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PrintGL 1.60
PrintGL/D - pen plotter emulator for DOS
PrintGL/W - pen plotter emulator for Windows
PrintGL/N - pen plotter emulator for Windows NT/95 (optional)
PrintCAD - printer driver for DOS CAD software
(c) Copyright Ravitz Software Inc. 1990,1996
Ravitz Software Inc. BBS/fax 606-268-0577
PO Box 25068
Lexington, KY 40524-5068 Compuserve Cary Ravitz [70431,32]
USA Internet 70431.32@compuserve.com
------------------------------ License -------------------------------
PrintGL (including PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, PrintGL/N, and PrintCAD) is
provided as is. There are no warranties expressed or implied. PrintCAD
is a swapping resident program that may have problems with unusual
environments.
PrintGL is copyrighted by Ravitz Software Inc. You may copy PrintGL
only for use under this license agreement.
PrintGL, without PrintGL/N, is distributed as shareware. You may use
PrintGL without charge on a trial basis to determine its suitability
for you. If you continue to use it after your evaluation, you MUST
purchase a registered copy for $50 (US$). Registration covers use by a
single person (on multiple computers) or installation on a single
computer (may be used by a group of people). There is no cost to use a
later 1.** version after registering any 1.** version.
PrintGL/N, the Windows NT/95 version of PrintGL, is not included in
the shareware package. A registered copy of PrintGL with PrintGL/N is
$80 (US$).
You may distribute PrintGL without PRINTGLN.EXE as a stand alone
product if you keep the entire package together, unchanged, clearly
label the disk as shareware, and do not charge more than $10. You may
not distribute PrintGL as part of another product or on the same disk
with any commercial software.
See Order Form in PRINTGL.TXT for ordering information.
------------------------------ Contents ------------------------------
PrintGL Initial Information File ......................... PRINTGL.TXT
PrintGL Supplemental Documentation File PRINTGL2.DOC
Introduction ....................................................... 3
License and Registration 5
Installation ....................................................... 6
Operation 7
How To Get HP-GL Plotfiles From Your Graphics Software ............. 9
Messages 9
User Interface .................................................... 10
Example Setup Instructions For PrintCAD 11
Overview of Options ............................................... 12
/1, /2, /3, /4, /5 - PrintGL Default Options 12
/1, /2, /3, /4, /5 - PrintCAD Alternate Configurations ............ 12
/A - Position Option 13
/B - Tiling Option ................................................ 13
/C - Pen Color Option 13
/D - Output Destination Option .................................... 15
/F - Output Format Option 15
/H - Rotation Area Option ......................................... 18
/I - Scaling Point Location Option 18
/J, /K - Printer Code Prefix, Suffix Options ...................... 18
/L - Page Layout Option 19
/M - Magnification Option (Scale, Size) ........................... 20
/N - Page Number Option 20
/O - Origin and Orientation Option ................................ 20
/P - PrintGL Plotfile Option 21
/P - PrintCAD Intercept Mask Option ............................... 21
/Q - Number of Copies Option 21
/R - Internal Resolution Option ................................... 21
/S - Pen Shading Option 22
/T - Temporary File Option ........................................ 22
/W - Pen Width Option 22
/X - PrintGL User Interface Option ................................ 23
/X - PrintCAD Control Option 23
/Y - Plotter Options .............................................. 24
/Z - Processing Options 24
PrintGL Menu ...................................................... 25
Menu Specific Functions 25
Menu Input and Output Choices ..................................... 26
Menu Processing Options 26
Menu Pen Options .................................................. 26
Menu Page Layout Options 27
Menu Other Options ................................................ 27
Menu Auto Run Mode 27
Large Paper ....................................................... 28
Tips On AutoCAD 29
Color Processing .................................................. 29
Compatibility and Technical Information 30
HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and ADI Commands .................................. 30
Output Devices (Displays, Printers, Plotters, Bit Maps, Fax) 31
Useful Prefix and Suffix Codes .................................... 38
Answers 39
PrintCAD Answers .................................................. 40
User Support 40
p-3
Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------
PrintGL is a pen plotter emulator package for DOS, Windows, and
Windows NT/95. It includes: PrintGL/D, a DOS program that can be run
from the command line and BAT files or via menu; PrintGL/W, an
analogous Windows program; PrintCAD, a resident DOS program that
intercepts plotter data as it is being written to file; and
optionally, PrintGL/N, a Windows NT/95 program, similar to
PrintGL/W.
PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, and PrintGL/N print or display HP-GL
(Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, 7475, 17440 subsets), HP-GL/2
(limited subset), or ADI (Autodesk Device Interface 4.0 vector
plotter binary format) plotfiles on most PC graphics devices. HP-GL
is widely supported by CAD, drawing, plotting, and other graphics
programs including AutoCAD, Microstation, FastCAD, Generic CADD,
MathCAD, Schema, OrCAD, and SAS. PrintGL will print on Epson and IBM
9 pin printers, Epson, Fujitsu, IBM, NEC, and Toshiba 24 pin
printers, Canon BJ, BJC, and LBP printers, Epson Stylus, HI JetPro,
HP Laserjet, Deskjet, PaintJet, and HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and HP-RTL
devices, IBM ExecJet and LaserPrinter, PDP ProTracer, Star SJ-144,
PostScript printers, and others. It will also display plots with a
CGA, EGA, HGC, VGA, or VESA SVGA, and output a PCX or DCX bit map
file or an Encapsulated PostScript file with preview bit map.
PrintCAD is a resident pen plotter emulator that acts as a printer
driver for most DOS based CAD packages. It lets you print drawings
directly from CAD programs, via the CAD program's HP-GL or HP-GL/2
driver or AutoCAD's ADI plotter driver. PrintCAD works with AutoCAD,
AutoSketch, Microstation, Cadkey, FastCAD, Generic CADD, Micro
CADAM, Draft Choice, PC-Draft-CAD, and other CAD programs. It will
print on the same printers noted above but does not do screen output
or generate PostScript preview bit maps. PrintCAD is set up via
command line (or BAT file). PrintCAD is a swapping resident program
that uses 5K of base memory and 400K of EMS or XMS memory. Either
400K of EMS or XMS memory is required and a VCPI handler is
recommended.
Even if your graphics program supports your printer, you will
probably find that PrintGL is faster, gives better print quality,
and/or gives more formatting flexibility. PrintGL uses the best
graphics modes available for each printer that it supports and uses
transfer data compression to improve print speed on many printers.
And it gives options such as orientation, magnification, position,
and pen width, color, and shading. If you need printed graphics
output from personal software, you can output HP-GL and use PrintGL
to do the printing. This gives immediate support to a wide range of
printers. And it lets you use advanced graphics functions while
supporting low function plotters.
continued
p-4
PrintGL interprets all of the HP 7475 and 7440/17440 (ColorPro with
GEC) command set that is applicable to plotfiles except for
character set 8 (Katakana). None of the digitize, output, or device
control commands (except plotter on and off) are supported as these
are only used with direct control of a plotter. And the error mask
command is not supported. In addition to the HP 7475 and 7440/17440
commands, PrintGL handles paper feed, label origin, extra space, and
enhanced clipping window commands and proportional fonts and line
types -8..-1, 7, and 8.
PrintGL's HP-GL/2 subset includes pen color, shading, transparency,
and width control, compressed data, a few other useful functions. It
does not include line attributes, user defined line types and fills,
three point arcs, Bezier curves, and HP-PCL and HP-RTL related
functions.
p-5
License and Registration ---------------------------------------------
PrintGL (including PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, PrintGL/N, and PrintCAD) is
provided as is. There are no warranties expressed or implied.
PrintCAD is a swapping resident program that may have problems with
unusual environments.
PrintGL is copyrighted by Ravitz Software Inc. You may copy PrintGL
only for use under this license agreement.
PrintGL, without PrintGL/N, is distributed as shareware. You may use
PrintGL without charge on a trial basis to determine its suitability
for you. If you continue to use it after your evaluation, you MUST
purchase a registered copy for $50 (US$). Registration covers use by
a single person (on multiple computers) or installation on a single
computer (may be used by a group of people). There is no cost to use
a later 1.** version after registering any 1.** version.
PrintGL/N, the Windows NT/95 version of PrintGL, is not included in
the shareware package. A registered copy of PrintGL with PrintGL/N
is $80 (US$).
You may distribute PrintGL without PRINTGLN.EXE as a stand alone
product if you keep the entire package together, unchanged, clearly
label the disk as shareware, and do not charge more than $10. You
may not distribute PrintGL as part of another product or on the same
disk with any commercial software.
See Order Form in PRINTGL.TXT for ordering information.
PrintGL Printer Driver is the graphics engine used in these
programs. It may be licensed for use in commercial programs. Send a
note to request more information on this.
p-6
Installation ---------------------------------------------------------
The PrintGL package includes these files:
FILE_ID.DIZ standard description of package
PRINTCAD.EXE resident DOS program
PRINTGL.DOC documentation
PRINTGL.PLT sample plotfile
PRINTGL.TXT initial information
PRINTGL2.CHR HP-GL character set plotfile
PRINTGL2.DOC supplemental documentation
PRINTGLD.EXE DOS program
PRINTGLN.EXE Windows NT/95 program (optional)
PRINTGLW.EXE Windows program
README.BAT displays the initial information file
To install PrintGL create a directory called PRINTGL, and copy or
unpack the distribution files into this directory. It is preferred
that the PRINTGL directory be in your DOS PATH.
To install PrintGL/W as an icon in the Windows Program Manager,
select File, then New, then program item to bring up the Program
Item Properties menu. Enter the item name - PrintGL/W, the command
line - C:\PRINTGL\PRINTGLW, and the working directory - wherever you
keep your plotfiles. You can choose from three icons designed for
two, sixteen, and 32K color setups.
To install PrintGL/N or PrintGL/W as an icon on the Windows 95
desktop, click on Start, Find, Files or Folders, then enter
PRINTGLN.EXE or PRINTGLW.EXE. When the file is displayed below,
right button click on the icon, and then click on Create Shortcut,
and Yes. After the shortcut has been created, you can set the Start
In directory and icon by right button clicking on the icon and
modifying the shortcut properties.
PRINTGL.TXT is initial information and PRINTGL.DOC is the
documentation. You can view these files from DOS by running
README.BAT or from PrintGL by pressing F1. While viewing them, you
can print pages or the entire file. Press T repeatedly until the
correct setup is displayed and then press P. Or from DOS, "COPY
PRINTGL.TXT PRN" to print the entire file.
PRINTGL2.DOC is supplemental documentation for supported HP-GL,
HP-GL/2, and ADI commands and the program interface. PRINTGL2.CHR is
a plotfile that documents the supported HP-GL characters sets.
