mac/ pc/ hp gl2

[nobass]

hi all,

quick question, we have VW 8.5.2 for mac. We need to convert drawings to HP/GL2, which the mac version doesn't do. Is it true that the PC version CAN export these directly. And is this regardless of version 8.5.2 or the newest version (9.5 I think?) Before I rush out to buy a version for our PC I just need to know it will do this!

Cheers.

[MikeB]

PC's don't really export to HP-GL2, what they do is you can go the the HP site and download the printer drivers for free for any of their large formatt plotter (hp design jet 600 for instance). Then you can load this plotter driver onto any PC (all of this for free!), it dosen't matter if your PC is accually connected to a plotter. Then you can print out of VW using the HP Plotter driver and save the Plot file to disk. Thats it.

For the macs you have to buy macplot which runs from around $300 to $1000 depending on the options you get.

For your situation you should download the VW viewer (for free, and it will print your files) from the NNA site for your PC. Then download the HP drivers for your PC (for free) from the HP site. This should give all the components you need to produce you HP-GL-2 files with no out of pocket expences.

Good Luck

[nobass]

thanks Mike,one more thing (we're a bit dim when it comes to pc's),we've got VW viewer and installed the hp/gl2 driver, we've managed to "print to file", so we've got a file with the ending .prn. I assume this is the hp/gl2 file, but how the heck do we print this (we want to check it and have a hard copy for ourselves before we send it off. VW viewer cant open this new file.

Thanks

[MikeB]

The .prn file is the HP-GL2 file. From what I understand, HP-GL2 is a printer language that HP developed for its large formatt printers. It is simply a set of instructions for the printer telling it where to put ink. I don't know of any way to view them short of printing the file. You could try www.versiontracker.com and see if they have any type of shareware utility. Otherwise you will have to send it to your print service to run a test print to make sure its working properly.

If you have an in house HP-GL2 language plotter just print it instead of writing the file.

[aersloat]

Try GraphicConverter www.lemkesoft.de. It has been a while since I have tried to open a .prn file and I can't remember how I did it... but I just checked and GC has HP-GL/2 listed as a readable input. GC is shareware so you can try it and see if it works.