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didn't know about Engauge: thanks! I've always used [WebPlotDigitizer](https://automeris.io/WebPlotDigitizer/), which doesn't require any installation
if you want to see how it's done in modern plotters/CNC, Bart Dring's [Grbl_ESP32](https://github.com/bdring/Grbl_Esp32) is fairly easy to follow with good docs. I have one of Bart's plotters, as I don't have space or money for an Axidraw with all my other old plotters around the place.
For actual optimization of input files, [vpype](https://github.com/abey79/vpype)'s the one most people use.
Going back to really old/simple plotters, there wasn't enough code space to do any optimization. For example, the (fairly terrible) Commodore 1520 roll paper plotter had 2KB of ROM for all the 6502-compatible code its micro-controller used. When I first looked into the [firmware](https://e4aws.silverdr.com/hacks/6500_1/), I was pretty shocked that it printed text by scanning a table of character data from the start every time. Then I realized that even storing pointers for each character would use up about ⅛ of total storage, and the mechanical plotter mechanism was always way behind anything the code could do. So small mattered more than efficient
if you want to see how it's done in modern plotters/CNC, Bart Dring's [Grbl_ESP32](https://github.com/bdring/Grbl_Esp32) is fairly easy to follow with good docs. I have one of Bart's plotters, as I don't have space or money for an Axidraw with all my other old plotters around the place.
For actual optimization of input files, [vpype](https://github.com/abey79/vpype)'s the one most people use.
Going back to really old/simple plotters, there wasn't enough code space to do any optimization. For example, the (fairly terrible) Commodore 1520 roll paper plotter had 2KB of ROM for all the 6502-compatible code its micro-controller used. When I first looked into the [firmware](https://e4aws.silverdr.com/hacks/6500_1/), I was pretty shocked that it printed text by scanning a table of character data from the start every time. Then I realized that even storing pointers for each character would use up about ⅛ of total storage, and the mechanical plotter mechanism was always way behind anything the code could do. So small mattered more than efficient
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