CAMM-1 Roland PNC 1000A, PNC 960, PC-50

Hi, we have these cutters in our MakerSpace:

• 1x Roland PNC 1000A "CAMM 1"
• 1x Roland PNC 960 "CAMM 1"
• 1x Roland PC-50 "COLOR CAMM"

Personally, I am super new to using Vinyl cutters. Now, I am wondering: How can these be used again?

What I found:
- Drivers are available until Windows XP

I am asking to find out if anyone has any experience with getting old machines like maybe these to run again? I appreciate any pointers towards that! It might also be possible that I need an old Windows and the old software for them - I do not know...

Related

• Link to discussion on Madtodon

Updates

• I found that the Roland PNC 1000A is in the list of supported drivers: www.codelv.com/projects/inkcut/docs/supported-devices - however, it is supported via Serial - I tried it with the parallel port and I could not get it to move in any way. I will see if I can get a serial2USB adapter.
• Vinyl cutters: CAMM-1 Roland PNC 1000A, PNC 960, PC-50 - Amman Valley MakerSpace Forum

Hi,
Linux, yes.
I was using the parallel interface (first picture left socket) attached to the computer's parallel one (looks like the first picture right socket) . Sadly, this did not move the machine. I created printers for all kinds of different ways to communicate with the PNC 1000A.

Because that did not work, I ordered USB2Serial cables - maybe that will be alright, then.

From www.codelv.com/projects/inkcut/docs/supported-devices

Roland  PNC- 1000   Serial  47  160     Yes

And here it says Serial:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KYNZMkNy0qYcpnXaNHgXKvdEhnUYKfGqZOH0Dw6siAg/

Roland  PNC- 1000   Serial  47  160 Yes

So, that is why I try it out with Serial.

What do you suggest? Do you have experience with the parallel port? (Old computers have those)

I have an old Roland Camm1 NPC 1000A plotter, which works with Win64 11, I use VinylMaster Cut (which has drivers for this plotter) as my working software and also a USB to Serial cable, Axagon ADS-1PSN. I use Inkscape to create vectors. Everything works absolutely accurately and without problems. In Linux MX 23 or Xubuntu 22.04 it doesn't work so accurately anymore and with more complex vectors Inkcut is not able to cut the template. I conclude that Windows OS is a better solution for this plotter that works. I even tested VinylMaster Cut in Xubuntu 24.04 running Wine 10, VMC functionality is flawless, but Wine is not able to send data via the serial port.