PRINTGL.PLT is a sample plotfile that you can print or display with
PrintGL.
p-7
Operation ------------------------------------------------------------
PrintGL reads a plotfile, does arc, character, fill, etc. to line
conversion, stores the data in a coordinate list, and if needed,
puts the list on disk. It then reorients the data and determines the
plot size. Next the data is resized and relocated. For vector output
formats (HP-GL, HP-GL/2, PostScript) data is output from here. For
bit mapped devices (most printers, displays, bit maps) the
coordinate list is rasterized and output in swaths. You are likely
to see the printer print a swath and stop while PrintGL is
processing the next swath.
Esc stops PrintGL at the next good break point, leaving the printer
ready for new data. Ctrl-B stops PrintGL as quickly as possible. You
generally need to do a printer reset after a Ctrl-B.
When you display a plot, press Enter or Esc to return to the text
screen, or any of the four cursor movement keys to scroll across the
plot. Press S to cycle between full, half (the default), quarter,
and eighth page scrolling. PgDn and PgUp zoom and unzoom by 1.4.
PrintGL works within a printer's current margins and starts at the
current vertical print position. If you decline the form feed option
(/L or "form feed") then PrintGL leaves the printer at the start of
the line directly below the plot.
PrintGL will not automatically change a printer's operating mode. On
multi-mode printers, the right operating mode must be set before
running PrintGL or with the prefix code option (/J or "modify
output" "prefix codes: ").
Internally PrintGL uses two byte coordinates on a 1016 dots/inch
grid. This allows for plots with coordinates of over 30 inches. If
you are using PrintGL to emulate a large plotter, you may overflow
the internal coordinate system. This condition is not checked, and
it will cause garbage output. You can change the internal resolution
to 508 dots per inch (giving 60 inch maximum plot sizes) with /R or
"plotter" "internal dpi: ".
PrintCAD is a resident program that intercepts plot data output from
CAD software, processes the data, and prints the resulting picture.
When PrintCAD is first run it installs itself. Subsequent runs look
for the resident copy and send control information to it, updating
the parameters.
PrintCAD must be installed before running the CAD software. Do not
install it from a DOS shell. PrintCAD automatically loads high if a
5K DOS or XMS upper memory block is available. Do not use LOADHI or
LOADHIGH.
continued
p-8
PrintCAD can intercept data from two sources, DOS file writes and
AutoCAD ADI 4.0 interrupts. With the option /PADI, ADI interrupts
are intercepted. With /Pmask, for example /P*.PLT, DOS file writes
are intercepted. It can interpret three kinds of data, HP-GL,
HP-GL/2, and AutoCAD ADI 4.0 binary plotter data, based on the /Y
option. PrintCAD can only interpret plotter data, not
printer/plotter or rendering data.
To use PrintCAD as an HP-GL interpreter, use /Pmask to tell it what
files to intercept. Use /P*.PLT, /P*.DPF, /P*.HPG, /P*.000, etc. to
match the names that the CAD software uses when writing HP-GL files.
Configure the CAD software for HP-GL (HP 7550 or 7585) output to
file. Then plot (do NOT print). PrintCAD intercepts the data and
prints it.
To use PrintCAD with AutoCAD/Sketch as an ADI interpreter that
intercepts files use /P*.PLT /YA. Configure AutoCAD for an ADI 4.0
plotter, binary output to file, up to forty pens, 1016 steps/inch,
and eight non-solid line types. Then plot.
To use PrintCAD with AutoCAD/Sketch as an installed ADI 4.0 plotter
driver use /PADI. After installing PrintCAD configure AutoCAD for an
ADI 4.0 plotter, installed at interrupt hex 78, up to forty pens,
1016 steps/inch, and eight non-solid line types. Then plot.
After starting PrintCAD, you can verify the installation with
"printcad /xq". You can check its function from DOS with "COPY
PRINTGL.PLT PCAD.PLT". PrintCAD causes a high/low beep the first
time that data is sent after a file open. If you turn on sound
(/XS), it causes a high beep after swapping in its code and a low
beep before swapping it out, to let you monitor its processing.
p-9
How To Get HP-GL Plotfiles From Your Graphics Software ---------------
To use PrintGL you must be able to output HP-GL plotfiles or ADI
binary plotfiles from your graphics application. Most CAD, drawing,
and graphing software lets you do this. Just tell the application to
output your picture to a plotter. In either the configuration
process or the output process, you will need to specify that you
have an HP 7475 or HP 7440/17440 plotter and that you want the
output to go to a file instead of a COM port (some programs name the
file automatically and some ask you for a name). You might need to
set up a pen assignment table that specifies what color each pen is.
Once you have the file, you can print it with PrintGL/D, either from
a DOS shell or after exiting the application. With PrintGL/W you can
run without exiting the application. With PrintCAD the file is
intercepted and printed instead of being written to disk.
Messages -------------------------------------------------------------
PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, and PrintGL/N display messages to keep you
informed of what they are doing. The output looks like this.
Reading PRINTGL.PLT
Plotfile has 1 page(s) Processing page 1 2283 data records
Overall magnification 0.9964
Print window Horizontal 0.00 7.54 Vertical 0.00 10.14
Plot area Horizontal 0.42 7.13 Vertical 0.61 9.54
Output format /FT HxV dpi 180x180 corrected to 180x180 CMYK color
Writing to device LPT3
The first line is the plotfile that is currently being processed.
The second line tells how many pages are in the plotfile, which page
is being processed, and the number of data points in that page. The
number of data points is roughly equivalent to the number of pen
moves and is shown to give you an indication of the plot's
complexity.
The overall magnification is either the magnification that you
specified with the /M option or the effective magnification after
fitting to the print window with /MF. The print window line gives
the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the print window, always
starting at 0,0 and in inches. The plot area gives the horizontal
and vertical coordinates of a box that just covers the plotted data.
This uses the same coordinate system as the print window, so you can
tell where the plot is relative to the print window.
The output format, resolution, and color type (if color output is
used) are given and then the output destination is noted (except for
screen plots). If you have a black only printer, but the output
format allows color (this is common with 9 and 24 pin printers),
using color will greatly increase the PrintGL run time with no
improvement in print quality.
During processing, PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, and PrintGL/N inform you
when they are processing and writing data, and you can watch the
progress from 0% to 100%, along with the elapsed time.
After initial startup PrintCAD runs without screen output.
p-10
User Interface -------------------------------------------------------
PrintGL can be run from the command line (DOS, Windows, or Windows
NT/95) using various options to tell it what to do or run with no
options to bring up a menu system. The menu options have
corresponding command line options, so the two forms of options will
be described together. The menu options are noted by the menu name
in quotes, sometimes followed by the menu choice in quotes.
From the command line, the calling syntax is:
PRINTGLD plotfile /option1 /option2 ...
PRINTGLW plotfile /option1 /option2 ...
PRINTGLN plotfile /option1 /option2 ...
PRINTCAD /option1 /option2 ...
Spaces between parameters are not required. The plotfile may be
specified with the /P option if it is inconvenient to make it the
first parameter.
Except for the /X and /P options in PrintCAD, if a given option is
entered more than once, only the last entry is used. And if an
option is invalid (but not incorrect), it is ignored. Only one /X
and one /P option is allowed in PrintCAD.
When run from the command line, PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, and PrintGL/N
use the current menu options as the default, so if you have the menu
set up as desired, you can run PRINTGLD plotfile from the command
line and avoid going through the menu to select the plotfile.
The DOS environment variables PRINTCAD, PRINTCAD2, PRINTCAD3, and
PRINTCAD4 are read by PrintCAD and put in front of the command line
parameters. When you need to exceed the 127 character DOS command
line limit, put some of the parameters in the PRINTCAD variable, for
example
SET PRINTCAD=/CRGB... /S... /W...
PRINTCAD /P*.PLT ...
SET PRINTCAD=
Below, [ and ] enclose optional suboptions and | separates mutually
exclusive suboptions. The options and suboptions may be in any order
except that multiple numeric suboptions are ordered and numeric
suboptions must follow character suboptions where the characters may
be digits. "c" refers to a suboption character, "w", "x", "y", and
"z" to suboption numbers, "i" and "j" to suboption integers, "b" to
a suboption byte, and "f" to a DOS file or device name.
For numbers (w, x, y, z), a decimal point is allowed but is not
required, and scientific notation is not allowed. "-" is allowed but
not "+". For integer input (i, j), only base ten integers from
-32768 to 32767 are allowed. "+" is not allowed. A byte (b) must be
a base ten integer from 0 to 255 or a hexadecimal number prefixed
with $ from $00 to $FF. Further range checking is done for most
options to flag unreasonable input. If an option has multiple
numeric suboptions, these may be separated with commas or blanks.
p-11
Example Setup Instructions For PrintCAD ------------------------------
Below are instructions for simple setups to help you get started
with PrintCAD. After you have PrintCAD running, there are many
additional options that might be useful.
To use AutoCAD (or AutoSketch) with an HP DeskJet 500C or 550C,
install PrintCAD with "printcad /padi /fa! /L7.9,10,0,.3 /crygcbmk".
Configure AutoCAD for an ADI 4.0 vector plotter installed on
interrupt 78h, 7 pens, 1016 steps/inch, plot area 10x7.9, no
calibration. Set up the AutoCAD pen assignment table so that the
seven pens are assigned red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, and
black. Set skip perforation off on the printer by setting DIP switch
1-8 up. Then plot.
To use a Canon BJC800 or 820 with 11x17 paper with AutoCAD, install
PrintCAD with "printcad /p*.plt /ya /f& /L10.5,16,0,0 /crygcbmk".
Configure AutoCAD for an ADI 4.0 vector plotter with binary output
to a file, 7 pens, 1016 steps/inch, plot area 16x10.5, no
calibration. Set up the AutoCAD pen assignment table so that the
seven pens are assigned red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, and
black. Then plot.
To use a Canon BJ330 with cut sheet paper with AutoCAD, install
PrintCAD with:
printcad /f7 1,1.01 /L8,10,0,.4 /j27,67,0,11
printcad /2/f7 1,1.01 /L10.5,16,0,.4 /j27,67,0,17
printcad /3/f7 1,1.01 /L13.5,21,0,.4 /j27,67,0,22
Configure AutoCAD for an HP 7585 plotter with output to a file. To
print on 8.5x11 paper set the plot area to 10x8 and output the plot
to file PCAD1. For 11x17 paper set the plot area to 16x10.5 and
output to PCAD2. For 17x22 paper set the plot area to 21x13.5 and
output to PCAD3.
To use the BJ330 with another CAD package, replace the ".plt" with
the default plotfile extension for that package. AutoCAD,
AutoSketch, and Micro CADAM use ".plt", Microstation uses ".000",
GenCADD uses ".dpf", and EasyCAD and FastCAD use ".hpg". DesignCAD
has no default extension - use ".plt" and enter the entire file name
when plotting (PCAD1.PLT for example).
