Need Help w/ HP DJ 750C Plus

[TDT]

I just acquired this plotter for home use & I'm trying to plot directly to it from VW2008 with a G4 Powerbook 17" running OSX 10.5.2. The plotter has a built in JetDirect card & it also came with an external Jet Direct box that connects thru a large cable (looks like a RS232). The secondary box was how the guy I got it from had it connected, but to a PC.

I downloaded the 750C Plus driver from HP but no matter what I do I can not establish a connection or get it to plot. I've tried connecting thru both JetDirect devices.

When I use the fax/printer setup, I can not see it & the only driver that shows up in the list is a "HP DesignJet 750C Plus Gutenprint v5.1.3". I use a DesignJet 500C at work without any problems but it does not have the "Gutenprint" stuff in it's driver name it just shows up as a DesignJet 500C.

I went thru the same process when we got the 500C at work & it just showed up in a list, I selected & it plotted so I know I've got to have something hooked up wrong.

I know the plotter works because I saw it printing where I acquired it & it will print built-in test plots & system reports like a champ.

Is it possible to connect to this thing directly or do I have to setup some kind of network?

Obviously I'm totally lost so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[brudgers]

The second jet direct box connects into the parallel port...I don't know if Macs come with these.

For the external print server, you may need a driver on your computer...check the manufacturer's site.

The internal jetdirect card should show up on your network, but the fact that the other guy was using an external server may mean that the interal card is bad.

You can get a used/refurbished one online for less than $100 last time I checked.

Gutenprint is some sort of Mac driver

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

Again, I don't know much about Macs...

[TDT]

brudgers:

Thanks so much for the reply.

Macs don't have parallel ports. The only connection points on the HP JetDirect 300X box is a large cable that goes to the RS232 type port on the plotter & then a RJ45 Ethernet 10/100 cable socket. The built-in JetDirect card in the plotter also has a RJ45 10/100 socket & a BNC port. It looks like I must connect it in whatever fashion using an Ethernet cable.

I checked the HP site & none of the JetDirect devices mention Mac OSX compatibility. I used to work at an all Mac place & we had a JetDirect box on an HP plotter there so I know they at least used to make something Mac compatible, or at least usable.

I really don't have a network to connect it to or to see it on, I'm trying to connect it directly to my Powerbook.

I have a cable modem, with a Linksys Etherfast 4 port cable/dsl router. I have an old desktop Mac that I rarely use connected to one port & my Airport (wireless base station) connected to the second, all via Ethernet cables. Everything I do to connect to the internet, print, etc. is done over my wireless network.

I tried plugging the plotter into the 3rd port on the router but it never shows up anywhere.

Still lost.

[douglas29]

Our office prints from Mac OS 10.5 to a HP DJ755CM printer. I know the 755cm is of the same family but I don't know if the 750 is a postscript printer which may or may not be your problem.

We use the internal JetDirect card for sharing over our network. The printer didn't show up in my printer setup window in 10.5. I had to manually set it up using its IP address and then select the driver. You will need to find out what IP address your router assigned to it.

Then: System Pref /Printer Setup/ Add printer/ IP: Select HP JEtDirect from the drop menu. Put in the IP address and select the driver.

You can also telnet to the printer and manage the JetDirect Card directly.

[TDT]

Thanks for all the help, I finally figured it out.

I downloaded the HP user's manual which didn't come with the plotter when I got it. It stated that to print from a Mac I needed at least 16MB of RAM & a Postscript card. I found both very cheap online (thanks eBay) & it's plotting like crazy now.

The only problem I'm having now is getting 24 x 36 sheets to print out cross-ways across the 36" roll so I don't waste paper & have to trim each sheet. I've tried all the settings in page setup & haven't found the right one yet.

Can anyone help with this one?

Thanks!

[brudgers]

I recommed trying to solve it with the driver software, not from the plotter front panel.

Set your paper size a few inches smaller at first ...on windows there's an auto-rotate option which can confuse things when the paper size is too big (remember the printable area is different horizontally and vertically).

Create a test pdf first so that you can eliminate the VW application from the equation.

If you can't get it to work through software then try making adjustments on he front panel.

Another option is to purchase 24" rolls.

[TDT]

I know about that auto rotate feature you mention because at work everyone but me uses Autocad on PC's & I've seen that feature there in the plot dialog box.

I have this same problem at work when I print 11 x 17's or 18 x 20's on our 24" HP DJ-500. Our draftsman is able to print those sideways so it saves paper but I have never been able to get it to do that from my Mac.

Now that I have the 750C at home I'm in the same boat. If there's an auto rotate feature built into the print driver or Page Setup screen, which controls every other printing feature, I can't find it.

You're right that the 24" paper is the easiest solution & I'd do that if the plotter hadn't come with what will probably be a lifetime supply for me at home (about 12 rolls). I'm not as worried about wasting paper because I have so much, it's just the hassle of having to trim every sheet along the 36" length.

I read in the owner's manual about using the rotate function on the control panel of the plotter but it says it will not work if the drawing contains any raster images. I don't know how to tell if my drawing has those or not, I'm not even sure what those are.

Does VW 2008 normally contain raster images in it's drawings when they are sent to a plotter?

Thanks again!

[brudgers]

Raster images are anything that uses pixels instead of vectors.

Anything with a rendered viewport, jpg, etc. will be sent as a raster.

As for ACAD, there is a seperate driver which many people use for direct printing to the designjets from the application.

There is also a system printer driver.

I don't know much about macs, but recommend turning off auto rotate on the printer...in fact turn off all the features that do things automatically.

Then try sending a PDF with various print settings to see if you can get the orientation correct...do so systematically by changing only one setting at a time. I recommend making a list and checking it off as you proceed.

If that doesn't work, reset everything and then set the plotter to rotate 90 degrees.

If that doesn't work, buy the smaller rolls.

Again take VW out of the equation and print PDF's from Acrobat Reader or another core application.

Edited March 15, 2008 by brudgers