>Hi Gang,
>Keith Brown writes:
>> I have had occasion to hook up a HP plotter to our Aspect 3000 and found
>> that it works fine except that I could not get it to work at a baud rate
>> higher than 1200.
>This sounds like an incorrect cable, since I have always used my 7550a
>at 9600 baud without problems. Other factoids for you:
It was definately not an incorrect cable since it is now and has been used
for several years as a serial communications cable (null modem configuration).
The problem appeared to be one in which the data were sent out to the plotter
(an old HP 7475 by the way) and the plotter buffer overflowed. A baud rate any
higher than 1200 resulted in a partial plot followed by garbage. I know that a
HP 7550 works fine at 9600 baud. Is this because of a larger internal buffer?
Second:
>Dave Vander Velde wrote:
>> However, you can catch the HPGL code by
>> eavesdropping on the connection to a plotter
>That's what we have done, in order to import plots into reports.
>We have taken the cable that comes from our Varian Gemini, and instead of
>plugging it into the HP Plotter, plugged it into a serial port of a PC,
>captured the code as a file, which can then be imported into WordforWin,
>I haven't tried this with a Bruker, simply becasue I transfer most Bruker
>data to Felix, process and produce HPGL files there. But I see no reason why
>it shouldn't work.
On the subject of importing plots here's a neat way to do it. We have an
old PC hooked up to the serial port of our Aspect 3000 which takes the plot
data and shoots it out to a HP LaserJet 4 through a parallel port. Some kind
of conversion like this is necessary since HP in their wisedom decided to
reduce the number of options for setting up the Laserjet 4 for serial input.
You can hook a Laserjet II up directly and configure it properly to receive
data but not a Laserjet 4 ... hence the use of the PC as a 'translator'. The
software running on the PC is interrupt driven and receives data into a buffer
at 9600 baud. The buffer is continually polled and if there is any data
present it is outputted to the parallel port. It's a simple matter to modify
the program to output to a file for use in wordprocessors. If anyone is
interested in the programs let me know and I'll post them for ftp access.
Keith Brown
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
BROWNK@SASK.USASK.CA