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Installation & update
About program installation and update, hardware, operating systems, setup, etc.

Calcomp TechJet 720C

Anonymous
Not applicable
I need some advise on how to get my new iMac OSX 10.4.7 w/ ACad v10 to push my antique plotter. I'm an Apple newbie.
16 REPLIES 16
Anonymous
Not applicable
John wrote:
I need some advise on how to get my new iMac OSX 10.4.7 w/ ACad v10 to push my antique plotter. I'm an Apple newbie.
The Techjet Designer 720c driver is still supported in AC 10. I'm guessing your plotter has an old Parallel interface but it should work with a standard USB to parallel cable.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Phillip,

Thank you. I had been using my plotter successfully with ACad 10 on my old PC, but that computer was stolen! I need to figure out how to work it with the Mac.
Anonymous
Not applicable
John wrote:
Phillip,

Thank you. I had been using my plotter successfully with ACad 10 on my old PC, but that computer was stolen! I need to figure out how to work it with the Mac.
I have an old HP designjet with a parallel port and that works perfectly with AC using the USB to Parallel cable. The mac just sees it as a USB port.
Anonymous
Not applicable
I think I'm getting closer. In the plot dialog, it says, "Cannot Connect to TC/IP plotter". Any suggestions?

Thanks again, I really appreciate it.
Anonymous
Not applicable
John wrote:
I think I'm getting closer. In the plot dialog, it says, "Cannot Connect to TC/IP plotter"...
In plot setup there is a pull down menu that defaults to TCP/IP. Here you should be able to select USB as a connection.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Yes, there are 4 choices: modem port, printer port, apple talk and TCP/IP. Unfortuneately it will only let me pick the TCP/IP. I'm still stuck, and I very much appreciate your assistance.
Anonymous
Not applicable
John wrote:
Yes, there are 4 choices: modem port, printer port, apple talk and TCP/IP. Unfortuneately it will only let me pick the TCP/IP. I'm still stuck, and I very much appreciate your assistance.


See if this helps!

With my HP plotter I get the same problem as you. I can only select TCP/IP as an output from AC. I hadn't realised this because I always choose to save my plot files to a folder instead of directly to the plotter. This gives me a form of drawing issue record every time a file is plotted.

The resulting file (in my case an HPGL plt file) can not only be sent to the plotter at any convenient time but it can also be opened by AC for viewing in the future (very useful as evidence of issue)

In order to plot the files I use Plot flow, which is included in the AC package (there is a specific OSX version of it) When Plotflow is opened choose File>configure. Here you can select the USB port as well as the other options. I don't know why it works here and not in AC because I assume it uses the same resources to drive it!

Now if you click on Setup the system should detect your plotter and you can select it and click OK.

Now use the menu to open your saved plt file and start the plot queue.

I've just done it here so i hope it works on your machine.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thank you Phillip, still trying. (where do I find plot flow?)
Anonymous
Not applicable
John wrote:
..where do I find plot flow?
ArchiCAD 10 standard installation includes the folder containing standard and OSX version
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