Does anyone see a reason why this software couldn't be modified to work with a PolargraphSD? http://gofreerange.com/printer

The result could be a near real-time interactive web interface to a PolargraphSD.

The net connection can be supplied by the host computer (tethered or XBee'd to the PolargraphSD), and the source already supports multiple 2D printers via a factory class so a different driver could be written to generate the Polargraph's gcode(?) instead of the A2 printer's control language: https://github.com/freerange/printer/tree/master/lib/printer/print_processor

Hmmm...

Go!

=ml=

Just from a casual look around, Printer uses phantomJS to rasterise html into the bitmap form that the thermal printers like. If there was an equivalent process that would convert it into vector graphics, I don't think there's much reason this wouldn't work.

It brings up a few issues that polargraph traditionally does pretty badly on though - specifically what happens to the pen when it's left standing for hours at a time, how to change the paper (a roll?), and how to self calibrate. If you can't self-calibrate then you've got to keep the motors energized all the time.

I would really like to get some more real-time, interactive kind of stuff going on with the machines. The rove area stuff with the vector sprites is meant to be a start on that kind of thing, but I haven't taken it much further.

sn