Digital BW, The Print

Does anyone have some expertise with this densitometer?  I just manage
to acquire one, and though the operation manual was provided, it is
obvious that this instrument was primarily intended to be mostly a
"black-box" that was connected to some kind of profiling software.

I have managed to get the toolcrib and X-Key software running, and
even get data tables stuffed into an Excel spreadsheet (in spite of
woefully inadiquate instructions there, as well).

The information I am looking for is this:

1.  How can one obtain an auto-calibration strip without having to pop
for the $50 that X-Rite wants for this little puppy?  Since I only
want results that are internally consistent (that is, I don't need to
match outputs between different devices, or to something done by
somebody else), the "certified media" provided by x-rite seems to be
overkill.  Is it possible to simply define your own calibration strip
(in a program like Corel Draw, for example) then print off a batch of
them?

2.  What are the terminal interface commands that are accepted by the
DTP32, what are the outputs, and how can one work these into (say) an
excel macro that configures the machine and then reads a strip or set
of strips?

3.  Absent an auto-calibration strip, is it possible to calibrate the
instrument through the command line interface and a standard density
target set?


Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Dave Keasey