To use a LaserJet with Microstation, install PrintCAD with "printcad
/p*.000 /fL /L7.9,10,0,.1". Configure Microstation for an HP 7585
plotter, set the plot area to 10x7.9, and plot. Instead of /fL,
choose the best LaserJet driver from this list:
/FL any LJ
/FL! any LJ2 and any LJ3 with less than 1.5 Meg
/FI any LJ3 with 1.5 Meg or more and the LJ4L
/FI+ any 600 dpi LJ4
For manual feed legal paper use "/p*.000 /fL /L7.9,13,0,.1
/J27,38,108,50,72,27,38,108,51,65" and set the plot area to 13x7.9.
p-12
Overview of Options --------------------------------------------------
PrintGL's options fall into several categories. The first is input
and output choices. The input is chosen with /P, the plotfile, and
/N, the page number. Output options are /F, the output format
(printer model), and /D, the destination port, device, or file.
The second category is the page layout. /L controls the size and
location of the print window (hard clip limits), and the option to
box the window, not send a form feed, and reverse the image color.
Tiling is set with /B and copies with /Q.
The third category defines how the plot looks within the print
window. /M, the magnification, sets the size of the plot. /A
determines the location of the plot within the print window. /O sets
the origin and orientation, and is used to rotate or mirror the
plot. /I sets the plotter's initial scaling points.
The fourth category defines the pens, /W for the width, /C for the
color, and /S for the shade.
The fifth category determines how PrintGL processes the plot. This
includes the temporary file /T, the default and minimum chord angle,
enhanced font, and color to shade options /Z, the plotter Y/D and
S/E switch positions and HP-GL/2 and ADI handling /Y, the internal
resolution /R, user interface options /X, and /J and /K let you set
up and reset the printer for special situations.
PrintCAD has separate setup options, /P sets the intercept mask, /X
sets up the initial configuration, /1, /2, /3, /4, and /5 set up
multiple configurations.
And PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, and PrintGL/N use /1, /2, /3, /4, and /5
to choose one of the menu setups as the command line default.
/1, /2, /3, /4, /5 - PrintGL Default Options -------------------------
These option select a configuration from the menu to be used as the
default. This option must match the first character of the title of
one of the five menu configurations.
/1, /2, /3, /4, /5 - PrintCAD Alternate Configurations ---------------
These options select up to 5 alternate configurations, labeled 1..5.
/1 is the default. The configuration used for printing is chosen
based on the file name and mask (/P option).
p-13
/A - Position Option -------------------------------------------------
/A[O][x,y] - position - default /A
"position"
The A option determines the location of the plot in the print window
via a point on the plot that is aligned with a point in the print
window. You can specify the plot alignment point with x,y in inches
from the plot's origin (before PrintGL applies magnification), or
let it default to the plot center. For the print window alignment
point, you can default to the center or specify the origin with O.
/A puts the center of the plot at the center of the print
/AO0,0 puts the plot 0,0 at the print window origin
/B - Tiling Option ---------------------------------------------------
/B[i,j,x] - tiling parameters - default /B1,1,0
"tiling"
/B lets you specify tiling options that break a large plot into
tiles. Each tile is defined by the page layout option (/L). I and j
specify the number of tiles horizontally and vertically. X specifies
the overlap in inches. Displayed plots are sized based on the
tiling, but only the first tile is displayed. Use the cursor keys to
scroll the plot.
/B2,2,.5 breaks the plot into 4 pages with .5 inch overlap
/B is the same as /B1,1,0 and produces no tiling
/C - Pen Color Option ------------------------------------------------
/C[O|T]c.. - color - default /COK
"pen color"
"pen mode"
"pen all"
/C specifies the color of each of 40 pens. The colors are B for
blue, C for cyan, G for green, K for black, M for magenta, R for
red, W for white, and Y for yellow. Unspecified pens use the last
selected color (/CRGB is the same as /CRGBBBBBB). For black/white
output formats, color are translated into either black or shade
levels, based on the /Z option.
continued
p-14
Additional colors can be created with shade mixing. These colors use
shading patterns to mix the eight pure colors. The format for a
mixed color is .?? where each ? represents any of the eight pure
colors. The first color is printed with the pen's shading pattern
(/S option) and the second is printed with the inverse shading
pattern. If the shade value is 0 (solid) it is replaced by 2 (50%)
which produces the most uniform mixed colors. On many printers,
using a shade of 1 (75%) or 3 (25%) gives a better color. Here are
some useful mixed colors for inkjet printers.
color shade description color shade description
.bc 3 (25%) azure .ry 3 (25%) orange
.bm 3 (25%) violet .rk 1 (75%) brown
.gc 3 (25%) jade .ck 1 (75%) teal
.gy 3 (25%) lime .rk 3 (25%) black on DeskJet 500C
Mixed colors need line widths of at least 2 (4 for coarse shading
patterns) to look good, and they may have visual artifacts on edges
near a 45 degree angle. Multipass dot matrix formats may not handle
color mixing well.
The following single letters may be used in place of the color
mixing notation.
equivalent equivalent
color mixed color description color mixed color description
a .bc Azure i .bk dark blue
v .bm Violet e .ck tEal
j .gc Jade f .gk Forest
l .gy Lime p .mk Purple
s .rm roSe d .rk dark red
n .ry oraNge h .yk dark yellow
By default, colors are overwritten into the print, so they appear
opaque. You can switch to translucent colors (ored into the print)
with the T suboption, and then back to opaque with O. Make the
switch in front of the pen that you want to change. For PostScript
and plotters, the color processing is done by the device, not
PrintGL. PostScript uses opaque colors and plotters use translucent
colors.
" means repeat the previous color.
/COKR.MB""T.KY sets pen 1 to opaque black
pen 2 to opaque red
pen 3..5 to opaque magenta on blue
pen 6..40 to translucent black on yellow
p-15
/D - Output Destination Option ---------------------------------------
/D[+][*]f - destination - default /D1
"destination"
The D option specifies the output printer port, device, or file. The
+ suboption causes files to be appended rather than overwritten. 1,
2, and 3 select the BIOS printer routines. P1..P3 select direct
parallel port drive - add extension 001 to 999 (for example P1.010)
to slow the function of the port for compatibility with older
printers. X1..X4 select xon/xoff serial port drive. H1..H4 select
hardware (RTS/CTS) serial port drive. W selects the Windows print
manager (PrintGL/W and PrintGL/N only). You can also use the DOS
devices LPT1, COM1, etc. /D is ignored for display output.
The * suboption causes PrintGL to output a continuous stream of data
with pauses of less than one second. This is useful for networks and
multiple PC printer buffers, where print jobs are separated by
pauses in the data stream.
PrintGL cannot set up the serial ports. This is usually done in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT with MODE (for example MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P).
If you choose a three digit number for the file extension (for
example .000), and multiple pages are output via the multiple copies
option, tiling, or multiple HP-GL pages then, instead of appending
the destination file, additional files are created with sequential
extensions. If you specify *, then the extension is incremented to
avoid overwriting existing files. This is useful for PCX output.
/D2 sends output to the second parallel port via BIOS
/D+TEMP.PRN appends output to file TEMP.PRN
/DOUTPUT.000 sends output to OUTPUT.000, OUTPUT.001, ...
/F - Output Format Option --------------------------------------------
/Fc[%][-|+|*|^][!|¡][~|`][w[,x][,y,z]] - output format - default /FV
"output format"
"modify output" "h,v size multiplier: "
"modify output" "compress output (Y|Default|N): "
The F option specifies the output format. -, +, *, and ^ are
resolution modifiers, ! and ¡ select compression levels, ~ turns off
color processing, and ` switches four plane color processing on or
off. These suboptions are allowed even if they have no effect. %
(or \) selects a different driver.
For HP-GL (/F8), HP-GL/2 (/F0-, /F0), HP-RTL (/F0+), PostScript
(/FS), PCX/DCX (/FZ), and PS preview (/FY) you can append the
nominal device resolution. For PCX/DCX and PS preview this may be
one or two numbers. For VESA high resolution (/FV^) you can append
screen dimensions for any supported VESA mode.
continued
p-16
You can append horizontal and vertical resize factors, from .5 to
2.0, to correct for print size error. For example, a printer under
indexes so that a 6 inch high box comes out 5.94 inches. Using
1,1.01 removes the error (5.94x1.01 = 6.0).
Each printer driver has a default level of data compression, chosen
to give maximum compatibility among the different printers that the
driver supports. Many drivers have an optional enhanced level of
compression, chosen with !. This will be incompatible with some
printers. And some drivers let you turn all compression off with ¡
(ASCII 173). This is rarely of any use. Where these suboptions are
effective, they are marked in the table below.
PrintCAD cannot use any of the display drivers or the EPS preview
bit map driver.
Where effective, the !, ¡, `, and ~ modifiers are listed below.
