dennisw@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM (Dennis Ward) (02/08/90)
Here is the way to send HPGL command files to a plotter (serial
port) from an IBM PC/clone:
1. At the DOS prompt, type MODE LPT1=COM1 . This redirects print
commands to the serial port named COM1.
2. At the DOS prompt, type MODE COM1:96,n,8,1,p . This sets serial
communications to 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data bits, one stop bit,
with handshaking. The handshaking is important for large files.
Most HP plotters have extremely limited buffer sizes, and the data
can get lost otherwise.
3. At the DOS prompt, type PRINT <filename>. This tells the DOS
print command to send the file to your plotter.
EXAMPLE: C:>print hpgl.txt
4. To re-enable the LPT1 (Centronics) port, you must reboot your
computer. DOS has not foreseen the need to switch PRINT outputs
back and forth between serial and parallel ports.
--
Dennis Ward dennisw@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM C1-820 (206)253-5428andrea@hp-sdd.hp.com (Andrea K. Frankel) (02/08/90)
In article <8196@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM> dennisw@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM (Dennis Ward) writes: > 3. At the DOS prompt, type PRINT <filename>. This tells the DOS > print command to send the file to your plotter. > > EXAMPLE: C:>print hpgl.txt > It is a little safer to use C:>copy /b hpgl.txt com1: The "/b" tells DOS to keep its mitts off the data and just pass it on through, not adding any control characters nor processing any. This is more critical for PCL files (e.g., LaserJet graphics files) where the raster data can contain the ASCII end-of-file character which causes DOS to stop sending at that point. But even for plotters, depending on the application that produced your HP-GL files, you may run into a label command that spans more than one line, in which case any added CR-LF would show up in the middle of the plotted text string! And there are other similar problems that can arise. "Copy /b" is what I use, with no problem (once the port has been set up and the plotter set up to match!). Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 592-4664 "wake now! Discover that you are the song that the morning brings..." ______________________________________________________________________________ UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!andrea Internet : andrea@sdd.hp.com (or andrea%hp-sdd@nosc.mil or @ucsd.edu) CSNET : andrea%hp-sdd@hplabs.csnet USnail : 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA