Jon E

Thanks for the suggestions Chris, but the MacSign software that was bundled with the cutter WILL drive the cutter in OS X. The problem is the driver is integral to the Macsign software so I have to keep importing epsf files from VW (where I do my design work) into Macsign every time I want to cut. I am just looking for something to drive the cutter directly from VW.

I know that there are plenty of HP plotters that will run on OS X, but my understanding is that OS X can only output to them in a rasterized format rather than the vector-based hp-gl or hp-gl/2 formas that I need for my cutter. Having just googled it, it looks like the designjet 430 is an inket plotter, so I'd assume it works off rasterized output. I'm looking for an OS X driver that will drive a pen-type plotter (so that each line is individually drawn by moving the pen). This requires some sort of vector based output (which Microspot claim OS X does not support). Can you confirm if one of the output options from your driver is vector based? There is nothing on the HP site to suggest this - but then there's no Mac drivers on for the the 430 either.

Just got following response from technical support at Microspot, who produce the X-RIP software available from Macro Enter. "There is no HP-GL/2 inkjet driver for Mac OS X as Mac OS X does not have support for vector data." I guess that knocks it on the head. If anyone thinks they might have a way to drive a SummaCut directly from Vectorworks in OS X then drop me a line @ jon@scribblestreet.co.uk. (I know Magisign produce a cutter plug-in for Illustrator, but Vectorworks is much better equipped for pop-up design)

I had already looked at the Gimp-Print site, but none of the models on the 'supported printers' page seem to be plotters. I may be out of my depth here, but I assume that means that gimp-prints output is 'rasterised' rather than in a vector-based form that is needed by a plotter. Will check out Macro Enter though. Thanks.

I've got an unusual problem that I hope someone can help with. I'm a paper-engineer who uses Vectorworks for designing children's pop-up books. I'm running Vectorworks 10.5.1 on Mac OS 10.3.9. I used to print out my prototype outlines onto card and then cut them out by hand using a scalpel, but I've recently bought a Summacut D60 signwriter's vinyl cutter that will do the cutting for me. The cutter is essentially a plotter that uses a tiny knife instead of a pen. At the moment I have to export my cutting outlines from Vectorworks as epsfs so that I can import them into the signwriting software (called MacSign) that drives the cutter. The cutter driver is an integral part of the signwriter software and can't be accessed directly by other applications. Unfortunately the cutter manufacturer does not produce an independent driver for Mac OS X, which is why I currently have to use this roundabout route. However I notice that the cutter control language can be reset to HP-GL/2, so if I could get a HP-GL2 driver for Mac OS 10.3.9, I might be able to cut/plot directly from Vectorworks. Can anybody tell me how I could get hold of such a driver?