/F0-[i] ~ HP-GL/2 printers ....................... 600x600, ixi
/F0[i] ~ HP-GL/2 raster plotters 600x600, ixi
/F0+[i] ~ HP-RTL raster plotters ................. 300x300, ixi
/F1 `~ IBM 9 pin 120x72
/F1+ `~ IBM 9 pin (2 pass) .......................... 120x144
/F1* `~ IBM 9 pin (4 pass) 240x144
/F2 IBM Quietwriter 2 ........................... 240x240
/F3 IBM Quietwriter 3 240x240
/F4- !¡ IBM LaserPrinter (PPDS mode) ................ 150x150
/F4 !¡ IBM LaserPrinter (PPDS mode) 300x300
/F4+ !¡ IBM LaserPrinter (PPDS mode) ................ 600x600
/F5 !`~ IBM 24 pin alternate 1 180x180
/F5+ !`~ IBM 24 pin alternate 1 (2 pass) ............. 360x180
/F5* !`~ IBM 24 pin alternate 1 (4 pass) 360x360
/F6 ! IBM Proprinter X24 .......................... 180x182
/F6+ ! IBM Proprinter X24 (2 pass) 360x182
/F6* ! IBM Proprinter X24 (4 pass) ................. 360x364
/F7 ¡ Canon BJ IBM mode, IBM ExecJet 360x360
/F7+ ¡ Canon BJ IBM mode, IBM ExecJet (2 pass) ..... 360x360
/F8[i] HP-GL 1016x1016, ixi
/F9 !`~ NEC 24 pin .................................. 180x180
/F9+ !`~ NEC 24 pin (2 pass) 360x180
/F9* !`~ NEC 24 pin (4 pass) ......................... 360x360
/F# ¡ JRL J bubblejet Epson mode 360x360
/F$ `~ Epson Esc/P2 ................................ 360x360
/F$+ `~ Epson Esc/P2 720x720
/F$* `~ Epson Esc/P2 dark (unscreened) .............. 720x720
/F& `~ Canon BJ/BJC native mode 360x360
/F&+ `~ Canon BJ/BJC native mode .................... 720x720
/F&* `~ Canon BJ/BJC native mode dark (unscreened) 720x720
/F: `~ Star Micronics SJ-144 ....................... 360x360
/F@ ~ Canon BJC CaPSL mode 360x360
/FA- !`~ HP DeskJet 500C, color HP-PCL ............... 150x150
/FA !`~ HP DeskJet 500C, color HP-PCL 300x300
/FA+ !`~ color HP-PCL ................................ 600x600
/FB ¡`~ Canon BJ/BJC Epson mode, Epson Stylus 360x360
/FB+ ¡`~ Canon BJ/BJC Epson mode (line overlap) ...... 360x360
continued
p-17
/FC CGA display 62x25
/FD- !¡ Canon LBP (ISO/CaPSL mode) .................. 150x150
/FD !¡ Canon LBP (ISO/CaPSL mode) 300x300
/FD+ !¡ Canon LBP (ISO/CaPSL mode) .................. 600x600
/FE `~ 128K EGA color display 62x45
/FF !`~ Fujitsu 24 pin .............................. 180x180
/FF+ !`~ Fujitsu 24 pin (2 pass) 360x180
/FF* !`~ Fujitsu 24 pin (4 pass) ..................... 360x360
/FG ¡ PDP Protracer (IBM mode) 360x360
/FH Hercules graphics card display................. 70x45
/FI- HP LaserJet 3, DeskJet 150x150
/FI HP LaserJet 3, DeskJet ...................... 300x300
/FI+ HP LaserJet 4 600x600
/FI* monochrome HP-PCL ......................... 1200x1200
/FJ Canon BJ BJ130 mode 360x360
/FK ~ Kodak Diconix Color 4 ....................... 192x192
/FL- !¡ HP LaserJet 150x150
/FL !¡ HP LaserJet ................................. 300x300
/FM 128K EGA monochrome display 62x45
/FN `~ Epson 9 pin .................................. 120x72
/FN+ `~ Epson 9 pin (3 pass) 120x216
/FN* `~ Epson 9 pin (6 pass) ........................ 240x216
/FO !`~ Toshiba 24 pin 180x180
/FO+ !`~ Toshiba 24 pin (2 pass) ..................... 360x180
/FO* !`~ Toshiba 24 pin (4 pass) 360x360
/FP !~ HP PaintJet ................................. 180x180
/FQ HP QuietJet (PCL mode) 192x192
/FR `~ Tektronix ColorQuick ........................ 216x216
/FS[i] ~ PostScript 600x600, ixi
/FT !`~ Epson 24 pin ................................ 180x180
/FT+ !`~ Epson 24 pin (2 pass) 360x180
/FT* !`~ Epson 24 pin (4 pass) ....................... 360x360
/FV `~ VGA display 62x62
/FV+ `~ VESA 800x600 display .......................... 78x78
/FV* `~ VESA 1024x768 display 100x100
/FV^ `~ VESA 1280x1024 display ...................... 125x134
/FV^i,j `~ VESA ixj display
/FV% `~ Windows display (PrintGL/W/N only) ..................
/FW `~ Epson 9 pin alternate 120x72
/FW+ `~ Epson 9 pin alternate (3 pass) .............. 120x216
/FW* `~ Epson 9 pin alternate (6 pass) 240x216
/FW% !~ Windows default printer (PrintGL/W/N only) ..........
/FX !`~ IBM 24 pin alternate 2 180x180
/FX+ !`~ IBM 24 pin alternate 2 (2 pass) ............. 360x180
/FX* !`~ IBM 24 pin alternate 2 (4 pass) 360x360
/FY[i[,j]] append EPS preview bit map .......... 72x72, ixi, ixj
/FZ[i[,j]] `~ ZSoft PCX 100x100, ixi, ixj
/FZ![i[,j]] `~ DCX ............................... 100x100, ixi, ixj
See Output Devices (Displays, Printers, Plotters, Bit Maps, Fax) to
match your printer with one of these drivers.
p-18
/H - Rotation Area Option --------------------------------------------
/H[x,y] - rotation area - default /H
"plotter" "rotation area: "
The position of HP-GL rotated coordinate systems depends on the size
of the plot area. This does not affect most plotfiles, but if
needed, use the /H option to set the size of the plot area, in
inches, that the plotfile was to be plotted in. If not set, the
print window size divided by the magnification is used. This area is
also used to determine initial and default scaling points.
/I - Scaling Point Location Option -----------------------------------
/IA|R|W[N] - IP point location - default /IA
"scaling pnts"
This option is not useful with any HP-GL that does not use scaling,
or initializes the plotter, or sets the scaling points.
The I option sets the initial scaling points (P1, P2 - the scaling
points may be set in the HP-GL file with the IP command). A
(absolute) sets the points to the default for the paper size (see
below). R fits P1 and P2 to the rotation area (see /H option) or
print window with at least .25 inch margins and an x/y ratio of
10/7.2 (the same ratio as the HP 7475 with small paper). W fits P1
and P2 to the print window with a .25 inch margin. N makes the
margin 0 for R or W and is ignored with A.
The default scaling points depend on the plotter and paper. If the
magnification is 1, PrintGL looks at the rotation area (see /H) or
print window and origin for a match with one of the plotters/papers
noted below. If found the default scaling points match that
plotter/paper. Otherwise the defaults are taken from the 7440.
7440 paper window 7475 paper window 7550 paper window
A 7.54,10.14 A 7.84,10.20 A 7.72, 9.92
A4 7.54,10.74 A4 7.60,10.88 A4 7.48,10.70
B 10.20,16.38 B 10.01,16.19
A3 10.88,15.90 A3 10.70,15.72
/J, /K - Printer Code Prefix, Suffix Options -------------------------
/J[b,b,..|+f] - printer code prefix - default /J
/K[b,b,..|+f] - printer code suffix - default /K
"modify output" "prefix codes: "
"modify output" "suffix codes: "
/J lets you send codes to the printer before the usual data and /K
lets you send codes after the usual data to set up and reset the
printer. For HP-GL and PostScript output, prefix codes follow the
initialization commands. The codes are 0..255 or $0..$FF (hex)
separated by blanks or commas. Or you can specify a file, prefixed
with +.
p-19
/L - Page Layout Option ----------------------------------------------
/L[B][F|N][R][x,y[,x,y]] - page layout - default depends on printer
"window/margins"
"form feed"
"box"
"reverse image"
The L option defines the page layout.
B boxes the plot at the print window edge using pen 40.
F, the default, turns form feeds on and N turns form feeds off.
These are ignored for bit maps and display output.
R reverses the colors on displays, bit maps, and output formats 4,
D, I, and L (Canon, HP, and IBM page printers) and is otherwise
ignored. This gives the equivalent of a photographic negative.
The first optional x and y are the print window width and height in
inches. These define the hard clip limits. These values are not
checked against the printer's capabilities. If you specify a print
window that exceeds the output device limits, the results are
unknown. You may need to reset the printer's margins or page length
for large plots (see Large Paper). The size needed for a given width
and height exceeds x and y by 8 dots to allow for line widths.
The second optional x and y are the left and top margins, measured
from the printer's left margin and current vertical position to the
print window. The margins for HP-GL and PostScript are measured from
0,0 (left, bottom). Margins are ignored for display output and bit
maps.
THE PRINT WINDOW PLUS THE MARGINS MUST FIT WITHIN THE PRINTABLE AREA
OF THE PRINTER. To find the largest printable area turn on the box
and form feed options and set a window and margins of 7.5,10,0,0.
Any plotfile will do - the only concern is the box. Increase the
window until you have the largest box that fits on the paper. This
is the best that you can do. To improve centering you can reduce the
print window and increase the corresponding margin.
The default print window is 7.54x10.14 for printers and bit maps and
10.14x7.54 for HP-GL and displays, corresponding to HP 7440 A paper.
The default margins are printer specific to compensate for paper
handling.
/L7.5,3,.5,0 print window 7.5x3, left margin .5, top margin 0
/L7.54,10.14 sets window equivalent to HP 7440 with A paper
/L7.54,10.74 sets window equivalent to HP 7440 with A4 paper
/L7.84,10.20 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A paper
/L7.60,10.88 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A4 paper
/L10.20,16.38 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with B paper
/L10.88,15.90 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A3 paper
p-20
/M - Magnification Option (Scale, Size) ------------------------------
/M[F]x - magnification - default /MF.9
"magnification"
The M option sets the magnification. F fits the plot to the print
window. The default, /MF.9, prints at 90% of the largest size that
fits in the print window.
/MF.9 prints at 90% the largest size that fits in the print window
/M1 plots at the same size as an HP 7475
/N - Page Number Option ----------------------------------------------
/N[i] - page number - default /N
"plot page"
/Ni says to print only page i of the plotfile. If you do not specify
i then all pages in the plot will be printed (this is the default).
This option is not allowed with PrintCAD.
/N prints all pages in the plotfile
/N3 prints only page 3
/O - Origin and Orientation Option -----------------------------------
/O[1|2|3|4[L]] - origin, orientation - default /O
"origin/rotate"
The O option sets the print window origin and orientation. The
origin is one of four corners numbered 1..4 for upper left, lower
left, lower right, and upper right, and implies a plot rotation. The
L suboption specifies a left handed coordinate system, which mirrors
the plot. If no origin is specified then it is chosen so that the x
axis is the longer dimension.
Here are pictures of PrintGL's view of the output media compared to
an HP 7475's view.
HP 7475 PrintGL
display or
A size B size printer plotter
y -------- 0,0 -------- y ul ----- ur ul -------- ur
| | | | 1 | |4 1 | |4
| | | | | | | |
0,0 -------- x | | | | ll -------- lr
| | | | 2 3
| | ll ----- lr
| | 2 3
x --------
/O2 puts the print window's origin in the lower left corner
p-21
/P - PrintGL Plotfile Option -----------------------------------------
/Pf - plotfile - no default
"plotfile"
The plotfile may be specified as the first parameter with no prefix,
or it may be specified anywhere in the option list with /P. If you
use a file name mask with "*" and/or "?", each matching file is
processed, but the first failure or user break stops all processing.
/P - PrintCAD Intercept Mask Option ----------------------------------
/PADI|mask - intercept mask
/PADI sets up PrintCAD as an AutoCAD ADI plotter driver. /Pmask lets
you choose a DOS file mask as PrintCAD's intercept mask. The mask
should not include disk or directory information - PrintCAD ignores
this information when looking at file names. The mask may contain
the character #. This is the same as ?, but when a file matches the
mask the character that matches the # selects the PrintCAD
configuration - 1..5 selects configurations 1..5 and anything else
selects configuration 1.
