Tutorial 3: Virtual Plotter

The Virtual Plotter is a X,Y plotting device. The internal controller receives an X,Y direction signal and a moves a printing head which can be ON or OFF. A sample driver running on the PIC16F877 drives the Plotter to create a series of rectangles.

 screenshot_run.gif (27866 bytes)

Download EXTERN_Tutorial3.zip and unzip into folder <your path>\Tutorial 3

Filename Version Description
Plotter.pjt MPLAB Project of sample rectangle plotter driver
Plotter.asm PIC16F877 Assembler code of sample rectangle plotter driver for the Virtual Plotter component
plotter.bmp The bitmap used as the icon for the Virtual Plotter in a Virtual Breadboard.
Plotter.lst Compiled LST of plotter sample driver
Plotter.HEX Compiled HEX of plotter sample driver
VirtualPlotter.vbp Visual Basic Project for building the VirtualPlotter external component
VirtualPlotter.exe VirtualPlotter executable external component
tut3.frm The main Visual Basic form of the VirtualPlotter Visual Basic Project.
tut3.frx The main Visual Basic form binary image property bag
PlotterController.cls Visual Basic class file responsible for decoding and interpreting the incoming signals and co-ordinating the Virtual Plotters actions
tut3.vbb Virtual Breadboard example using the Virtual Plotter and the Plotter.hex sample driver

 Open tut3.vbb in Virtual Breadboard

Start Virtual Breadboard and open the <your path>\Tutorial 3\tut3.vbb file from Virtual Breadboard and click RUN

Code Walkthrough

Features

Project Idea's

Build a Vector Graphics Driver to receive serial graphics commands and draw them onto the Virtual Plotter