drawboy - Compu-Dobby loom driver

SYNOPSIS

drawboy [Options] <draft file path>

DESCRIPTION

drawboy is a tool for driving an AVL Compu-Dobby I, II, III, IV, or 4.5 loom from a terminal interface. The picks in the specified draft file are sent to the loom over a serial or ethernet interface as the user treadles the draft. In addition to responding to treadle events from the loom, drawboy is interactive and responds to a number of commands: reversing weaving direction, tabby mode vs. lift-plan mode, changing the current pick, and changing the set of picks to be woven. The up and down arrow keys can also be used to quickly change to adjacent picks.

The draft file can either be in the standard WIF format or in the Fiberworks DTX format.

The terminal should support xterm/ANSI style control sequences and Unicode, which pretty much all do these days. If the terminal does not display the Unicode characters used by drawboy then the ‑‑ascii option will force drawboy to restrict itself to ASCII characters. If ANSI styling (bold, color, etc.) does not display properly then the ‑‑ansi=no option will force plain-text output. Some terminals support 24-bit color, which drawboy can take advantage of (macOS Terminal does not). Use the ‑‑ansi=truecolor option to enable 24-bit TrueColor output.

drawboy needs to know the configuration of the loom in order to drive it. The number of shafts and the dobby type (positive or negative) must be provided. Compu-Dobby IV and 4.5 controllers output this information during the initial handshake with drawboy. Older Compu-Dobbies do not, so this information must be provided through command-line options or environment variables. However, some Compu-Dobby IV and 4.5 looms with negative dobbies will behave as if they are positive dobby looms. If your fabric weaves with the front and back reversed and the solenoids are all energized when drawboy quits, then you have one of these virtual positive dobby looms (the WDL is one). The ‑‑dobbyType=virtual options tells drawboy that the loom is a virtual positive dobby loom.

OPTIONS

-h, --help

Outputs a help message and exits.

--findloom

Engages the loom finder wizard to help the user determine which device file is the USB serial port interface. Fixed (non-USB) serial ports cannot be found using the loom finder wizard, consult your system documentation. The wizard can output the possible device paths for fixed serial ports.

--cd1, --cd2, --cd3, --cd4

Indicates whether the loom has a Compu-Dobby I, II, III, or IV/4.5 interface.

-n, --net

Connect to a Compu-Dobby IV/4.5 loom over a network connection instead of a serial connection. If no loom device path is provided for a serial connection, then a network connection is implicitly enabled.

-ppick, --pick=pick\

Sets the initial pick from the pick list to start weaving. The default pick is the first pick in the pick list. If the specified pick is larger than size of the pick list then a modulo calculation is performed to determine where to start weaving in the pick list.

-plast, --pick=last
-plast-offset, --pick=last-offset
-plast+offset, --pick=last+offset

Drawboy stores the last pick thrown when quitting. Using one of the three last pick forms causes drawboy to pick up where it left off, plus or minus an offset.

-Ppicklist, --picks=picklist

Sets the list of picks from the draft file to weave. This is a comma-separated list of pick ranges with an optional multiplier in front. The optional multiplier is a number followed by the letter x. The pick range can a single number, a pair of numbers separated by a hyphen, or an arbitrary list of tabby picks (ab).

Pick ranges can also insert a tabby pick with each pattern pick from the draft file. A single pick preceeded by a tilde (~) will insert the appropriate tabby pick along with the specified draft pick. A range of picks separated by a tilde instead of a hyphen will insert a tabby pick with each draft pick.

The default pick list is the entire draft file.

--tabby=tabby spec

Sets the tabby for the current weaving. The tabby spec is a string of the letters A and B. It indicates which shafts are in tabby A and which are in tabby B. For example, --tabby=AABBBBBB indicates that shafts 1 and 2 are tabby A and shafts 3 through 8 are tabby B. The default is odd shafts on tabby A and even shafts on tabby B.

--tabbycolor=tabby color

Specifies what color to display for tabby picks. The tabby color is a three or six digit hexadecimal number that indicates an RGB color triple, RRGGBB for six digits and RGB for three digits. The default tabby color is 00FF00, or green.

--tabbyPattern=tabby pattern

Specifies whether inserted tabby picks are before or after the pattern pick and whether to start with tabby A or tabby B. Permitted pattern values are xAyB, AxBy, xByA, and BxAy. The default is xAyB.

--threading

Enables Treadle-the-Threading mode. Treadling the loom causes each shaft in the threading to rise, in order from right to left. The appropriate end color is indicated in the pick view. Put drawboy in Reverse mode to treadle the threading from left to right.

--alertColor=alert color

Sounds the console bell when the weft color is changing. There are four alert modes: None, Simple, Pulse, and Alternating. The default is None: do not sound the bell. In Simple mode the bell sounds for each weft color change. Pulse mode is like Simple mode except that if there are two or more consecutive picks with color changes, the bell only sounds for the first one. Alternating mode is for patterns that alternate between two weft colors. The bell sounds when one of the two weft colors changes.

