milo@ndmath.UUCP (Greg Corson) (08/30/88)
Has anyone seen a product that would allow a Macintosh to
drive a D-size pen plotter? A friend of mine needs to output
some large scheduling charts from a program that doesn't
support plotters directly so he would need some kind of
generic printer driver that supports plotters...either that or
a plotter that can handle postscript.
Another possibility would be a laser or electrostatic printer that
allows D size output and is Mac compatable.
If anyone knows of something that would fit the bill, please send
USENET mail to the address below or call me at the phone number
listed.
Thanks in advance
Greg Corson
19141 Summers Drive
South Bend, IN 46637
(616) 926-2148 (weekdays only)
{pur-ee,rutgers,uunet}!iuvax!ndmath!milo
mst@csun.UUCP (Mike Temkin) (08/31/88)
In article <1209@ndmath.UUCP> milo@ndmath.UUCP (Greg Corson) writes: >Has anyone seen a product that would allow a Macintosh to >drive a D-size pen plotter? >Greg Corson You might try MacPlot by MicroSpot. It comes with a plotter driver that you duplicate and configure to fit a variety of plotters. We are currently using it to print from a Mac to a Houston Instruments GDP-19 (speaking DMPL). You can customize the fill patterns, line types and pens. It will print from (as much as we have tested) programs such as MacDraw, MacPaint, FullPaint, and CricketDraw. It seems to work with any application that will print to an imagewriter (not bad huh). The driver is selected through the chooser and brings up its own menu when asked to print. You can print to the device or to a file for later plotting using either the MacPlot program or a DA that comes with it. I picked up the Professional version (they also have a standard version) from Egghead Software's Clearance center in Santa Monica, CA for only 19.99 (I think it retails for about $200). -- Mike Temkin ...!{sdcrdcf,hplabs,psivax,ttidca}!csun!mx!mst Cal. State U. Northridge, School of Engineering and Computer Science
twakeman@hpcea.CE.HP.COM (Teriann Wakeman) (09/07/88)
There are a few Plotter drivers on the market, plus several high end drawing
packages that have plotter drivers built-in {more coming soon, I
understand}.
MacPlotts by Microspot of England.
I think this may have been the first plotter driver available for the Mac.
If memory serves me, early versions poltted only from the clipboard.
I have been told that it has been upgraded substancially in recent versions
and is a solid product worth looking into.
PlotStart{?} by Softstyle of Hawaii.
This is the most primitive and troublesome one of the bunch. I know several
people who have tried this product but have yet to meet someone that is
happy with it.
MacPlottsII from Computer Shoppe in ? Carolina.
This is the product that I have used for the last three years so I am biased
on this one. It is a good solid driver that has steadily improved over time.
Like the product from Microspot, it comes in two versions. The business
version supports desktop plotters {All the HP plotters & some others},
and the professional version that supports both the desktop and the
freestanding big birtha plotters { the complete HP plotter line -RS323 input
versions that is}. MacPlottsII prints both from clipboard and anything
saved in PICT format. It propperly handles hidden lines, supports many fonts
{other drivers may not},and some patterns. It supports pen selection {read
that as colours}. I have plotted A to D size in multiple colours and have
been happy with the way it drives HP plotters.The manual isn't the best in
the world but the phone help is the best I have ever had {nothing like
the writer of the driver walking you through the setup to show you which
switch on the back of the plotter was in the wrong posistion}.
As A user, I highly recommend MacPlottsII, to drive any HP plotter. But, I
also recomend that you look closely at MacPlotts also before purchasing
a driver.
TeriAnnpostmaster@mailcom.UUCP (Bernard Aboba) (09/08/88)
I did a review of plotting software about two years again in the BMUG newsletter. As far as I can tell, many of the things I said are still true: the best plotting software is PLOT-IT from Mesa Graphics. It has considerably more flexibility than MacPlot from Contractol in the UK. In fact, I have not gotten Mac Plot to work despite considerable efforts; although it now comes with driver software, Mac Plot's documentation is not good, the support is non-existent (given that the authors are in the UK). --- * Origin: sun!sunncal!mailcom Palo Alto (415) 855-9548 (Opus 1:204/444) SEEN-BY: 161/444 204/444 -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FidoNet: 1:204/444 UUCP: ...!sun!sunncal!mailcom!bernard INTERNET: sunncal!mailcom!bernard@Sun.COM US MAIL: Bernard Aboba, 101 First St. #224, Los Altos, CA 94022