calcomp techjet 720 plotter

[Anonymous]

i have an offer to receive a calcomp techjet 720 plotter for free. i am operating 8.1 on OS10.3.4 on a dual G5. this plotter is about ten years old. i did notice it is listed in the default plotters of archicad, but am i to assume this means the driver is included in the software? Or is hooking this up more trouble than it is worth?

I have never had a plotter in my office. My office is on a wired network and i guess I would have to provide some type of additional port device to hook up an ethernet connection to this plotter.

and is this a decent quality plotter to begin with?

any assistance would be appreciated, thanks - Dave

[Anonymous]

It can be made to work, but it may not be worth it.

It is probably best to connect it to an older Mac or PC and use PlotFlow as plot server. The memory limits of the old machine may restrict what you can plot. An associate of mine is having trouble with his Calcomp for this reason.

If you need a plotter, and can afford to buy a new one, do it.

If you are considering that it might be handy and you have time to mess around with it to get it working, then it might be worth it.

[Anonymous]

this is slightly related, but would either of you know how to install expandable memory for this printer? Thanks

[Anonymous]

I have one that served me well for fifteen years. Many of those years I didn't use it at all, but it worked fine for the last several. Until I tried to upgrade the memory. There is a slot for memory expansion, and the manual said it would work with any generic chip. It didn't work with one a friend loaned me, so I purchased one for $100 from Calcomp. That didn't work either, and I damaged something so that the control buttons didn't work. Then it stopped responding to plot commands at all. I gave up and purchased an HP111, which is a different topic.