--loomDevice=loom path

The path to the serial port in the /dev directory. The loom path is required for drawboy to operate in serial mode. It can also be specified with the DRAWBOY_LOOMDEVICE environment variable.

--loomAddress=loom address

The network name or IP address for the loom, if a network connection is used. If no loom address is provided then the default, 169.254.128.3, is used. It can also be specified with the DRAWBOY_LOOMADDRESS environment variable.

--shafts=shaft count

Number of shafts supported by the loom. The shaft count is required for drawboy to operate; except with Compu-Dobby IV/4.5 looms, which provide it. It can also be specified with the DRAWBOY_SHAFTS environment variable. Allowed values are 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, or 40.

--dobbyType=dobby type

Whether the loom is a positive dobby (+ or positive), a negative dobby (- or negative), or a virtual positive dobby (virtual). The dobby type is required for drawboy to operate. It can also be specified with the DRAWBOY_DOBBYTYPE environment variable. Most AVL looms are positive dobbies, but the Workshop Dobby Loom (WDL) is a negative dobby (but a virtual positive dobby if driven by a Compu-Dobby IV/4.5 controller).

--ascii

Indicates that the terminal does not support Unicode characters and that only ASCII characters can be used. It can also be specified with the DRAWBOY_ASCII environment variable.

--ansi=ANSI support

Indicates whether the terminal supports ANSI display modes (e.g., bold or color). Accepted values are yes for normal ANSI support, no for no ANSI support, and truecolor for ANSI support with 24-bit color. It can also be specified with the DRAWBOY_ANSI environment variable.

OPERATION

When drawboy starts it does not know the state of the loom, whether the shed is open or closed, whether or not it is OK to send shaft commands to the loom. You must press the right treadle so that drawboy can send the first pick. You can enable tabby mode at this time. Treadle left for the loom to pick up the first pick and treadle right to open the shed on the first pick.

From this point on, when you open the shed drawboy will send the liftplan for the next pick to the loom and when you close the shed it will display this next pick. The pick line will begin with a color-coded draw-down for the pick, followed by the pick number and lift-plan for the pick. These last two will be color-coded with the weft color for the pick.

When the shed is open, drawboy will display a prompt for the current pick under the pick line. It will display the current weaving mode (lift-plan or tabby) and the current and next line in the draft file. Treadling the loom will advance to the next pick. When the shed is open, the user can type commands to change the behavior of drawboy:

l - Lift-plan Mode

drawboy weaves picks from the pick list.

t - Tabby Mode

drawboy weaves alternating picks of tabby A and tabby B.

r - Reverse Weaving

Changes the weaving direction from the pick list. This has no effect in tabby mode. But in lift-plan mode it determines whether to move forward or backward through the pick list.

s - Select Pick

Select the next pick in the pick list. The up and down arrows act as shortcuts for selecting the previous or next pick in the pick list.

p - Change Pick List

Overrides the pick list. The pick list specification is the same format as with the command line option. Changing the pick list resets the pick to 1.

q - Quit

Quits drawboy.

If the shed is not all the way open then drawboy cannot send commands to the loom. The prompt will change to remove emphasis on the command characters. If commmands are entered in this state, then they will be queued until the next time the shed is open.

EXAMPLES

Setting the pick list:

Here is an example of the various elements in a pick list.

drawboy --picks=1-8,7-1,10,5x20-29,7x40 towels.wif

This sets the pick list:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
7 6 5 4 3 2 1
10
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
40 40 40 40 40 40 40

Here a compact draft for a braided twill has various subparts multiplied to produce 2.25" headers and an overall length of 32", at 24ppi with waste yarn picks to indicate the cut line between towels.

drawboy --picks=7x1-8,24x9-36,93-100,7x101-108,AB "gudruns towel4.wif"

The braided twill towel starting with 56 picks (7x1-8) of basket weave header. Then the 28 pick repeating part of the pattern is repeated 24 times to get 672 picks of the main body of the towel (24x9-36). Then we have 8 picks (93-100) pattern trail-out. 56 more picks of basket weave for the footer. Lastly, two picks of tabby with waste yarn to show the cut line between towels.

Continuing between weaving sessions:

drawboy does not remember where you are weaving between sessions. Instead, the history buffer of the terminal is used to remember the weaving state.