AutoCAD 10 will work with PrintCAD only via /PADI.
Regardless of the /P option, PrintCAD always responds to PCAD#.PLT.
/Padi sets up PrintCAD to take data from AutoCAD interrupt 78
/P*.plt intercepts data written to *.plt
/Px#.plt intercepts data written to x1.plt, x2.plt, etc.
/Q - Number of Copies Option -----------------------------------------
/Q[H]i - number of copies - default /Q1
"copies"
/Q sets the number of copies for each printed page. The default is
one. The H suboption specifies to send the codes to have the printer
produce multiple copies, which is much faster than having PrintGL
send the data for each page. This only works with page printers.
/R - Internal Resolution Option --------------------------------------
/Ri - internal resolution - default /R1016
"plotter" "internal dpi: "
/R sets the internal grid resolution in dots/inch. It is normally
1016 and rarely needs to be changed. To fit very large plots into
the -32768..32767 coordinate limit, use /R508. Setting the
resolution to a multiple of the output device resolution times the
magnification may yield a small improvement in print quality.
p-22
/S - Pen Shading Option ----------------------------------------------
/Sc.. - pen shading patterns - default /S0
"pen shade"
"pen all"
/S assigns a shading pattern to each pen. Unspecified pens use the
last specified shade. The shade values are 0..4 and A..M. The
percent coverage for each shade is listed below. Narrow line widths
may not work well with some shade patterns.
0 100% 1 75% A 6.2% D 87.5% G 93.7% K 43.7%
2 50% B 3.1% E 62.5% H 81.2% L 31.2%
3 25% C 1.6% F 37.5% I 68.7% M 18.7%
4 12.5% J 56.2%
Some printers, especially dot matrix printers in multipass modes,
wash out high percentage shade patterns because they have a dot size
that is large relative to the dot spacing.
/S024 sets pen 1 to solid, pen 2 to 50%, pen 3..40 to 12.5%
/T - Temporary File Option -------------------------------------------
/T[+][f] - temporary file - default /TPLOT.TMP
"temp file"
PrintGL uses a temporary file or XMS memory when there is not enough
memory to handle a plotfile. You can specify XMS memory (/T) or a
file (/Te:file for example) on a RAM disk for extra speed. You can
force the use of temporary storage with +.
/W - Pen Width Option ------------------------------------------------
/Wc.. - pen widths - default /WA
"pen width"
"pen all"
The W option assigns pen line widths. Each width may be 0..9, .10 ..
.24 dots, A..I for 2..10 units of 4/1016 inch (.1 mm), M for 4/1016
inch (.1 mm), or N to turn off the pen. A..I and M widths are
approximations, based on the device technology. Odd widths of 9 or
above are modified to the next higher (even) width. Unassigned pens
use the last assigned width.
For nonsquare matrix printers, PrintGL uses pen points optimized for
an h/v ratio of .67, 1, or 1.5. Widths are figured in the direction
of higher resolution, and are not accurate in the other direction.
Line widths of over eight dots are distorted at the print window
edge to fit within the four dot border.
/WA sets pens 1..40 to .2 mm
/WB2.16 sets pen 1 to .3 mm, pen 2 to 2 dots, pens 3..40 to 16 dots
p-23
/X - PrintGL User Interface Option -----------------------------------
/X[B][C][O][P][S][F][U][M][Z][V] - interface options - default /X
"other"
The X option sets various interface options. C causes a break when a
plot is clipped. P causes a pause before each printed page. O
suppresses file overwrite queries.
S suppresses location and size messages. F suppresses location,
size, file name, and page number messages. B suppresses progress
messages. U suppresses unsupported command and incorrect number
messages. V starts PrintGL/W or PrintGL/N as an icon (command line
only).
M prevents PrintGL from allocating DOS upper memory blocks.
Z turns off the shareware notice panel (menu only).
/XS gives only the most important messages
/X - PrintCAD Control Option -----------------------------------------
/XQ - queries PrintCAD installation
/XR - removes PrintCAD if allowed
/X[E|N|X][A][M][L][W][P][S][Z][-|+] - controls PrintCAD's setup
/XQ checks to see if PrintCAD is installed. /XR removes PrintCAD
from memory, if allowed. /XQ and /XR disallow all other options.
The other suboptions control setup, and are effective only for
initial setup. X specifies XMS for swapping - this is the default. E
forces the use of EMS for swapping instead of XMS. N inhibits
swapping. This forces the entire program to load in low memory and
it will take a large chunk of DOS memory. In return, all of the
compatibility problems of swapping TSRs are removed. This can be
very useful with DOS extender based CAD programs.
A sets an alternate handle (use with PC-Draft-CAD, Drafix, and
DesignCAD). M sets an alternate mouse handler. These suboptions may
improve compatibility.
L forces PrintCAD to load its resident part low. W forces PrintCAD
to load its swapping work area low. P causes program prefix segment
checking. These suboptions may improve compatibility in unusual
situations, but are generally not needed and may make things worse.
+ or - increases or decreases the PrintCAD memory space, for
improved speed or reduced resource usage.
S adds progress beeps. This is not advised with the N suboption.
Z turns off the shareware notice panel.
/XM sets up PrintCAD with its alternate mouse handler
p-24
/Y - Plotter Options -------------------------------------------------
/Y[D|Y][S|E][A][1|2][N][B] - plotter options - default /YDS
"plotter" "D/Y switch position: "
"plotter" "S/E switch position: "
"plotter" "read ADI: "
"plotter" "read HP-GL/2 (Y|except Pens|N): "
"plotter" "start on for Y, HP-GL/2: "
"plotter" "large polygon fill buffer: "
The Y option sets the plotter's D/Y switch to D or Y and the S/E
switch to S or E. Y starts with the plotter off and responds to
esc.(, esc.Y, esc.), and esc.Z commands. D starts with the plotter
on and ignores these commands. S sets the standard interpretation of
IW (clipping window) commands. E sets 7550 enhanced interpretation
of IW commands, so that they use scaled coordinates.
The A suboption turns on PrintGL's ADI handler. The 2 suboption
turns on HP-GL/2 subset interpretation and sets the Y and E
suboptions. The 1 suboption is the same as 2 but causes HP-GL/2 pen
attribute control to be ignored.
The N suboption starts with the plotter on if the Y switch or
HP-GL/2 processing is on. This is useful for HP-GL/2 that assumes
the plotter is already in HP-GL/2 mode rather than HP-RTL mode.
B increases the polygon fill buffer by 4000 line segments.
/Z - Processing Options ----------------------------------------------
/Z[x,y[,z]][E][C][S] - processing options - default /Z10,5,180
"plotter" "def, min, max chord angle: "
"plotter" "enhanced font: "
"plotter" "color to shade on b/w formats: "
"plotter" "coarse shade patterns: "
Except for the C and S suboptions, this option is not useful with
plotfiles that draw circles, arcs, and text as line segments.
The Z option specifies the default, minimum, and maximum chord
angles for circles and arcs. The HP 7475 defaults to a chord angle
of 5 with no minimum. Using chord angles of less than 10 returns
little print quality improvement and adds to processing time. The
default is /Z10,5,180. For better emulation use /Z5,2,180.
The E suboption says to use the enhanced font, which doubles the
number of chords on curves in text, improving the curve smoothness.
This is only effective on character heights above .5 cm.
C says to convert colors to shade levels for monochrome output
formats. Otherwise all colors except white are converted to black.
S says to use coarse shade patterns.
/Z5,2 sets the default chord angle to 5 degrees, the minimum to 2
p-25
PrintGL Menu ---------------------------------------------------------
PrintGL includes a menu interface to let you select options, choose
a list of plotfiles, and print. Run PRINTGLD, PRINTGLW, or PRINTGLN
with no command line parameters to bring up the menu.
The main menu is displayed at the top of the screen, and the bottom
of the screen is used differently for each main menu item. The main
menu is divided by column into six groups, described below. The
functions of the menu items are described in detail above.
When the cursor is on a main menu item, the current state of the
submenu is displayed below. To change the submenu, press Enter. The
items are modified with cursor movement and typing numbers/names.
Enter returns you to the main menu with the new values. Esc returns
you to the main menu with the values unchanged.
The PrintGL documentation can be viewed by pressing F1 from any menu
that displays F1 on its key line.
If one of the first two letters of a main menu item is capitalized,
that item may be accessed immediately by pressing the letter. When a
cursor bar has a notch, the value in the notch may be edited.
Menu Specific Functions ----------------------------------------------
The first column of main menu items is dedicated to menu related
functions These include run PrintGL, switch to an alternate
configuration, exit, save the configurations, set menu options, and
create a BAT file corresponding to the current configuration.
The "Alt config" item rotates between five menu configurations. The
current configuration name is in the upper left corner. Menu items
that begin with * are the same for every configuration.
The "save configs" item saves the current menu configurations to an
INI file (or optionally the EXE file). Only the first nine lines in
the plotfile list are saved. You can copy the EXE file to a
different name and it will have its own configurations and INI file.
The "menu config" item lets you set the configuration name, colors,
the BAT file created by the "create BAT" option, and choose INI or
EXE saves. For PrintGL/W and PrintGL/N you can choose the font
height, selected from "fixedsys" fonts, VGAFIX (15), and 8514FIX
(20). Screen colors are specified with the mnemonics listed here:
k black r red k+ gray r+ bright red
b blue m magenta b+ bright blue m+ bright magenta
g green y yellow/brown g+ bright green y+ bright yellow
c cyan w white c+ bright cyan w+ bright white
For PrintGL/W and PrintGL/N you can use - and * as color modifiers.
These are effective with 15, 16, or 24 bit color setups. To use the
default Windows colors, blank out the desired line of colors.
"create BAT" creates a single configuration BAT file for PrintCAD.
You will have to add any /X or /P options as desired.
p-26
Menu Input and Output Choices ----------------------------------------
Column two of the main menu lets you choose the plotfiles to plot
(the /P command line option), the plot page number (/N), the output
destination (/D), output format (/F), and modifications to the
output - compression mode (/F), horizontal and vertical size
multiplier (/F) and prefix and suffix printer codes (/J, /K).
You may enter up to 99 plotfiles in the "plotfile" submenu. Each
file may be preceded by a repetition count from 2 to 5. To choose
from a list of files, enter a mask name and press Enter (the cursor
must be on the mask). The menu will then display a list of
corresponding files. Select any number of the files by moving the
cursor to the desired file and pressing Space (or the right mouse
button). Consecutive presses increment the repetition count. If no
files have been selected, then pressing Enter selects the file under
the cursor. The selected files are added to the file list below the
cursor. Files that would overflow the 99th position on the plotfile
list are dropped.
