===========================================================================
 BBS: The Engineer's Studio
Date: 12-26-92 (10:28)             Number: 38
From: TOM MOELLER                  Refer#: 34
  To: GARY MAYDEN                   Recvd: NO  
Subj: Re: Plotting  ??               Conf: (2) A_Cad
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 GM> can you elaborate about using telix to plot a file?

Sure... When you plot to your plotter, AutoCAD asks if you want to write the
plot to a file. If you say yes, it creates a textfile of
the plotting commands, instead of sending them to the
plotter via the serial port. Then you take the file to a
machine with a terminal program, and a serial cable to the
plotter, and start up the terminal program. Set the port
and speed for whatever your plotter likes (my Houston
Instruments DMP41 likes COM2 and 2400). To make sure you
have the plotter's attention, you can do some commands - D
will put the pen Down wherever it is, U will pick up the
pen, H will take it to the Home corner from wherever it is.
These commands only work with Houston Instruments plotters,
or plotters running the DMPL command set... Most plotters
use HPGL, the Hewlett Packard Graphics Language, which I
haven't memorized. (grin)

When you're sure the plotter is paying attention, hit Page-Up for an upload,
and choose ASCII from the menu. If it uploads your file
very slowly, you might want to change the ASCII upload
options for Line pacing and Character pacing. These two put
in user-specified delays after each line, and each
character, respectively. Since the plotter has its own
buffer, you can probably set these to zero delay. However,
if the handshaking between the plotter and computer isn't
working right, you might lose some data if the computer is
overrunning the plotter. You can work around this by
slowing down the computer with, yup, character pacing. By
throwing in a delay, you give the plotter a chance to catch
up. Shouldn't be a problem, though, if you've already got a
working plotter system.

It's even less of a problem if you have a data buffer in the line. I send
data at 9600 bps to the 512k buffer, which releases it to
the plotter at 2400, as the plotter needs it. The computer
is freed up in a few minutes, as the plot chugs along.
Sometimes a busy Dsize schematic will take two hours to
plot on this thing, but the computer is freed up within 15
minutes, to do other work. The buffer pays for itself in
weeks, in a busy office.

Hope this all helps, and happy holidays!

tom

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