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PrintGL 1.50 (C) Copyright Ravitz Software Inc. 1990,1994 PrintGL/D - pen plotter emulator for DOS systems PrintGL/W - pen plotter emulator for Windows systems PrintCAD - printer driver for DOS CAD software Ravitz Software Inc. BBS/FAX 606-268-0577 P.O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 USA Compuserve Cary Ravitz [70431,32] ------------------------------ License ------------------------------- PrintGL (including PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, and PrintCAD) is provided as is. There are no warranties expressed or implied. PrintCAD is a swapping resident program that may have problems with unusual environments. PrintGL is copyrighted by Ravitz Software Inc. You may copy PrintGL only for use under this license agreement. PrintGL is distributed as shareware. You may use PrintGL without charge on a trial basis to determine its suitability for you. If you continue to use it after your evaluation, you MUST purchase a registered copy ($50). You may distribute each of the PrintGL packages as a stand alone product if you keep the entire package together, unchanged, clearly label the disk as shareware, and do not charge more than $10. You may not distribute PrintGL as part of another product or on the same disk with any commercial software. See License and Registration for more information. ------------------------------ Contents ------------------------------ Introduction ....................................................... 3 License and Registration 5 What Is New ........................................................ 6 Installation 6 Operation .......................................................... 7 How To Get HP-GL Plotfiles From Your Graphics Software 9 Messages ........................................................... 9 User Interface 10 Example Setup Instructions For PrintCAD ........................... 11 Overview of Options 12 /1, /2, /3, /4, /5 - PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W Default Options ...... 12 /1, /2, /3, /4, /5 - PrintCAD Alternate Configurations 12 /A - Position Option .............................................. 13 /B - Tiling Option 13 /C - Pen Color Option ............................................. 13 /D - Output Destination Option 15 /F - Output Format Option ......................................... 15 /I - Scaling Point Location Option 18 /J, /K - Printer Code Prefix, Suffix Options ...................... 18 /L - Page Layout Option 19 /M - Magnification Option (Scale, Size) ........................... 20 /N - Page Number Option 20 /O - Origin and Orientation Option ................................ 20 /P - PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W Plotfile Option 21 /P - PrintCAD Intercept Mask Option ............................... 21 /Q - Number of Copies Option 21 /R - Internal Resolution Option ................................... 21 /S - Pen Shading Option 22 /T - Temporary File Option ........................................ 22 /W - Pen Width Option 22 /X - PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W User Interface Option ................ 23 /X - PrintCAD Control Option 23 /Y - D/Y and S/E Settings, ADI and HP-GL/2 Options ................ 24 /Z - Chord Angle, Enhanced Font, Color to Shade Options 24 PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W Menu ...................................... 25 Menu Specific Functions 25 Menu Input and Output Choices ..................................... 26 Menu Plot Options 26 Menu Pen Options .................................................. 26 Menu Page Layout Options 27 Menu Other Options ................................................ 27 Menu Auto Run Mode 27 Large Paper ....................................................... 28 Tips On AutoCAD 29 Answers ........................................................... 29 PrintCAD Answers 30 Color Processing .................................................. 30 Useful Prefix and Suffix Codes 31 Output Devices (Displays, Printers, Plotters, Bit Maps, Fax) ...... 32 HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and ADI Commands 39 Compatibility and Technical Information ........................... 40 User Support 40 p-3 Introduction --------------------------------------------------------- PrintGL is a shareware pen plotter emulator package for DOS and Windows. It includes a DOS program that can be run from the command line and BAT files or via menu (PrintGL/D), an equivalent Windows program (PrintGL/W), and a resident DOS program that intercepts plotter data as it is being written to file (PrintCAD). PrintGL/D is a command line or menu driven program for DOS. It prints or displays HP-GL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, 7475, 17440 subsets), HP-GL/2 (limited subset), or ADI (Autodesk Device Interface 4.0 vector plotter binary format) plotfiles on most PC graphics devices. HP-GL is widely supported by CAD, drawing, plotting, and other graphics programs including AutoCAD, Microstation, FastCAD, Generic CADD, MathCAD, Schema, OrCAD, and SAS. PrintGL will print on Epson and IBM 9 pin printers, Epson, Fujitsu, IBM, NEC, and Toshiba 24 pin printers, HP LaserJet, DeskJet, PaintJet, QuietJet, and HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and HP-RTL devices, HI JetPro printers, IBM ExecJet, Quietwriter 2 and 3, LaserPrinter, and plotters, Canon LBP, BJ, and BJC printers, Epson Stylus, Kodak Color 4, PDP ProTracer, Star SJ-144, Tektronix ColorQuick, and PostScript printers. It will also display plots with a CGA, EGA, VGA, VESA SVGA, or HGC, and output a ZSoft PCX bit map file or an Encapsulated PostScript file with preview bit map. PrintGL/W is a Windows version of PrintGL/D. PrintCAD is a resident pen plotter emulator that acts as a printer driver for most DOS based CAD packages. It lets you print drawings directly from CAD programs, via the CAD program's HP-GL or HP-GL/2 driver or AutoCAD's ADI plotter driver. PrintCAD works with AutoCAD, AutoSketch, Microstation, Cadkey, FastCAD, Generic CADD, Micro CADAM, Draft Choice, PC-Draft-CAD, and other CAD programs. It will print on the same printers noted above but does not do screen output or generate PostScript preview bit maps. PrintCAD is set up via command line (or BAT file). PrintCAD is a swapping resident program that uses 5K of base memory and 400K of EMS or XMS memory. Either 400K of EMS or XMS memory is required and a VCPI handler is recommended. Even if your graphics program supports your printer, you will probably find that PrintGL is faster, gives better print quality, and/or gives more formatting flexibility. PrintGL uses the best graphics modes available for each printer that it supports and uses transfer data compression to improve print speed on many printers. And it gives options such as orientation, magnification, position, and pen width, color, and shading. If you need printed graphics output from personal software, you can output HP-GL and use PrintGL to do the printing. This gives immediate support to a wide range of printers. And it lets you use advanced graphics functions while supporting low function plotters. continued p-4 PrintGL interprets all of the HP 7475 and 7440/17440 (ColorPro with GEC) command set that is applicable to plotfiles except for character set 8 (Katakana). None of the digitize, output, or device control commands (except plotter on and off) are supported as these are only used with direct control of a plotter. And the error mask command is not supported. In addition to the HP 7475 and 7440/17440 commands, PrintGL handles paper feed, label origin, extra space, and enhanced clipping window commands and proportional fonts and line types 7 and 8. PrintGL's HP-GL/2 subset includes pen color, shading, transparency, and width control, compressed data, a few other useful functions. It does not include line attributes, user defined line types and fills, three point arcs, Bezier curves, and HP-PCL and HP-RTL related functions. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. p-5 License and Registration --------------------------------------------- PrintGL (including PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, and PrintCAD) is provided as is. There are no warranties expressed or implied. PrintCAD is a swapping resident program that may have problems with unusual environments. PrintGL is copyrighted by Ravitz Software Inc. You may copy PrintGL only for use under this license agreement. PrintGL is distributed as shareware. You may use PrintGL without charge on a trial basis to determine its suitability for you. If you continue to use it after your evaluation, you MUST purchase a registered copy for $50. This registration covers use of PrintGL/D, PrintGL/W, and PrintCAD by a single person (on multiple computers) or installation on a single computer (may be used by a group of people). There is no cost to use a later 1.** version after registering any 1.** version. You may distribute each of the PrintGL packages as a stand alone product if you keep the entire package together, unchanged, clearly label the disk as shareware, and do not charge more than $10. You may not distribute PrintGL as part of another product or on the same disk with any commercial software. To purchase a registered copy of PrintGL, send your name, address, and $50 check to: Ravitz Software Inc. P.O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 USA You will be sent a printed manual and disk (always the latest version). Specify 3.5 or 5.25 inch disk. If you previously registered PrintGL or PrintCAD, you may send $15 to get a current disk and manual. The price for multiple licenses is $50 for the first copy (with disk and manual) and thereafter $40 per copy with disk and manual or $25 per copy without disk or manual. It is preferred that the check be drawn on a bank in the US, Canada, England, France, or Switzerland, and be payable in US Dollars. If the check is drawn on a bank from any other country, please make it payable in the currency of that country with the amount calculated at the current exchange rate. PrintGL Printer Driver is the graphics engine used in these programs. It may be licensed for use in commercial programs. Send a note to request more information on this. p-6 What Is New ---------------------------------------------------------- For version 1.50: A subset of HP-GL/2 is interpreted. /F: supports the Star Micronics SJ-144. /F$ supports Epson Esc/P2 printers. /ZC causes colors to be translated into shades for b/w devices. The HP-GL/2 driver is completely revised: /F0- supports HP-GL/2 printers /F0 supports HP-GL/2 raster plotters /F0+ supports HP-RTL raster plotters. For version 1.42: P1, P2, and P3 are direct printer port destinations. You can access VESA screen modes from Windows. The * suboption of /D says to output a continuous stream of data to help with networks and multiple PC printer buffers. Auto run mode lets you set up PrintGL as a background task under DESQview or Windows that automatically processes new plotfiles. PrintCAD performance with FastCAD is improved. The Hardware copies suboption has been added to /Q. The latest version of PrintGL is available from the support bulletin board at 606-268-0577 (1200..14400, N,8,1, 24 hours/day, XMODEM, 1K XMODEM, or ZMODEM download), packed in ZIP format. Installation --------------------------------------------------------- Copy the files PRINTGLD.EXE, PRINTGLW.EXE, PRINTCAD.EXE, and PRINTGL.DOC to your working disk or directory. Each of the executable files is stand alone, so you need to copy only the ones that you will be using. It is preferable to use a directory that is in your DOS PATH. In addition to the above files, these files are included in the package. ADD.DOC additional documentation since last release SAMPLE.PLT sample plotfile ORDER.FRM order form README.* quick information HPGL.DOC HP-GL reference HPGL.CHR HP-GL character set plotfile To install PrintGL/W as an icon in the Windows Program Manager, select File, then New, then program item to bring up the Program Item Properties menu. Enter the item name - PrintGL/W, the command line - \path\PRINTGLW, and the working directory - wherever you keep your plotfiles. You can choose from three icons designed for two, sixteen, and 32K color setups. p-7 Operation ------------------------------------------------------------ PrintGL reads a plotfile, does arc, character, fill, etc. to line conversion, stores the data in a coordinate list, and if needed, puts the list on disk. It then reorients the data and determines the plot size. Next the data is resized and relocated. For vector output formats (HP-GL, HP-GL/2, PostScript) data is output from here. For bit mapped devices (most printers, displays, bit maps) the coordinate list is rasterized and output in swaths. You are likely to see the printer print a swath and stop while PrintGL is processing the next swath. Esc stops PrintGL at the next good break point, leaving the printer ready for new data. Ctrl-B stops PrintGL as quickly as possible. You generally need to do a printer reset after a Ctrl-B. When you display a plot, press Enter or Esc to return to the DOS text screen, or any of the four cursor movement keys to scroll across the plot. Press S to cycle between full, half (the default), quarter, and eighth page scrolling. PrintGL works within a printer's current margins and starts at the current vertical print position. If you decline the form feed suboption of the /L option then PrintGL leaves the printer at the start of the line directly below the plot. All printing is done in printer lines that cover the full height of the printhead. PrintGL will not automatically change a printer's operating mode. On multimode printers, the right operating mode must be set before running PrintGL or with the prefix code (/J) option. Internally PrintGL uses two byte coordinates on a 1016 dots/inch grid. This allows for plots with coordinates of over 30 inches - far larger than an HP 7475 can handle. However, if you are using PrintGL to emulate a large plotter, you may overflow the internal coordinate system. This condition is not checked, and it will cause garbage output. You can change the internal resolution to 508 dots per inch (giving 60 inch maximum plot sizes) with the /R option (/R508). This only helps store the original plot internally. The next step in PrintGL converts these coordinates to the requested size in the resolution of the output device, and these coordinates must also fit in the two byte coordinate list. PrintCAD is a resident program that intercepts plot data output from CAD software, processes the data, and prints the resulting picture. When PrintCAD is first run it installs itself. Subsequent runs look for the resident copy and send control information to it, updating the parameters. PrintCAD must be installed before running the CAD software. Do not install it from a DOS shell. PrintCAD automatically loads high if a 5K DOS or XMS upper memory block is available. Do not use LOADHI or LOADHIGH. continued p-8 PrintCAD can intercept data from two sources, DOS file writes and AutoCAD/Sketch ADI 4.0 interrupts. With the option /PADI, ADI interrupts are intercepted. With /Pmask, for example /P*.PLT, DOS file writes are intercepted. PrintCAD can interpret two kinds of data, HP-GL and AutoCAD/Sketch ADI 4.0 binary plotter data. HP-GL data is always interpreted. If you use the /PADI or /YA options then ADI plotter data is also interpreted. PrintCAD can only interpret plotter data - it cannot function as a ADI printer/plotter or as a rendering driver. To use PrintCAD as an HP-GL interpreter, use /Pmask to tell it what files to intercept. Use /P*.PLT, /P*.DPF, /P*.HPG, /P*.000, etc. to match the names that the CAD software uses when writing HP-GL files. Configure the CAD software for HP-GL (HP 7550 or 7585) output to a file. Then plot (do NOT print). PrintCAD intercepts the data and prints it. To use PrintCAD with AutoCAD or AutoSketch as an ADI interpreter that intercepts ADI binary files use /P*.PLT /YA. Configure AutoCAD for an ADI 4.0 plotter, binary data output to a file, up to forty pens, 1016 steps/inch, and eight non-solid line types. Then plot. To use PrintCAD with AutoCAD or AutoSketch as an installed ADI 4.0 plotter driver use /PADI. After installing PrintCAD configure AutoCAD for an ADI 4.0 plotter, installed at interrupt hex 78, up to forty pens, 1016 steps/inch, and eight non-solid line types. Then plot. After making PrintCAD resident, you can verify the installation with "printcad /xq". You can verify that it is functional by copying SAMPLE.PLT to "pcad.plt" with the DOS COPY command. For COLOR output, the CAD package should be configured for a plotter with multiple pens, the CAD package's pen assignment table should be set up match screen colors to pen numbers, and PrintCAD's /C option should set up to match. PrintCAD causes a high/low beep the first time that data is sent after a file open. If you turn on sound (/XS), it causes a high beep after swapping in its code and a low beep before swapping it out, to let you monitor its processing. p-9 How To Get HP-GL Plotfiles From Your Graphics Software --------------- To use PrintGL you must be able to output HP-GL plotfiles or ADI binary plotfiles from your graphics application. Most CAD, drawing, and graphing software lets you do this. Just tell the application to output your picture to a plotter. In either the configuration process or the output process, you will need to specify that you have an HP 7475 or HP 7440/17440 plotter and that you want the output to go to a file instead of a COM port (some programs name the file automatically and some ask you for a name). You might need to set up a pen assignment table that specifies what color each pen is. Once you have the file, you can print it with PrintGL/D, either from a DOS shell or after exiting the application. With PrintGL/W you can run without exiting the application. With PrintCAD the file is intercepted and printed instead of being written to disk. Messages ------------------------------------------------------------- PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W display a number of messages to keep you informed of what they are doing. The output looks like this. Reading SAMPLE.PLT Plotfile has 1 page(s) Processing page 1 2283 data records Overall magnification 0.9964 Print window Horizontal 0.00 7.54 Vertical 0.00 10.14 Plot area Horizontal 0.42 7.13 Vertical 0.61 9.54 Output format /FT HxV dpi 180x180 corrected to 180x180 color Writing to device LPT3 The first line is the plotfile that is currently being processed. The second line tells how many pages are in the plotfile, which page is being processed, and the number of data points in that page. The number of data points is roughly equivalent to the number of pen moves and is shown to give you an indication of the plot's complexity. The overall magnification is either the magnification that you specified with the /M option or the effective magnification after fitting to the print window with /MF. The print window line gives the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the print window, always starting at 0,0 and in inches. The plot area gives the horizontal and vertical coordinates of a box that just covers the plotted data. This uses the same coordinate system as the print window, so you can tell where the plot is relative to the print window. The output format and resolution are given and then the output destination is noted (except for screen plots). If three or four plane color is being used, the word "color" is displayed. If you have a black only printer, but the output format allows color (this is common with 9 and 24 pin printers), using color will greatly increase the PrintGL run time with no improvement in print quality. During processing, PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W inform you when they are processing and writing data, and you can watch the progress from 0% to 100%, along with the elapsed time. After initial startup PrintCAD runs without screen output. p-10 User Interface ------------------------------------------------------- PrintGL can be run from the command line (DOS or Windows) using various options to tell it what to do. PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W can be started with no options to bring up a menu system. The menu options have corresponding command line options, so the two forms of options will be described together. The menu options are noted by the menu name in quotes, sometimes followed by the menu choice in quotes. From the command line, the calling syntax is: PRINTGLD plotfile /option1 /option2 ... PRINTGLW plotfile /option1 /option2 ... PRINTCAD /option1 /option2 ... Spaces between parameters are not required. The plotfile may be specified with the /P option if it is inconvenient to make it the first parameter. Except for the /X and /P options in PrintCAD, if a given option is entered more than once, only the last entry is used. And if an option is invalid (but not incorrect), it is ignored. Only one /X and one /P option is allowed in PrintCAD. When run from the command line, PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W use the current menu options as the default, so if you have the menu set up as desired, you can run PRINTGLD plotfile from the command line and avoid going through the menu to select the