Directories are shown at the top of file lists and are designated by
a trailing \. If you select a directory (repetition counts are not
allowed), then you can use that to display a new file list. This is
handy for navigating a disk to search for image files.
The first nine plotfiles are saved when you do a "save configs".
When you "Run PrintGL", PrintGL is run for each file on the plotfile
list. Masks are ignored. For any plotfiles that are not successfully
processed, an arrow is inserted in front of the plotfile name. You
can view the results from the "plotfile" main menu item. The arrow
is not considered part of the file name, so you do not need to
remove it to retry PrintGL.
Printers that support color have a color option ("clr:" on the
menu). This lets you specify a black/white printer even though you
may have set up colors with the "pen color" menu. Output formats
that do not support color do not have this option and always convert
the selected colors to black and white.
Menu Processing Options ----------------------------------------------
The third column of main menu items define how the plot is
processed. The options include magnification (/M), origin (/O),
position (/A), plotter (/Y, /Z, and /R options such as ADI and
HP-GL/2 interpretation, default chord angles, and internal
resolution), and initial scaling points (/I).
Menu Pen Options -----------------------------------------------------
The fourth column of main menu items covers the pen characteristics:
width (/W), color and opaque/transparent mode (/C), and shade (/S).
Each of these submenus use the up and down cursor keys to select a
pen, and the left and right cursor keys to choose an attribute. The
"pen all" submenu combines the four other submenus to let you see or
choose all of a pen's attributes at once.
continued
p-27
For color selection, the one character colors (b,c,g,k,m,r,w,y)
represent pure colors, and the two character colors are shade
pattern mixes. The shade pattern mixed colors use the current
shading option for that pen, unless the shade pattern is 100%
(solid), in which case 50% is used.
Menu Page Layout Options ---------------------------------------------
The fifth column of main menu items covers the page layout. The
first three items are suboptions of the /L option - print window and
margins, form feed, and box. Tiling options (/B) and multiple copies
(/Q) are also here.
Menu Other Options ---------------------------------------------------
Other options are in column six. These include the temporary file
name (/T), and under "other", the pause to load paper, suppress
unsupported command messages and other /X suboptions and one line
that lets you enter command line options to override anything on the
menu.
At the bottom of column six are the auto run options.
Menu Auto Run Mode ---------------------------------------------------
The lower right corner of the menu includes "auto opts" and "auto
run". In auto run mode, the disk is continually searched for new
files that match the mask or file specified in "auto opts". Whenever
one is found, PrintGL is run on that file. This is useful with
multitasking systems such as DESQview and Windows. Run PrintGL's
auto run mode and switch it to the background. Then you can output
files and they will be printed automatically.
The auto run mask may include the # character. This is the same as
?, but when a file matches the mask the character that matches the #
selects the PrintGL configuration - 1..5 selects configurations 1..5
and anything else selects the current configuration. The first
character of the configuration title must be 1..5 to match the
selected configuration.
Auto run mode uses one of two ways of choosing new files (specified
under "auto opts"). The first is by time/date stamp. In this mode it
will only catch files that have a time/date stamp that is later than
when auto run mode was started and is later than the last file
processed in auto run mode. The file with the earliest time/date
stamp is processed first. Copying a file does not change its
time/date stamp, so copying a file to the auto run mask will not
cause it to be seen as a new file.
The second way is by archive bit. When auto run mode is started, any
file that matches the mask and has its archive bit set will be
processed, regardless of when it was created. The file with the
earliest time/date stamp is processed first. After it is chosen, its
archive bit is unset so that it will not be chosen again. This lets
you copy files to the auto run mask to print them.
p-28
Large Paper ----------------------------------------------------------
PrintGL can handle printing on paper larger than the usual 8.5x11,
but this takes some extra work. First you need to increase PrintGL's
print window to cover the large paper. This is done with the /L
option or "window/margins". The print window plus the margins must
fit within the printer's printable area.
And then you must make sure that your printer recognizes the larger
paper height. For continuous forms paper this is best done by
setting skip perforation to off, either by printer switch or with
PrintGL prefix codes. For Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, IBM, and NEC line
printers (dot matrix, ink jet, thermal) use /J27 79, or "modify
output" "prefix codes: 27 79".
For cut sheet paper, on Canon (except BJ native mode), Epson,
Fujitsu, IBM, and NEC line printers use /J27 67 0 n, where n is the
page length in inches. For the PDP ProTracer use /J27 67 n, where n
is the page length in lines, at six lines per inch.
And for some printers you need to increase the right margin. For the
Canon BJC in Epson mode use /J27 81 114. For the HI V50/100 in
printer mode use /J27 91 88 2 0 1 255.
For page printers, legal size paper may be specified with these
printer code prefixes: HP-PCL printers /J27 38 108 51 65 (/K27 38
108 50 65 to reset to letter), Canon LBP /J27 91 51 50 59 59 112
(/K27 91 51 48 59 59 112 to reset), IBM LaserPrinter /J27 91 70 5 0
3 1 2 1 (/J27 91 70 5 0 3 1 1 1 to reset).
To get a 10x16 print window on 11x17 paper with a Canon, Epson,
Fujitsu, IBM, or NEC line printer, use these options: /L10 16 0 .25
/J27 67 0 17. You will probably need to adjust the margins (0 .25)
for best centering.
The maximum width of the print window on most narrow carriage
printers is 8 - 8/(horizontal dpi). For 300 dpi printers, this is
7.97. At 120 dpi it is 7.93. The maximum width of the print window
on most wide carriage printers is 13.6 - 8/(horizontal dpi). At 180
dpi this is 13.55. At 360 dpi it is 13.57. The horizontal margin
should be set to 0 to get this width.
p-29
Tips On AutoCAD ------------------------------------------------------
There are many ways to use PrintGL with AutoCAD. Here is a good way
to start.
Configure AutoCAD for an HP 7585 plotter. Select output to a file.
Do not do any plotter calibration. Set a specific scale, do not fit.
Do not rotate. Set a plotter window that is larger than you will
ever need, 30x30 for example (this will prevent AutoCAD from
clipping the plot). Set up your plotter pen table so that each
screen color is assigned a different pen.
With PrintGL you can rotate (/O or "origin"), magnify (/M or
"magnification"), assign pens (/C,/S,/W or "pen color", "pen shade",
"pen width"), and calibrate (/F or "modify output" "h,v size
multiplier"). Use /A or "position" "plot center at print window
center" to automatically center your plot in the print window.
To use the AutoCAD 12 plot preview function set the AutoCAD plot
area to match the PrintGL print window with horizontal and vertical
numbers reversed (for an 8x10 print window set a 10x8 plot area).
Color Processing -----------------------------------------------------
Color graphics devices use a variety of color technologies. PrintGL
supports these basic types.
CMY or cyan/magenta/yellow is used by inkjet printers with no black
ink. This uses three color planes and gives eight pure colors.
CMYK or cyan/magenta/yellow/black is used by inkjet and dot matrix
printers. This uses four color planes and gives eight pure colors.
Using black ink instead of a cyan/magenta/yellow mix gives a more
neutral black color.
RGB or red/green/blue is used by displays and bit maps. This uses
three color planes and gives eight pure colors.
RGBI or red/green/blue/intensity is used by displays and bit maps.
This uses four color planes. All simple colors except black are
intense. When you specify any color mixed with black at 50%, then
instead of mixing the colors at 50%, the intensity is turned off.
This gives fifteen pure colors.
CMYK and RGBI are used by default when they are appropriate. You can
switch to CMY or RGB with the ` suboption of /F. For displays this
gives a better picture of how a printer will handle the colors. For
dot matrix printers it may speed printing by eliminating the use of
the black ribbon.
/FA! (300 dpi color HP-PCL) uses CMY color by default. /FA!`
switches to CMYK color to access true black on the DeskJet 550C.
p-30
Compatibility and Technical Information ------------------------------
PrintGL/D will run on any DOS computer with MS-DOS 3.0 or above.
MS-DOS 3.3 or later is recommended. It requires up to 256K of free
memory. More memory may speed printing. The PrintGL/D menu can use
any text display mode with at least 80 columns and 25 lines.
PRINTGLD.EXE should not be compressed with EXE file compressors
because it rewrites the EXE file when saving its configurations.
PrintGL/W is an MS Windows 3.1 program and requires a 286 computer.
PrintGL/N is an MS Windows NT/95 program for IBM compatible systems.
PrintCAD will run on any DOS 286 computer with MS-DOS 3.0 or above
with 400K of EMS or XMS memory and a base memory region of 512K.
Because it is a swapping resident program, it may have problems in
some environments. PrintCAD can handle VCPI (Virtual Control Program
Interface) based DOS extenders, but DPMI based programs and stand
alone DOS extenders may cause problems.
When using a DOS extender based program such as AutoCAD 386 or
Microstation 4, use an extended/expanded memory manager that
provides VCPI, such as MS-DOS 5 EMM386/HIMEM, QEMM 386, or 386MAX.
PrintGL was written by Cary Ravitz and compiled with Borland Pascal
7.01 and Delphi 2.0.
HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and ADI Commands -------------------------------------
PrintGL supports the 7475 and 7440/17440 command sets except for
character set 8 (Katakana), digitize commands, output commands, the
error mask command, and some device control commands. In addition,
PG, AF, ES, LO, character set 5, line types -8..-1, 7, and 8, and
proportional spaced fonts are supported. Forty pens are allowed
instead of eight.
With /YA or "plotter" "read ADI: Y", PrintGL supports ADI 4.0 vector
plotter binary commands created at 1016 steps/inch with up to forty
pens and up to eight non-solid line types.
With /Y2 or "plotter" "read HP-GL/2 (Y|except Pens|N): Y", PrintGL
adds support for a subset of HP-GL/2, switches to enhanced IW and RO
interpretation, and switches to plotter on/off mode (/YY) with
esc%..B switching the plotter on and esc%..A switching it off.
HP-GL/2 support includes pen color, shading, transparency, and width
control, compressed data, shaded fills, 256 pens, and the AC and IR
commands. PrintGL acts like an HP-GL/2 plotter, not an HP-GL/2
printer, so form feeds are done with the PG command not the form
feed character. If you are using a monochrome printer, you should
turn PrintGL's color off with ~ or "clr: N" to prevent color being
turned on from the plotfile. Many HP-GL files will not run if
HP-GL/2 interpretation is on.
With /Y1 or "plotter" "read HP-GL/2 (Y|except Pens|N): P", PrintGL
interprets HP-GL as with /Y2 except that the HP-GL/2 pen control is
ignored and the PrintGL pen attributes are used.
