Share USB devices (plotters, printers, scanners) over your network
_{by BangerTECH}

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What is Loki-PrintServer?

Loki-PrintServer lets you plug a USB device (cutting plotter, printer, scanner, label printer…) into a Raspberry Pi and use it from any computer on your network — as if it were plugged in locally.

Works with Illustrator + FineCut, xfcut, Silhouette Studio, Inkcut, and VectorCraft / Plot Cut (raw plotter bytes over HTTP).

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Server — Raspberry Pi Setup

Requires: Raspberry Pi with Docker installed

git clone https://github.com/BangerTech/Loki-PrintServer.git
cd Loki-PrintServer/server
docker compose up -d

That's it. The server is now running.

Web Dashboard: open http://<raspberry-pi-ip>:7576 in your browser. Language DE/EN, live log, and a Plot Cut panel (device status + 10 mm test job).

Plot Cut API (VectorCraft)

Plot Cut sends finished plotter bytes (MGL-IIc / HP-GL). Loki writes them unchanged — it does not generate commands. Illustrator + FineCut keep their own paths.

curl http://<pi>:7576/api/plotcut/devices

curl --data-binary "IN;PU0,0;PD400,0;PU0,0;" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
  http://<pi>:7576/api/plotcut/devices/mimaki-cg60sr/job

Stable ids: mimaki-cg60sr (Mimaki 0a50:0001), vevor (CH340 1a86:7523). Config: /etc/loki-printserver/plotcut_devices.json. If a plotter is attached via USB/IP to a PC, the job returns 409 and Loki will not steal the device. One job per device at a time.

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Client — Download & Install

Download the latest client from GitHub Releases:

Platform	File	Installation
macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel)	Loki-Client.dmg	Open → drag to Applications. First launch: right-click → Open
Windows	LokiClient-Setup.exe	Run as administrator. The signed USBip driver installs silently after Finish (no second wizard). Restart Windows once.
Linux	Loki-Client-linux	chmod +x and run

First Launch

1. Open Loki-Client — menu bar (macOS) or system tray (Windows/Linux). The tray light turns green when a plotter is actually attached.
2. The server on your network is found automatically.
3. Click your server → select your device → Attach.
4. The device appears locally — open your software and use it normally.

macOS: If you get "App is damaged", run xattr -cr /Applications/Loki-Client.app

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How it works

┌─────────────────────────┐        ┌──────────────────────────┐
│   Raspberry Pi (Server) │        │  Your Computer (Client)  │
│                         │        │                          │
│  USB Plotter            │        │  Loki-Client             │
│    └─► usbipd  :7575   │◄──TCP──►│    Windows: USBip        │
│        FastAPI :7576    │        │    macOS: virtual USB    │
│        CUPS    :631     │        │    Linux: usbip / tty    │
│        socat   :7580+   │        │                          │
└─────────────────────────┘        └──────────────────────────┘

Plotter	macOS	Windows
Mimaki CG-60SR (FineCut)	Raw USB bridge — FineCut sees the real USB device	USB/IP via the bundled USBip driver
Vevor / CH340 and other serial cutters	socat → virtual USB serial port	USB/IP → a real COM port (no com0com)
USB printer	CUPS / IPP network printer	CUPS / IPP network printer

A plotter can only be on one path at a time. While Windows holds it over USB/IP, the Mac does not see it. About 20 seconds after the Windows client is gone — including a shutdown, without clicking Detach — the Pi puts the Mac path back by itself (Vevor → socat, Mimaki → USB bridge). Then attach from the Mac as usual.

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Supported devices

• ✂ Cutting plotters: Mimaki CG-60SR, Vevor / CH340, Silhouette Cameo, Cricut, Graphtec, Roland
• 🖨 Printers: HP, Canon, Epson, Brother, Samsung
• 🏷 Label printers: DYMO LabelWriter, Brother QL
• 📷 Scanners: Epson Perfection, Canon CanoScan, HP ScanJet
• 🔌 Any other USB device (via USB/IP on Windows & Linux)

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Requirements

Server:

• Raspberry Pi running Raspberry Pi OS or any Debian-based Linux
• Docker

Client:

• macOS 11+, Windows 10/11, or Linux
• macOS cutting plotters: AMFI must be disabled for virtual USB (see below)
• Windows: the USBip driver (usbip-win2) is installed by Loki Setup. Do not run a second USBip wizard if it is already installed.

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macOS — Virtual USB for Cutting Plotters

On macOS, Loki creates a real virtual USB device (/dev/cu.usbmodem*) that FineCut, xfcut, and Inkcut recognize. The virtual device keeps the original Vendor ID and Product ID, so vendor software detects the plotter on its own.

This requires AMFI (Apple Mobile File Integrity) to be disabled:

Setup	How to disable AMFI
OpenCore / Hackintosh	Add amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1 to boot-args in your OpenCore config.plist, then reboot
OpenCore Legacy Patcher	Settings → Kernel Security → Enable "Disable AMFI" → Apply → Reboot
Stock Mac	Boot into Recovery → Terminal → nvram boot-args="amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1" → Reboot

Without AMFI disabled, Loki falls back to a PTY bridge (/tmp/tty.loki-*). That works for software that lets you pick a port, but IOKit apps such as FineCut will not see the device.

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Build clients from source

git clone https://github.com/BangerTech/Loki-PrintServer.git
cd Loki-PrintServer

# macOS
bash client/build/build_mac.sh

# Windows (run on Windows; needs Inno Setup)
client\build\build_windows.bat

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License

MIT License — © BangerTECH