plotfile. The DOS environment variables PRINTCAD, PRINTCAD2, PRINTCAD3, and PRINTCAD4 are read by PrintCAD and put in front of the command line parameters. When you need to exceed the 127 character DOS command line limit, put some of the parameters in the PRINTCAD variable, for example SET PRINTCAD=/CRGB... /S... /W... PRINTCAD /P*.PLT ... SET PRINTCAD= Below, [ and ] enclose optional suboptions and | separates mutually exclusive suboptions. The options and suboptions may be in any order except that multiple numeric suboptions are ordered and numeric suboptions must follow character suboptions where the characters may be digits. "c" refers to a suboption character, "x", "y", and "z" to suboption numbers, "i" and "j" to suboption integers, "b" to a suboption byte, and "f" to a DOS file or device name. For numbers (x, y, z), a decimal point is allowed but is not required, and scientific notation is not allowed. "-" is allowed but not "+". For integer input (i, j), only base ten integers from -32768 to 32767 are allowed. "+" is not allowed. A byte (b) must be a base ten integer from 0 to 255 or a hexadecimal number prefixed with $ from $00 to $FF. Further range checking is done for most options to flag unreasonable input. If an option has multiple numeric suboptions, these may be separated with commas or blanks. p-11 Example Setup Instructions For PrintCAD ------------------------------ Below are instructions for simple setups to help you get started with PrintCAD. After you have PrintCAD running, there are many additional options that might be useful. To use AutoCAD (or AutoSketch) with an HP DeskJet 500C or 550C, install PrintCAD with "printcad /padi /fa! /L7.9,10,0,.3 /crygcbmk". Configure AutoCAD for an ADI 4.0 vector plotter installed on interrupt 78h, 7 pens, 1016 steps/inch, plot area 10x7.9, no calibration. Set up the AutoCAD pen assignment table so that the seven pens are assigned red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, and black. Set skip perforation off on the printer by setting DIP switch 1-8 up. Then plot. To use a Canon BJC800 or 820 with 11x17 paper with AutoCAD, install PrintCAD with "printcad /p*.plt /ya /f& /L10.5,16,0,0 /crygcbmk". Configure AutoCAD for an ADI 4.0 vector plotter with binary output to a file, 7 pens, 1016 steps/inch, plot area 16x10.5, no calibration. Set up the AutoCAD pen assignment table so that the seven pens are assigned red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, and black. Then plot. To use a Canon BJ330 with cut sheet paper with AutoCAD, install PrintCAD with: printcad /f7 1,1.01 /L8,10,0,.4 /j27,67,0,11 printcad /2/f7 1,1.01 /L10.5,16,0,.4 /j27,67,0,17 printcad /3/f7 1,1.01 /L13.5,21,0,.4 /j27,67,0,22 Configure AutoCAD for an HP 7585 plotter with output to a file. To print on 8.5x11 paper set the plot area to 10x8 and output the plot to file PCAD1. For 11x17 paper set the plot area to 16x10.5 and output to PCAD2. For 17x22 paper set the plot area to 21x13.5 and output to PCAD3. To use the BJ330 with another CAD package, replace the ".plt" with the default plotfile extension for that package. AutoCAD, AutoSketch, and Micro CADAM use ".plt", Microstation uses ".000", GenCADD uses ".dpf", and EasyCAD and FastCAD use ".hpg". DesignCAD has no default extension - use ".plt" and enter the entire file name when plotting (PCAD1.PLT for example). To use a LaserJet with Microstation, install PrintCAD with "printcad /p*.000 /fL /L7.9,10,0,.1". Configure Microstation for an HP 7585 plotter, set the plot area to 10x7.9, and plot. Instead of /fL, choose the best LaserJet driver from this list: /FL any LJ /FL! any LJ2 and any LJ3 with less than 1.5 Meg /FI any LJ3 with 1.5 Meg or more and the LJ4L /FI+ any 600 dpi LJ4 For manual feed legal paper use "/p*.000 /fL /L7.9,13,0,.1 /J27,38,108,50,72,27,38,108,51,65" and set the plot area to 13x7.9. p-12 Overview of Options -------------------------------------------------- PrintGL's options fall into several categories. The first is input and output choices. The input is chosen with /P, the plotfile, and /N, the page number. Output options are /F, the output format (printer model), and /D, the destination port, device, or file. The second category is the page layout. /L controls the size and location of the print window (hard clip limits), and the option to box the window, not send a form feed, and reverse the image color. Tiling is set with /B and copies with /Q. The third category defines how the plot looks within the print window. /M, the magnification, sets the size of the plot. /A determines the location of the plot within the print window. /O sets the origin and orientation, and is used to rotate or mirror the plot. /I sets the plotter's initial scaling points. The fourth category defines the pens, /W for the width, /C for the color, and /S for the shade. The fifth category determines how PrintGL processes the plot. This includes the temporary file /T, the default and minimum chord angle, enhanced font, and color to shade options /Z, the plotter Y/D and S/E switch positions and HP-GL/2 and ADI handling /Y, the internal resolution /R, user interface options /X, and /J and /K let you set up and reset the printer for special situations. PrintCAD has separate setup options, /P sets the intercept mask, /X sets up the initial configuration, /1, /2, /3, /4, and /5 set up multiple configurations. And PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W use /1, /2, /3, /4, and /5 to choose one of the menu setups as the command line default. /1, /2, /3, /4, /5 - PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W Default Options --------- These option select a configuration from the menu to be used as the default. This option must match the first character of the title of one of the five menu configurations. /1, /2, /3, /4, /5 - PrintCAD Alternate Configurations --------------- These options select up to 5 alternate configurations, labeled 1..5. /1 is the default. The configuration used for printing is chosen based on the file name and mask (/P option). p-13 /A - Position Option ------------------------------------------------- /A[O][x,y] - position - default /A "position" The A option determines the location of the plot in the print window via a point on the plot that is aligned with a point in the print window. You can specify the plot alignment point with x,y in inches from the plot's origin (before PrintGL applies magnification), or let it default to the plot center. For the print window alignment point, you can default to the center or specify the origin with O. /A puts the center of the plot at the center of the print /AO0,0 puts the plot 0,0 at the print window origin /B - Tiling Option --------------------------------------------------- /B[i,j,x] - tiling parameters - default /B1,1,0 "tiling" /B lets you specify tiling options that break a large plot into tiles. Each tile is defined by the page layout option (/L). I and j specify the number of tiles horizontally and vertically. X specifies the overlap in inches. Displayed plots are sized based on the tiling, but only the first tile is displayed. Use the cursor keys to scroll the plot. /B2,2,.5 breaks the plot into 4 pages with .5 inch overlap /B is the same as /B1,1,0 and produces no tiling /C - Pen Color Option ------------------------------------------------ /C[O|T]c.. - color - default /COK "pen color" "pen mode" "pen all" /C specifies the color of each of 40 pens. The colors are B for blue, C for cyan, G for green, K for black, M for magenta, R for red, W for white, and Y for yellow. Unspecified pens use the last selected color (/CRGB is the same as /CRGBBBBBB). For black/white output formats, color are translated into either black or shade levels, based on the /Z option. continued p-14 Additional colors can be created with shade mixing. These colors use shading patterns to mix the eight pure colors. The format for a mixed color is .?? where each ? represents any of the eight pure colors. The first color is printed with the pen's shading pattern (/S option) and the second is printed with the inverse shading pattern. If the shade value is 0 (solid) it is replaced by 2 (50%) which produces the most uniform mixed colors. On many printers, using a shade of 1 (75%) or 3 (25%) gives a better color. Here are some useful mixed colors for inkjet printers. color shade description color shade description .bc 3 (25%) azure .ry 3 (25%) orange .bm 3 (25%) violet .rk 1 (75%) brown .gc 3 (25%) jade .ck 1 (75%) teal .gy 3 (25%) lime .rk 3 (25%) black on DeskJet 500C Mixed colors need line widths of at least 2 (4 for coarse shading patterns) to look good, and they may have visual artifacts on edges near a 45 degree angle. Multipass dot matrix formats may not handle color mixing well. The following single letters may be used in place of the color mixing notation. equivalent equivalent color mixed color description color mixed color description a .bc Azure i .bk dark blue v .bm Violet e .ck tEal j .gc Jade f .gk Forest l .gy Lime p .mk Purple s .rm roSe d .rk dark red n .ry oraNge h .yk dark yellow By default, colors are overwritten into the print, so they appear opaque. You can switch to translucent colors (ored into the print) with the T suboption, and then back to opaque with O. Make the switch in front of the pen that you want to change. For PostScript and plotters, the color processing is done by the device, not PrintGL. PostScript uses opaque colors and plotters use translucent colors. " means repeat the previous color. /COKR.MB""T.KY sets pen 1 to opaque black pen 2 to opaque red pen 3..5 to opaque magenta on blue pen 6..40 to translucent black on yellow p-15 /D - Output Destination Option --------------------------------------- /D[+][*]f - destination - default /D1 "destination" The D option specifies the output printer port, device, or file. The + suboption causes files to be appended rather than overwritten. 1, 2, and 3 select the BIOS printer routines. P1..P3 select direct parallel port drive - add extension 001 to 999 (for example P1.010) to slow the function of the port for compatibility with older printers. X1..X4 select xon/xoff serial port drive. H1..H4 select hardware (RTS/CTS) serial port drive. You can also use the DOS devices LPT1, COM1, etc. /D is ignored for display output. For PrintGL/W, specify W to send data to the Windows print manager. The * suboption causes PrintGL to output a continuous stream of data with pauses of less than two seconds. This is useful for networks and multiple PC printer buffers, where print jobs are separated by pauses in the data stream. PrintGL cannot set up the serial ports. This is usually done in the AUTOEXEC.BAT with MODE (for example MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P). If you specify a three digit number for a file name extension (for example .000), and multiple pages are output via the multiple copies option, tiling, or multiple HP-GL pages then, rather than appending the destination file, additional files are created with sequential extensions. This is useful for PCX and EPS output. /D2 sends output to the second parallel port via BIOS /D+TEMP.PRN appends output to file TEMP.PRN /DOUTPUT.000 sends output to OUTPUT.000, OUTPUT.001, ... /F - Output Format Option -------------------------------------------- /Fc[-|+|*|^][%][!|¡][~|`][x,y] - output format - default /FV "output format" "modify output" "h,v size multiplier: " "modify output" "compression mode: " The F option specifies the output format. -, +, *, and ^ are resolution modifiers, ! and ¡ select compression levels, ~ turns off color processing, and ` switches four plane color processing on or off. % uses equivalent Windows modes instead of full screen displays. These suboptions are allowed even if they have no effect. For 800x600 VGA (/FV+) you can add the display mode number after the format character (hex prefixed with $). For HP-GL (/F8), HP-GL/2 (/F0), PostScript (/FS), PCX (/FZ), and PS preview (/FY) you can append the nominal device resolution. Matching the nominal resolution to the printer may yield improvements in print quality. For PCX and PS preview the nominal device resolution may be one or two numbers. continued p-16 For output formats other than bit maps, you can append the true horizontal and vertical resolution of the output device in dots/inch. This overrides the normal output device resolution, but does not affect the structure of the output. These numbers should follow all other suboptions. This lets you compensate for print size error. For example, a 360x360 dpi printer consistently under indexes so that a 6 inch high box comes out 5.94 inches. Using 360,363.6 (6/5.94*360 = 363.6) removes the error. For print size correction, you also specify a number from .5 to 2 which is interpreted as the nominal resolution times this number. For example on a 360 dpi printer, 1.0,1.01 is the same as 360,363.6. Each printer driver has a default level of data compression, chosen to give maximum compatibility among the different printers that the driver supports. Many drivers have an optional enhanced level of compression, chosen with !. This will be incompatible with some printers. And some drivers let you turn all compression off with ¡ (ASCII 173). This is rarely of any use. Where these suboptions are effective, they are marked in the table below. PrintCAD cannot use any of the display drivers or the EPS preview bit map driver. Drivers marked below with ~ can handle color. Using ~ suppresses color processing, substituting black for all colors except white. ` switches between 4 and 3 plane color (see Color Processing). /F0-[i] ~ HP-GL/2 printers ....................... 600x600, ixi /F0[i] ~ HP-GL/2 raster plotters 600x600, ixi /F0+[i] ~ HP-RTL raster plotters ................. 300x300, ixi /F1 ~ IBM 9 pin 120x72 /F1+ ~ IBM 9 pin (2 pass) .......................... 120x144 /F1* ~ IBM 9 pin (4 pass) 240x144 /F2 IBM Quietwriter 2 ........................... 240x240 /F3 IBM Quietwriter 3 240x240 /F4- !¡ IBM LaserPrinter (PPDS mode) ................ 150x150 /F4 !¡ IBM LaserPrinter (PPDS mode) 300x300 /F4+ !¡ IBM LaserPrinter (PPDS mode) ................ 600x600 /F5 ! ~ IBM 24 pin alternate 1 180x180 /F5+ ! ~ IBM 24 pin alternate 1 (2 pass) ............. 360x180 /F5* ! ~ IBM 24 pin alternate 1 (4 pass) 360x360 /F6 ! IBM Proprinter X24 .......................... 180x182 /F6+ ! IBM Proprinter X24 (2 pass) 360x182 /F6* ! IBM Proprinter X24 (4 pass) ................. 360x364 /F7 ¡ Canon BJ IBM mode, IBM ExecJet 360x360 /F7+ ¡ Canon BJ IBM mode, IBM ExecJet (2 pass) ..... 360x360 /F8[i] HP-GL 1016x1016, ixi /F9 ! ~ NEC 24 pin .................................. 180x180 /F9+ ! ~ NEC 24 pin (2 pass) 360x180 /F9* ! ~ NEC 24 pin (4 pass) ......................... 360x360 /F# ¡ JRL J bubblejet Epson mode 360x360 /F$ ~ Epson Esc/P2 ................................ 360x360 /F& ~ Canon BJ/BJC native mode 360x360 continued p-17 /F: ~ Star Micronics SJ-144 ....................... 360x360 /F@ ~ Canon BJC CaPSL mode 360x360 /FA- ! ~ HP DeskJet 500C, Mannesmann Tally MT92C ..... 150x150 /FA ! ~ HP DeskJet 500C, Mannesmann Tally MT92C 300x300 /FB ¡~ Canon BJ/BJC Epson mode, Epson Stylus ....... 360x360 /FB+ ¡~ Canon BJ/BJC Epson mode (line overlap) 360x360 /FC CGA display ................................... 62x25 /FD- !¡ Canon LBP (ISO/CaPSL mode) 150x150 /FD !¡ Canon LBP (ISO/CaPSL mode) .................. 300x300 /FD+ !¡ Canon LBP (ISO/CaPSL mode) 600x600 /FE ~ 128K EGA color display ........................ 62x45 /FF ! ~ Fujitsu 24 pin 180x180 /FF+ ! ~ Fujitsu 24 pin (2 pass) ..................... 360x180 /FF* ! ~ Fujitsu 24 pin (4 pass) 360x360 /FG ¡ PDP Protracer (IBM mode) .................... 360x360 /FH Hercules graphics card display 70x45 /FI- HP LaserJet 3, DeskJet ...................... 150x150 /FI HP LaserJet 3, DeskJet 300x300 /FI+ HP LaserJet 4 ............................... 600x600 /FJ Canon BJ BJ130 mode 360x360 /FK ~ Kodak Diconix Color 4 ....................... 192x192 /FL- !¡ HP LaserJet 150x150 /FL !¡ HP LaserJet ................................. 