% drawboy --picks=7x1-8,24x9-36,93-100,7x101-108,AB "gudruns towel4.wif"
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--    1 -->  | ** * * |
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--    2 -->  | ** * * |
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||    3 -->  |*  * * *|
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||    4 -->  |*  * * *|
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--    5 -->  | ** * * |
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--    6 -->  | ** * * |
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||    7 -->  |*  * * *|
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||    8 -->  |*  * * *|
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--    9 -->  | ** * * |
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--   10 -->  | ** * * |
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||   11 -->  |*  * * *|
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||   12 -->  |*  * * *|
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--   13 -->  | ** * * |
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--   14 -->  | ** * * |
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||   15 -->  |*  * * *|
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||   16 -->  |*  * * *|
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--   17 -->  | ** * * |

time passes

||-||--|||--||--||--||-||--|||--||--||--||-|||--||--||--||  303 -->  |* *  * *|
|---||--|--||--||--||---||--|--||--||--||---||--||--||--||  304 -->  |*  ** * |
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--  305 -->  | ** * * |
-||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||---||--||--||--  306 -->  | * * * *|
||--||--||--|--||---||--||--||--|--||---||--||--||--||--||  307 -->  |*  * ** |
|--||--||--|||--||-||--||--||--|||--||-||--|||--||--||--||  308 -->  |* * *  *|
--||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--||--||--  309 -->  | ** ** *|
-||--||--|||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||-||---||--||--||--  310 -->  | * *  * |
||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||--||--||  311 -->  |*  *  * |
|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--|||--||--||--||  312 -->  |* * ** *|
--||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--||--||--  313 -->  | ** ** *|
-||--||--|||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||-||---||--||--||--  314 -->  | * *  * |
||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||--||--||  315 -->  |*  *  * |
|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--|||--||--||--||  316 -->  |* * ** *|
--||--||--||-||--|||--||--||--||-||--|||--||--||--||--||--  317 -->  | ** *  *|
-||--||--||---||--|--||--||--||---||--|--||---||--||--||--  318 -->  | * * ** |
||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||  319 -->  |*  * * *|
|--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--|||--||--||--||  320 -->  |* * * * |
--|--||---||--||--||--|--||---||--||--||--|---||--||--||--  321 -->  | * ** * |
-|||--||-||--||--||--|||--||-||--||--||--|||--||--||--||--  322 -->  | **  * *|
[Weaving:22] T)abby  L)iftplan  R)everse  S)elect pick  P)ick list  Q)uit
%

It is time to turn the loom off for the night, so you quit drawboy. The next day you continue weaving. The draw-down from the previous days weaving is still visible in your terminal window and the last pick was 322.

% drawboy --picks=7x1-8,24x9-36,93-100,7x101-108,AB "gudruns towel4.wif --pick=322
-|||--||-||--||--||--|||--||-||--||--||--|||--||--||--||--  322 -->  | **  * *|
|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--|||--||--||--||  323 -->  |* * ** *|
||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||--||--||  324 -->  |*  *  * |
-||--||--|||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||-||---||--||--||--  325 -->  | * *  * |
--||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--||--||--  326 -->  | ** ** *|
|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--|||--||--||--||  327 -->  |* * ** *|
||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||--||--||  328 -->  |*  *  * |
-||--||--|||--||--||-||--||--|||--||--||-||---||--||--||--  329 -->  | * *  * |
--||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--||--||--  330 -->  | ** ** *|
||-||--|||--||--||--||-||--|||--||--||--||-|||--||--||--||  331 -->  |* *  * *|
|---||--|--||--||--||---||--|--||--||--||---||--||--||--||  332 -->  |*  ** * |
--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--  333 -->  | ** * * |
-||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||--||---||--||--||--  334 -->  | * * * *|
||--||--||--|--||---||--||--||--|--||---||--||--||--||--||  335 -->  |*  * ** |
|--||--||--|||--||-||--||--||--|||--||-||--|||--||--||--||  336 -->  |* * *  *|
--||--||--|--||--||---||--||--|--||--||---||--||--||--||--  337 -->  | ** ** *|
[Weaving:9] T)abby  L)iftplan  R)everse  S)elect pick  P)ick list  Q)uit   

ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variables affect the behavior of drawboy. They provide information that will likely be common to all drawboy runs. It may be useful to set them in the user's account profile.

DRAWBOY_LOOMDEVICE

Indicates the path to the serial device for talking to the loom.

DRAWBOY_LOOMADDRESS

Indicates the network address for talking to the loom. Can be a DNS name or an IP address. If the variable exists but is empty, then the IP address 169.254.128.3 is used.

DRAWBOY_SHAFTS

Indicates how many shafts the loom supports. Accepted values are 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, or 40.

DRAWBOY_DOBBYTYPE

Indicates whether the loom has a positive dobby (positive or +), a negative dobby (negative or -), or a virtual positive dobby (virtual).

DRAWBOY_DOBBYGENERATION

Indicates whether the loom has a Compu-Dobby I, II, III, or IV/4.5 interface. Accepted values are 1 to 4.

DRAWBOY_ASCII

If it exists then drawboy will only output ASCII characters.

DRAWBOY_ANSI

Indicates the ANSI support level for the terminal. Accepted values are yes for normal ANSI support, no for no ANSI support, and truecolor for ANSI support with 24-bit color.