX24 on the system, you should be able to download Inkscape and cut directly from that using the GX24 as a "printer". I would suggest a GX-24 specific driver for this on Windows. I can get it to work using generic drivers on Linux, but I have no experience with this process on a Windows rig and using generic drivers. Although, I have had no reason to try as there are specific drivers for that cutter on Windows.

That has some pros and cons, but that would be the cheapest method of cutting. If no frills cutting is all that you are looking for.

I thought I had read that the CX24 drivers would only work on older systems such as XP. I am super rusty at all of this.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I thought I had read that the CX24 drivers would only work on older systems such as XP. I am super rusty at all of this.

I believe that last one supported is Vista. Still legacy though.

When I run Windows, it's always in a VM, I do run Vista and Win 98 in a VM even today however, and I would just pass through a connection for hardware if necessary. That may be more then what you are wanting to do.

It could be possible to get a generic driver to work, it's possible. It's possible under Linux, but like I said, I've never tried on Windows as I've always used the "official" drivers. Load up the generic driver and see if you can get your cutter to show up as a "printer". If you can, this method should work.

Otherwise, yea, you'll have to get a program that supplies their own driver for the cutter. The above mentioned software would be the cheapest. I would confirm supporting of the cutter (not saying it doesn't, just confirm to make sure).

You could get a plugin (like CoCut, it does have drivers for your cutter based on their website) that would work with Inkscape, Ai, DRAW etc, but that would be significantly more expensive then VinylMaster Cut.

 

[signsbyjess]

Thank you both! I will give inkscape a shot first and see if that works with what I have.

 

[signsbyjess]

So I tried Inkscape on the old vista setup and even with the Roland drivers I was getting some errors. A friend of mine helped me out on the newer computer running windows 7 and using the GX24 drivers and tested the cutting with the demo version of vinylmaster cut. Worked fantastic!!

I purchased vinylmaster and should be able to make some Christmas gifts!

Thank you all for taking the time to answer my questions.

 

[signsbyjess]

Test cut from demo

 

[decalman]

I retired an old cx24 couple years ago . ( no regrets) I used Corel 12. With xp. So hard to get that now in a laptop 2 gigs or better. I replaced it with a summa d75 .
Great tracking and interacts great with everything so far.