Windows XP (Guest) -> USB device

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NeilR
Posts: 3
Joined: 30. Nov 2022, 15:30

Windows XP (Guest) -> USB device

Post by NeilR »

Is it possible to drive a ROLAND PNC 2300 engraving machine via USB port?

Here is my setup:

PLATFORM: Windows 10 notebook PC. USB ports only.

HOST: VirtualBOX version 7.0.4

GUEST: Windows XP

STATUS: All up and running with USB support installed and accessible. I am able to access a flash drive in the USB port and read/write files to it.

CONNECTIVITY:
1. The PNC 2300 machine offers Serial or Parallel (Centronics) ports ONLY. There is no USB connection.
2. The most recent Roland driver for the PNC 2300 supports up to Windows XP. No further updates to the driver have been released.
3. The Roland Driver installs and works successfully on a (native Windows XP) PC equipped with a Parallel port (LPT1).

VirtualBox/Windows XP:
1. (see above) USB support configured successfully
2. I use a USB to Parallel (Centronics) cable converter to connect to the PNC 2300.
3. VirtualBox Host recognises the USB/Parallel cable connected to the USB port and lists it in the USB Settings list. At this point I am able to access a USB flash drive using VirtualBox/GUEST(Windows XP) and read/write files to it.
4. When Installing the PNC 2300 device driver, the driver install dialogue offers COM1 and LPT ports and also USB in the ports drop-down list.
5. When the USB option is selected, the installation process fails – reporting “THIS TOOL CAN'T INSTALL THE PRINTER DRIVER IN CASE OF WINDOWS XP AND USB CONNECTION.”
6. (to be clear...) if LPT1 should be selected, the driver installation completes successfully. However, as the driver is set to LPT1 and there is no Parallel hardware in the PC, it is of no practical use. So we can see that, the Roland Driver will install successfully within the VirtualBox/Windows XP Guest environment, but not for USB use.

So my question is, is it possible to drive a ROLAND PNC 2300 engraving machine via USB port – or am I wasting my time?

Thank you for any advice or similar experience.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows XP (Guest) -> USB device

Post by mpack »

I would not attempt to drive a physical device like that from a VM. Get yourself a mini PC from eBay, install 32bit Windows on it.

P.s. are you sure that USB/Parallel adapter works with the engraver? Those adapters are usually barely good enough to drive a printer, there are few to no timing guarantees. You could do with having some kind of Arduino or RPi between the PC and the engraver, acting as a command buffer. E.g. perhaps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftTMV4TGb74.

P.p.s. I also doubt the claim that the Roland driver "works with a (native) parallel port". There's a lot of variation in parallel ports for that kind of application, so my eyebrows raise automatically when I see such a blanket statement. LPTs were notoriously fussy - and deservedly went the way of the Dodo once USB arrived.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Windows XP (Guest) -> USB device

Post by scottgus1 »

Running what is essentially a CNC machine from a VM might work if the CNC is older and the VM's not-quite-native speed can keep up. I'd not expect good results if the machine was big-iron Biesse or Weeke, etc. Like Mpack says, interfacing physical hardware inside a VM where precision control is needed may be iffy. Only way to find out is to try.

USB-Parallel adapters aren't full parallel ports; they only work well for printers.
NeilR wrote:The PNC 2300 machine offers Serial
Use a USB Serial adapter. Use USB basics and troubleshooting to make a correct filter for the adapter. Then use the Serial port that appears in the VM for the PNC.
NeilR wrote:PLATFORM: Windows 10 notebook PC.
I'd feel stronger about success if you had a desktop with perhaps stronger CPU etc. But it could still work. Be sure there are no green turtles Image in the VM's Status bar, only the blue V Image . HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM (Hyper-V is active)
NeilR wrote:VirtualBOX version 7.0.4
7.0 just came out of beta and still has bugs. You'll probably do better on 6.1.40.
NeilR
Posts: 3
Joined: 30. Nov 2022, 15:30

Re: Windows XP (Guest) -> USB device

Post by NeilR »

mpack wrote: P.s. are you sure that USB/Parallel adapter works with the engraver?
...
P.p.s. I also doubt the claim that the Roland driver "works with a (native) parallel port".
Yes, it works perfectly with both desktop and another (old) laptop I have with parallel ports. No problems whatsoever.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply.
Last edited by mpack on 30. Nov 2022, 17:19, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Trim verbatim quote and erroneous use of quotes.
NeilR
Posts: 3
Joined: 30. Nov 2022, 15:30

Re: Windows XP (Guest) -> USB device

Post by NeilR »

scottgus1 wrote: 7.0 just came out of beta and still has bugs. You'll probably do better on 6.1.40.
VirtualBox 7 seems to be working just fine and I found it pretty user friendly to set up and use so far - first time using VM. Unfortunately the USB/Parallel option doesn't look promising. I do have other machines with parallel ports I can use but wanted to get it working on this laptop as well. Many thanks for your thoughts and advice.
Last edited by mpack on 30. Nov 2022, 17:20, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Trim verbatim quote and erroneous use of quotes.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows XP (Guest) -> USB device

Post by mpack »

NeilR wrote:
mpack wrote: P.s. are you sure that USB/Parallel adapter works with the engraver?
...
P.p.s. I also doubt the claim that the Roland driver "works with a (native) parallel port".
Yes, it works perfectly with both desktop and another (old) laptop I have with parallel ports.
Assuming you meant the host physical port worked: I suspect that you were lucky that all of the PCs you already tried it on happened to support EPP or ECP or full IEEE1284 mode - or whatever other compatibility the driving software required. Btw I would not expect to get any of these extras in a standard USB adapter intended for printers.

Do you know if the Engraver works like modern machines do, e.g. being fed a stream of g-codes? If yes then I'd think it's very possible that it could be driven more reliably by an Arduino or Raspberry Pi instead, taking g-code data from an sdcard file. Controlling anything from a PC parallel port was frankly always an unpleasant hack, and Windows has never been well suited to real-time control. But this should be right up the alley of any well supported single board computer. I use "Blue Pills" for this kind of thing all the time.
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