PRINTGL2.DOC and PRINTGL2.CHR include details on this subject.
p-31
Output Devices (Displays, Printers, Plotters, Bit Maps, Fax) ---------
Canon BJ and BJC Printers ------------------------------------------
PrintGL has five basic drivers for Canon BJ and BJC printers. /F7
is the IBM mode driver. It works with the BJ130e, BJ5,
BJ10/10e/10ex, BJ20, BJ200/230, BJ300/330, and BJC4000. /F7+ gives
dark print with line to line overlap.
/FJ is the BJ130 mode driver. It works with all Canon BJ printers
in IBM or native mode. The printer is set to 10 pitch text.
/FB is the Epson mode driver. It works with the BJ200/230, BJC600,
BJC800/820, and BJC4000. Color is supported. /FB+ gives sparse
line to line overlap. For the BJC800/820 the prefix code 27 81 114
sets the print width to 11.4 inches.
/F& is the native mode driver. It works with the BJ200/230,
BJC600, BJC800/820, and BJC4000 in any mode. Color is supported.
Epson/IBM mode prefix codes are not compatible and are not needed.
Always use form feed with the BJ native driver unless you have
previously set BJ native mode.
/F@ is the CaPSL mode driver for the BJC880. Color is supported.
Some of these printers have an image density option (DIP switch
and/or front panel switch). Low density eliminates every second
dot. To get the full 360 dpi resolution, use high density.
Canon LBP Printers -------------------------------------------------
/FD works with any Canon LBP 4 and 8 printers that do not have the
SX or 30 suffix. If the printer is in Diablo mode, it is switched
to ISO mode. At 300 dpi it takes up to one meg of printer memory
to print a full page of graphics.
The ! suboption switches to CaPSL 4 data compression. /FD+! is the
best driver for the LBP 8 Mk4 at 600 dpi.
You might need to set up the printer with /J27 59 27 91 50 38 122.
To switch back to Diablo mode on completion, use /K27 58.
Any Canon LBP printer with the SX or 30 suffix is an HP-PCL
printer and should use the /FI drivers.
Display ------------------------------------------------------------
When you display a plot, the cursor keys scroll the plot, S cycles
between full, half (the default), quarter, and eighth page
scrolling, PgDn and PgUp zoom and unzoom (by 1.4) and Enter or Esc
returns.
PrintCAD cannot drive displays.
/FC drives a CGA, but does not give color.
continued
p-32
The EGA drivers, /FE and /FM, require a 128K or 256K EGA. /FC will
work with a 64K EGA. /FM is for an EGA card with a digital (TTL)
monochrome monitor.
/FH supports the Hercules monochrome graphics card.
/FV works with any VGA card.
/FV+ works with VESA 800x600 mode, /FV* works with VESA 1024x768
mode, /FV^ works with VESA 1280x1024 mode, and /FV^i,j works with
a matching VESA mode.
For MCGAs, use the VGA driver without color - /FV~.
The Windows display driver (/FV%) does not use the resolution
modifier, and instead sets the resolution to the screen width in
dots divided by 10.8.
Display output cannot be redirected to a file.
Epson, IBM 9 Pin Printers ------------------------------------------
/FN, /FW, and /F1 cover a wide range of Epson/IBM compatible 9 pin
dot matrix printers. You need a cyan/magenta/yellow/black ribbon
to get color prints. The * drivers use 1/240 graphics. /FN+, /FN*,
/FW+, and /FW* use 1/216 indexing and do three vertically
interleaved passes. /F1+ and /F1* use 1/144 indexing and do two
vertically interleaved passes. /FW sets line feeds to 1/6 inch.
For Epson printers and other printers with 1/216 indexing
hardware, /FN is preferred. For some not quite compatible
printers, /FW works. For IBM Proprinters and other printers with
1/144 indexing hardware, /F1 gives better results.
These drivers use the following escape codes:
esc 3 set n/216 line feeds for all /FW
esc J index n/216 (n=2 for 1/144 index) for all /FN and /F1
esc L graphics command for /FN, /FN+, /FW, /FW+, /F1, and /F1+
esc Z graphics command for /FN*, /FW*, and /F1*
esc r set ribbon color (only if color is specified)
Epson, Fujitsu, NEC, Toshiba 24 Pin Printers -----------------------
/FT covers all Epson LQ printers and many compatible printers
(Panasonic in LQ mode and others). /FF works with Fujitsu 24 pin
printers in Fujitsu mode. /F9 works with NEC 24 pin printers. /FO
works with Toshiba 24 pin printers. /FO resets the line feed
distance to 1/6 inch on completion.
For all of these drivers, you need a cyan/magenta/yellow/black
ribbon to get color prints. The + and * drivers use 1/360 graphics
mode, and the * drivers use 1/360 (1/120 for /FO*) indexing and
reset the line feed distance to 1/6 inch on completion. A clean
paper path with equal tension on each side is needed for good
360x360 graphics.
continued
p-33
Many 24 pin printers are not capable of 360x360 graphics and a few
cannot handle 360x180 graphics.
The compression mode drivers (! suboption or "modify output"
"compression mode: Y") may or may not be an improvement.
The /FT drivers use the following printer escape codes:
esc $ absolute tab
esc * ' graphics command for /FT
esc * ( graphics command for /FT+, /FT*
esc + set n/360 indexing for /FT*
esc 2 set 1/6 indexing for /FT*
esc J index n/180 for /FT, /FT+
esc r set ribbon color (only if color is specified)
Epson Stylus and Esc/P2 printers -----------------------------------
/F$ drives Epson Stylus and other Esc/P2 printers. Note that
Esc/P2 requires a different prefix code for paper size than other
line printers. Always use the form feed option with this driver
unless you have previously set Esc/P2 compressed graphics mode.
/F$+, the 720 dpi Esc/P2 driver, is only for the Stylus Color with
special paper. The prints are screened by 50% to eliminate
excessive ink flow (which would result in ink bleeding and
pooling). /F$* is the same driver but without screening, which may
be useful for newer models that do not overprint so much.
/FB~ drives Epson Stylus and older Epson 48 nozzle inkjet
printers, using compressed Esc/P control codes. It does not
require a form feed or interfere with previous printer settings.
Fax/Modems ---------------------------------------------------------
PrintGL will not create data for direct use by fax/modem devices.
Most fax software will read PCX or DCX (for multiple images) files
and PrintGL can generate these files.
Use /FZ~203,196 or "ZSoft PCX b/w h,v dpi: 203,196" to generate a
PCX at 203x196 dpi which is the native fax high resolution.
HI Jetpro V50/100 --------------------------------------------------
You can drive the HI V50/100 with HP-GL/2. Set the resolution to
360 (/F0 360) and reverse the width and height in the print
window, for example 10x8 instead of 8x10 for 8.5x11 paper. The
maximum window height is 15.25.
In printer mode the HI V50/100 acts as a Canon BJ IBM mode printer
(/F7). The maximum print width is 15.25 and you need the prefix
code 27,91,88,2,0,1,255 to get beyond 13.6 inches.
p-34
HP DeskJet ---------------------------------------------------------
/FI works with any black/white DeskJet in portrait mode.
/FA has three modes for different levels of color HP-PCL. /FA uses
RGB color and works with the DeskJet 500C. /FA! uses CMY color and
works with all color DeskJets. /FA!` uses CMYK color to give give
better blacks only on the DeskJet 550C, 560C, 660C, and 850C (the
DJ 1200C and 1600C convert from CMY to CMYK color internally).
HP LaserJet --------------------------------------------------------
/FL works with any LaserJet compatible printer. /FL! works with LJ
2 (PCL 4) printers. /FI works with LJ 3 (PCL 5) printers. /FI+ is
a 600 dpi driver for the LaserJet 4.
All of these drivers work in portrait mode, which may be set with
/J 27 38 108 48 79 or you can reset the printer with /J 27 69.
LaserJets with under one meg of memory may not be able to handle a
full page of graphics. /FL! uses less printer memory than /FI, so
it may be preferred on LaserJet 3s with limited memory.
HP PaintJet --------------------------------------------------------
/FP drives 180 dpi PaintJet printers. /FP! uses data transfer mode
2 and works only with a PaintJet XL.
Use /FA! (the DeskJet CMY driver) with the PaintJet XL300.
HP QuietJet --------------------------------------------------------
/FQ works with QuietJets in HP-PCL mode.
HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and HP-RTL -----------------------------------------
/F8 drives HP-GL and HP-GL/2 pen plotters. The output is low level
HP-GL, converting text, arcs, fill, and clips to vectors. The
output is HP 7220 compatible, containing IN, IP, SC, SP, IW, LT,
PA, PU, and PD commands. PG is used for form feeds. If you specify
no form feed then multiple plots may be appended to the same page.
/F0 drives HP-GL/2 raster plotters (HP-GL/2 / HP-RTL devices).
/F0- drives HP-GL/2 printers (HP-PCL 5 devices).
/F0+ drives HP-RTL raster plotters.
For any of these drivers, you can append the nominal resolution
(for example /F8 300). When you set the nominal resolution of
HP-GL to other than 1016, enhanced IW command interpretation (HP
7550 enhanced mode) is needed to handle dashed lines correctly.
For HP-GL output the width parameter (/W) is used as a pen
selector, so for each pen in the original HP-GL, you can specify a
new pen in the output. The default /W option for /F8 is
/W12345678. Shading and color are ignored.
p-35
IBM Inkjets - ExecJet 4072, ExecJet II, Color Jetprinter 4079 ------
These are three completely different printers. The ExecJet 4072 is
Canon BJ330 compatible. Put the printer in IBM mode and use /F7.
The ExecJet II and IIc are DeskJet and DeskJet 500C compatible
printers and should be used with /FI and /FA!. Use the prefix code
27,38,108,48,69 to start printing at the top of the paper.
The 4079 is basically a PostScript printer and it can be driven
with /FS360. Newer versions of the printer can be set to ASCII
text mode and driven with /F& (Canon BJ native mode), which will
likely be faster than PostScript. Older printers can be turned on
with the two leftmost buttons held down until startup is complete
and then put in ASCII dump mode to use /F&. Always use form feed
with the BJ native driver unless you have previously set BJ native
mode.
IBM LaserPrinter 4019, 4029, 4037, 4039, Optra ---------------------
/F4 drives any LaserPrinter 4019, 4029, or 4037 in PPDS (native)
mode. /FL will work for HP LaserJet mode. At 300 dpi it takes up
to one meg of printer memory to print a full page of graphics.
The ! suboption or "modify output" "compression mode: Y" switches
to 4029 data compression. /F4+! works with the 4029 with 600 dpi
PPDS upgrade.
All 4039s and Optras are HP-PCL printers and may be driven with
/FI or /FI+. Some support PostScript (/FS) and some support 1200
dpi HP-PCL (/FI*).
IBM 24 Pin Printers ------------------------------------------------
PrintGL has three drivers for Proprinter X24 compatible printers.
