I need major league help setting up my plotter

[Anonymous]

I just purchased an HP500 42" plotter with an HP JetDirect 500x external print server. I have a OSX Jaguar network using a gigabit hub and a 100bt internet router. My network is setup manually with my router address being 192.168.1.1. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to set up the plotter. The jet direct card prints out information that says it's address is 192.0.0.192. I cannot see the plotter using Appletalk, and cannot figure out how to set it up using IP Printing (I am told IP printing is the preferred method). Does anyone have detailed instructions of how to set this thing up? Thanks for the time.

[Anonymous]

whooo. . .hmmm.
Does your DesignJet 500 have an HPGL/2 accessory card (click here)?

I know from previous experience on the PC side of things that ArchiCAD ONLY will output from plotmaker in hpgl/2. Without this card, I don't think that you will be able to print at all. Before you go too much further I would recommend you hooking the DJ 500 up to your MAC directly with a cable, and see if you can print from ArchiCAD. If you can print with a USB cable from plotmaker, then you don't need the HPGL/2 accessory card; however, if you don't get anything out from it, then you might want to look into an accessory card. (although you might be able to get around this by using the PRINT option instead of the PLOT option).

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I do have the HPGL/2 card. I have been able to set up plotting from PlotMaker using TCP/IP. Printing is a little tricker, and am still working on that. I'll keep things posted.

[Anonymous]

have you tried using plotflow in classic? it's terrible to do I know (classic) but...
we have a HP455CA connected to a jetdirect EXplus on our jaguar network which sounds similar to yours...manual ip addresses over an ethernet network? Though you might get IP printing to work if you can change the IP address of the jetdirect box to something within your network range (ie, 192.168.1.something) you might need a pc to run the jetdirect configuration program...this was true a year ago when we upgraded to osx and we didn't have a pc that could do it so we didn't bother.
Plotflow in classic can use appletalk...make sure appletalk is turned on in system preferences/network and have it configure automatically.
then in archicad/plotmaker, send to plotflow's spool folder instead of choosing appltalk (which is probably greyed out)

hope thats helpful,
Katie Bertsche
Mercer&Bertsche
AC8v3 various G4s osx.2

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info. Actually, I cannot see the printer using Appletalk. I have the non-post scipt version of the HP 500, so my guess is that I would need the Post Script RIP software in order to see the plotter in Appletalk (I used to have an HP455 CA some time ago and that was the scenario then). I have manually changed the IP address of the jetdirect box to be 192.168.1.11 (in my network range) by using the HP LaserJet utility in OS9. I have to test things more, but I think things are looking good. I have only tested a couple of plots so far, but both have been sent to the plotter instantaneously. They are being sent by Plotting from Plotmaker in lieu of Printing. You can do this as long as you have the HPGL/2 card installed.
I'll post more results later.

[vfrontiers]

Here's a tip from ACUWest....

Set up your plotter using TCP/IP...

Instead of waiting for PLOTFLOW to get OsX Savvy....

1. Open up WEB BROWSER (ftp client works too)
2. Type in ftp://192.0.0.192 (or whatever the IP has been assigned to the plotter)
3. Your web page should show a FOLDER named PORT 1
4. Open this folder
5. Drag .plt files onto the browser's window....

Violins, cellos, the full freakin orchestra!

Ok... I've really on done this on WinXP... but I can't see how Mac would be different.... Anyone? I have used FETCH on Mac and that works....