Inkcut for laser engraving and gcode

Hi,
Thanks to the team who have started and continue to work on this soft!

I need software to pilot an old 3D printer transformed into a laser engraving machine. I've successfully updated this old 8 bit machine to the latest Marlin version (gcode).So Inkcut was a good starting point I think, but, if I'm right, it only cut.

So I've forked the project on GitHub and adapted it (like a lumberjack with an axe but I was in a hurry to begin to cut...).

It does what I want, and it's very pleasant and intuitive to work with inkcut. So I've decided to add more "laser oriented" functionalities.

And that where I need help (and maybe where I can help too !). I don't want to break the philosophy of the software. The enaml, atom and twisted API where pretty news for me.
You can see what I've done in my fork Here.

I need help to know where to put new code, do I need to make a new driver? or do i need to modify directly the gcode protocol (what I've actually done)? or a new plugin?
I've a lot of question, and i want to keep the 'open source' point of view, so if my work can help and be integrated in the original project, it only can be great for me !

My todo list for the future is :
- add compatibility with gcode's specific curved paths command (G5, G4)
- add a laser raster
- add some controls button (laser On/Off, reset X/Y origin ...)
- add basic 'process' command to fill a closed polygon for example
- add multi passes command

Thank you for these answers,

so I will add a new driver :
- model = Generic laser machine
- manufacturer = inkcut

Then, i will overload the process and submit method of the Device class, because i need adding specific argument to the move method (like laser power or control point of bezier curves) and process quadratic bezier curve directly extracted from the svg file (and not subpolygon of it).

Is it the proper way?

But i wonder if it takes sense to add a method which sends gcode, to a driver class and not to a protocol class?
You're right not every gcode-based software handle all commands, but, from one firmware to another, a G0 command will always do the same task (it's normative.). So it can be easy to filter which command can be sent by choosing the right firmware present in the machine (Marlin, RepRap, grbl ....). With an ObjectCombo in the protocol settings config_view for example ?

Sorry if I ask a lot of annoying question...

Ok for the monitor change. I will add a checkbox in the system setting. I will close my issue in github too !

To begin, yes I can, but in the future, I want to be able to focus the laser with the z axis.

Thanks for the link, I'm gonna do that. I will post here when I've got something!

There are already two Inkscape plugins for Laser GCode/GRBL available:
- J-Tech Inkscape Laser Plug-In (GCode only)
- Visicut

The J-Tech one supports only basic requirements, it creates the GCode and controls the laser, its a 100% INKSCAPE plugin
Visicut supports a couple of extensions like cooling, webcam, e.t.c, the soft is a standalone for controlling professional Lasercutters, the plugin is only an interface.
Visicut is the same in green as Inkcut, but for lasers...

Furthermore there exist some other plugins for generating GCode/GRBL.

Github rePOS:
LibLaserCut/Visicut
J Tech Photonics Laser Tool

Thank you for that. Also got the same questions