Use native mode, not AGM. /F6 is for all IBM X24s and the 24P.
These printers do 1/144 inch indexing and using them at 180 dpi
gives horizontal white streaks every 2/3 inch. The /F6 drivers
compensate for this by indexing 19/144 per line, giving 182 dpi.
To work properly the printer must start on a 1/72 boundary so it
is best to keep line feeds at a multiple of 1/72 (1/6, 1/8, 1/9).
/F5 is referred to as X24 alternate 1 and is for printers that are
X24 compatible except for 1/180 inch indexing. This is the case
with most X24 compatible printers, including the IBM Quickwriter
and IBM 2390 and 2391. /F5* works only with printers that do 1/360
indexing, including the 2390 and 2391 but not the Quickwriter.
/FX is referred to as X24 alternate 2 and is the same as /F5
except for the vertical units command. /FX works with Panasonic
printers in X24 mode.
The compression mode drivers (! suboption or "modify output"
"compression mode: Y") may or may not be an improvement.
p-36
IBM Quietwriter 2 and 3 --------------------------------------------
/F2 and /F3 drive the Quietwriter 2 and 3. Line feeds are set to
1/6 inch on completion.
JRL J bubblejet ----------------------------------------------------
/F# drives the JRL J bubblejet in Epson LQ mode.
Kodak Diconix Color 4 ----------------------------------------------
/FK drives the Color 4.
Mannesmann Tally MT92C ---------------------------------------------
/FA (the DeskJet 500C RGB driver) drives the MT92C.
Pacific Data Products ProTracer ------------------------------------
/FG drives the ProTracer (base model) in IBM Proprinter mode. The
maximum print window width is 14.97.
PostScript ---------------------------------------------------------
/FS outputs printable Encapsulated PostScript with no preview bit
map. Text, arcs, fill, and clips are converted to vectors, so
PrintGL is not a general purpose HP-GL to PostScript converter. If
no form feed is specified then "showpage" is not output, and more
PostScript may be appended to the page. PostScript overwrites as
it draws, so overlapping lines appear opaque.
You can specify the nominal resolution of the PostScript by
appending it to the /F option (for example /FS 300).
You can specify the paper tray with a prefix code that includes
the tray number followed by " XP". For example /J 49 32 88 80 uses
tray 1.
/FY (not included in PrintCAD) appends a black/white TIFF preview
bit map to a PostScript file. To use it, create a PostScript file
with PrintGL and then run PrintGL again, specifying the same
options except /FY instead of /FS. The destination file is
appended by default. /FY assumes a PostScript file, generated by
PrintGL, is being appended. You may set the resolution - the
default is 72x72 dpi. Here is an example:
PRINTGLD printgl.plt /Dsample.eps/LB6,6/O2/FS
PRINTGLD printgl.plt /Dsample.eps/LB6,6/O2/FY
Star Micronics SJ-144 ----------------------------------------------
/F: drives the SJ-144. Always use the form feed option with this
driver unless you have previously set CDM mode.
When using /F: with PrintCAD and color you might need to use /XM+
to give PrintCAD enough memory for processing.
p-37
Tektronix ColorQuick -----------------------------------------------
/FR drives the ColorQuick.
Windows Printer ----------------------------------------------------
/FW% drives the default Windows printer. The data is sent at the
resolution of the printer and is always sent to the Print Manager
regardless of the PrintGL destination. For PrintGL/W ! causes
PrintGL to band the output to the driver. This can improve print
speed or cause Windows to abort the print.
ZSoft PCX, DCX Bit Map ---------------------------------------------
/FZ and /FZ~ output 1 bit/plane color and monochrome ZSoft PCX bit
maps. The horizontal and vertical dots/inch may be appended to
override the default 100x100, for example /FZ80,90.
PCX output should generally be directed to a file with the /D
option. For multiple page plots and tiled plots use a three digit
number for the output file (/D option) so that a new (sequentially
numbered) file will be created for each page.
Since most fax software can take PCX files as input, this is
useful for faxing images. Use /FZ~203,196 to match the fax
resolution.
DCX is an extension to PCX that allows multiple images in a file.
/FZ! and /FZ!~ are analogous to the PCX drivers but you can append
these images to other DCX images by setting the destination to an
appended file.
p-38
Useful Prefix and Suffix Codes ---------------------------------------
Below, n represents an integer, and lo(n) and hi(n) refer to the low
and high bytes of a 2 byte integer.
Canon, IBM, Reset 27 64
Epson, NEC, Paper n inch 27 67 0 n
Fujitsu, Right margin n columns 27 81 n (not for IBM)
dot matrix, Skip perforation off 27 79
inkjet Bi|uni directional 27 85 [0|1]
Can BJ Page length, right margin x 10 27 40 103 3 0 n 1 n
native Print mode n (0..4 for A..E) 27 40 99 1 0 n
Print mode n (0..2,8) 27 40 99 2 0 16 16+n
Esc/P2 N/dpi inch paper 27 40 67 2 0 lo(n) hi(n)
Bi|uni directional 27 85 [0|1]
Microweave 27 40 105 1 0 1
Microdot 27 40 101 2 0 0 1
HP PCL, Reset 27 69
DeskJet, Portrait|landscape 27 38 108 [48|49] 79
LaserJet, Top margin 0 27 38 108 48 69
PaintJet Skip perforation off 27 38 108 48 76
Paper letter|legal|11x17 27 38 108 [50|51|54] 65
Manual feed 27 38 108 50 72
HP DJ500C High quality, slow 27 42 111 49 81
No ink depletion 27 42 111 49 68
HP PJXL300 Low quality, fast 27 42 111 45 49 81
HP QJ Mode PCL|default 27 37 [65|64]
IBM LP, letter|legal, tray 1, n copies 27 91 70 5 0 3 1 [1|2] n
PPDS letter|legal, manual, n copies 27 91 70 5 0 1 1 [1|2] n
Canon Reset 27 99
CaPSL, Paper letter|legal 27 91 51 [48|50] 59 59 112
LBP, Feed automatic|manual 27 91 [48|49] 113
BJC880 Full page memory mode 27 59 27 91 50 38 122
Cursor to top of page 27 91 48 100
ISO|Diablo mode 27 [59|58]
PostScript Paper tray 0|1|2|3 [48|49|50|51] 32 88 80
Paper letter|legal|11x17 88 [84|71|76]
ProTracer Paper 11|14|17|22 inch 27 67 [66|84|102|132]
HI V50/100 Max margins 27 91 88 2 0 1 255
p-39
Answers --------------------------------------------------------------
If your plot is messed up, with wraparound lines covering the page,
you have probably exceeded PrintGL's internal coordinate limit. This
happens when the HP-GL coordinates exceed 32 inches. Reduce the
internal resolution with "plotter" "internal dpi: 762" or /R762 for
coordinates up to 42 inches or /R508 for up to 64 inches.
If your printer ejects the paper before the plot is finished, you
probably need to specify a paper length prefix code. For most line
printers use /J27 67 0 n where n is the page length in inches. Canon
BJ native mode uses /J27 40 103 3 0 n 1 114 where n is the page
length in inches times 10 (the default is 17). Epson Esc/P2 uses
/J27 40 67 2 0 lo(n) hi(n) where n is a two byte integer specifying
the page length in dots. The PDP ProTracer in IBM mode uses /J27 67
n where n is the page length in lines (6 lines/inch usually).
If an extra sheet of paper feeds after a print, your print window
probably exceeds the print area of the printer. Turn form feed and
box on and reduce the vertical window or margin until then entire
box prints and just one sheet feeds.
If you are having trouble getting the print size or location as
desired, check your /L option or "window/margins". The print window
plus the print margins must define an area that fits in the
printable area of the paper. Printers cannot print over the entire
area of the paper. They usually require .25 to .5 inch margins.
To get color output from PrintGL set up the pens in your graphics
package so that each pen is assigned a color and assign the same
colors to PrintGL's pens with /C or "pen color".
If your prints are coming out not quite to scale, check that no
calibration is being done by the graphics package and then use the
"modify output" "h,v size multiplier:" option or the /F option to
adjust the print size. See /F - Output Format Option for information
on print size correction.
If your print is being clipped unexpectedly, and PrintGL is not
giving a "Plot will clipped" message, the clipping may be caused by
the program that generated the plotfile, the printer, or
misinterpretation of the plotfile. To ensure that the printer is not
doing any clipping, turn box on and reduce the window or margins
until then entire box prints. If the plotfile is using the enhanced
clipping window command, you must set "plotter" "S/E switch
position: Y" to interpret it correctly.
For the Canon BJC-800 in Epson mode, the right margin defaults to 8
inches. Use /J27 64 27 81 114 to set it to 11.4 inches.
For the Canon BJ-330 and most wide carriage printers, the maximum
print window width is 13.57 inches. This is a printer limitation
that you cannot get around.
p-40
PrintCAD Answers -----------------------------------------------------
Do not use PrintCAD with Windows or Windows NT/95. Use PrintGL/W or
PrintGL/N instead.
To access PrintCAD from a CAD package you must PLOT. Do NOT print.
AutoCAD 10 will work with PrintCAD only via /PADI.
If you are getting system crashes or nothing from PrintCAD, try the
options /XAM and /XAEM.
To get COLOR output from PrintCAD, you must:
- Define a multipen plotter in your CAD package.
- Set up the pens in the CAD package so that each color is assigned
to a pen.
- Use the /C option to assign the same colors to PrintCAD's pens.
Plot spoolers are not generally compatible with PrintCAD, and would
be of little value if they were. Print buffers/caches are generally
compatible and useful. You must install the buffer first.
If your prints are coming out not quite to scale:
- For ADI plotters check that the plotter is set to 1016 steps/inch.
- Check that no calibration is being done by the CAD package.
- See /F - Output Format Option for print size correction.
User Support ---------------------------------------------------------
Correspondence about this program may be sent via the support
bulletin board, fax, Compuserve, Internet, or mail.
BBS: 606-268-0577 1200..14400,N,8,1 24 hours/day
To ask a question prepare an ASCII text file with the details.
Call the bulletin board and choose the upload question option.
XMODEM, 1K XMODEM, or ZMODEM file transfer protocol is required
for this. Your question will be assigned a number (such as 1015) -
remember this number. An answer file (with the assigned number)
will be posted, usually within 24 hours on weekdays. To get the
answer, call the bulletin board, choose the download option, then
the answer option, and then enter the answer number.
Compuserve: Cary Ravitz [70431,32]
Internet: 70431.32@compuserve.com
Fax: 606-268-0577
If your fax machine does not send the fax calling signal, the BBS
will answer and hang up (about 30 seconds), then the call is
routed to the fax.
Mail: Ravitz Software Inc.
PO Box 25068
Lexington, KY 40524-5068
USA