print to HP755cm from OSX

[fugate2140]

Just purchased a HP755cm plotter and looking forward to plotting several drawings from VW 9.5.2 - I use a Mac PBti667 (OSX). No drivers are available from HP on this plotter. They suggest I purchase the HP800 which is supported by under OSX. I've read the suggestions of using print servers and exporting to a Mac OS9.2 machne to run the plotter. Is this the only way? Thanks, Michael Fugate, ASLA

[Thomas Wagensommerer]

The 755CM is great machine. My 755 works since 6 years without a single problem. It is in use every day and has produced thousands of drawings.

Since the 755CM is a postscript printer it does not need a special driver in Classic MacOS. It only needs a ppd file which tells the apple laserwriter driver which capabilities the printer has. (page sizes, color, etc.) I think the same is true for OSX.

HP does not translate this simple little file to OSX for marketing reasons, in order to get us to buy new plotters.

However HP is not a software company. It has produced the worst software I have ever seen. My OfficeJet G85 is almost unusable because of the badly written HP drivers.

Missing printer support for the 755CM is one of the reasons I did not yet upgrade to OSX, but I am very interested to solve this problem. In my experience most printers are not very picky in regard to the ppd files used.

Perhaps you could try to use the Designjet 800 ppd or you could use the Classic OS 755 ppd. Good luck!

[Kurt Magness]

You can get the 755 ppd in OSX by going to the print center select add printer then when the 755 shows up, either with usb or apple talk connection, under the printer discription choose other, and then search the OS9 extentions folder for the printer discription, and then select the 755ppd and then click add. That should get you the page sizes, etc in OSX. May be you can then get the plotter to print from the vectorworks application or you could save them as .ps files then reboot to OS9 and plot them or maybe plot in classic? OS10.1.5 seems to work dirctly from VWKS OS 10 .2 I have to save them as .ps files then print them. If you got another mac you can network them together and have one computer running OSX and the other running the plotter in OS9 either witha jetdirect server for the plotter or maybe just a crossover ethernet cable to the OS9 machine that has a usb port. You can get jetdirect and old macs on ebay for pretty cheap. I have a powerbook 3400 ( +/- $500 )and a jetdirect (+/- 50) running my plotter. The plotters really work much faster when the computer you work on isn't processing the prints to the plotter. Otherwise you can get Xrip from Microspot to run the plotter which avoids the HP Rip all togther.

[Thomas Wagensommerer]

The OS 9 ppd works just fine for the OS X print center. The Designjet 755CM prints from OS X as expected, without any workarounds. I did a test with some drawings, but I am still in OS 9 for everyday use, so long term experience is missing.

[Kurt Magness]

Which OSX do you use, 10.1 or 10.2 ? I found that 10.2 is totally different with respect to printing. I can only print to file then open the file in the RIP. Can you print from Vwks directly to the plotter in 10.2? My staff works in OS9.2 because they like the window shade for pallets, etc.

[Thomas Wagensommerer]

Sorry to hear this. I tested 10.1 only.

[SQE]

Hi there....just read this, but I have successfully used Gimp Print to print in OSX to my HP755CM. There is no driver specifically for the 755, but there is one for the 750 and it seems to work great.

http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/

[Guest]

You can also use MicroSpot to print to that printer.