300x300 /FM 128K EGA monochrome display 62x45 /FN ~ Epson 9 pin .................................. 120x72 /FN+ ~ Epson 9 pin (3 pass) 120x216 /FN* ~ Epson 9 pin (6 pass) ........................ 240x216 /FO ! ~ Toshiba 24 pin 180x180 /FO+ ! ~ Toshiba 24 pin (2 pass) ..................... 360x180 /FO* ! ~ Toshiba 24 pin (4 pass) 360x360 /FP ! ~ HP PaintJet ...................... 180x180 /FQ HP QuietJet (PCL mode) 192x192 /FR ~ Tektronix ColorQuick ........................ 216x216 /FS[i] ~ PostScript 600x600, ixi /FT ! ~ Epson 24 pin ................................ 180x180 /FT+ ! ~ Epson 24 pin (2 pass) 360x180 /FT* ! ~ Epson 24 pin (4 pass) ....................... 360x360 /FV ~ VGA display 62x62 /FV+ ~ VESA 800x600 VGA display ...................... 78x78 /FV+b ~ 800x600 VGA display - mode b 78x78 /FV* ~ VESA 1024x768 VGA display ................... 100x100 /FV^ ~ VESA 1280x1024 VGA display 125x134 /FW ~ Epson 9 pin alternate ........................ 120x72 /FW+ ~ Epson 9 pin alternate (3 pass) 120x216 /FW* ~ Epson 9 pin alternate (6 pass) .............. 240x216 /FX ! ~ IBM 24 pin alternate 2 180x180 /FX+ ! ~ IBM 24 pin alternate 2 (2 pass) ............. 360x180 /FX* ! ~ IBM 24 pin alternate 2 (4 pass) 360x360 /FY[i[,j]] append EPS preview bit map .......... 72x72, ixi, ixj /FZ[i[,j]] ~ ZSoft PCX 100x100, ixi, ixj p-18 /I - Scaling Point Location Option ----------------------------------- /IA|R|W[N] - IP point location - default /IA "scaling pnts" This option is not useful with AutoCAD or any software that outputs HP-GL that does not use scaling commands or that initializes the plotter or sets the scaling points. The I option sets the initial scaling points (P1, P2 - the scaling points may be set in the HP-GL file with the IP command). A (absolute) sets the points to the default for the paper size (see below). R fits P1 and P2 to the print window with at least .25 inch margins and an x/y ratio of 10/7.2 (the same ratio as the HP 7475 with small paper). W fits P1 and P2 to the print window with a .25 inch margin. N makes the margin 0 for R or W and is ignored with A. The default scaling points are plotter specific. If the magnification is 1.0 then PrintGL looks at the print window and orientation to decide if they match one of the plotters/papers noted below. If so the default scaling points match that plotter. If no match is found or the magnification is not 1 then the defaults are taken from the 7440. 7440 7475 7550 paper window paper window paper window A 7.54,10.14 A 7.84,10.20 A 7.72, 9.92 A4 7.54,10.74 A4 7.60,10.88 A4 7.48,10.70 B 10.20,16.38 B 10.01,16.19 A3 10.88,15.90 A3 10.70,15.72 /IWN sets the scaling points to fit the print window /J, /K - Printer Code Prefix, Suffix Options ------------------------- /J[b,b,..] - printer code prefix - default /J /K[b,b,..] - printer code suffix - default /K "modify output" "prefix codes: " "modify output" "suffix codes: " /J lets you send codes to the printer before PrintGL's usual data is sent and /K lets you send codes after PrintGL's usual data is sent. This lets you set up and reset the printer for special situations. For HP-GL and PostScript output, the /J codes follow the initialization commands. The codes are specified with byte values (0..255 or $0..$FF) separated with blanks or commas. /J27 69 does a printer reset before printing on HP-PCL printers p-19 /L - Page Layout Option ---------------------------------------------- /L[B][F|N][R][x,y[,x,y]] - page layout - default depends on printer "window/margins" "form feed" "box" "reverse image" The L option defines the page layout. B boxes the plot at the print window edge using pen 40. F (the default) and N turn form feed on or off. These are ignored for bit maps and display output. R reverses the colors on displays, bit maps, and output formats 4, D, I, and L (Canon, HP, and IBM page printers) and is otherwise ignored. This gives the equivalent of a photographic negative. The first optional x and y are the print window width and height in inches. These define the hard clip limits. These values are not checked against the printer's capabilities. If you specify a print window that exceeds the output device limits, the results are unknown. You may need to reset the printer's margins or page length for large plots (see Large Paper). The size needed for a given width and height exceeds x and y by 8 dots to allow for line widths. The second optional x and y are the left and top margins, measured from the printer's left margin and current vertical position to the print window. The margins for HP-GL and PostScript are measured from 0,0 (left, bottom). Margins are ignored for display output and bit maps. THE PRINT WINDOW PLUS THE MARGINS MUST FIT WITHIN THE PRINTABLE AREA OF THE PRINTER. To find the largest printable area turn on the box and form feed options and set a window and margins of 7.5,10,0,0. Any plotfile will do - the only concern is the box. Increase the window until you have the largest box that fits on the paper. This is the best that you can do. To improve centering you can reduce the print window and increase the corresponding margin. The default print window is 7.54x10.14 for printers and bit maps and 10.14x7.54 for HP-GL and displays, corresponding to HP 7440 A paper. The default margins are printer specific to compensate for paper handling. /L7.5,3,.5,0 print window 7.5x3, left margin .5, top margin 0 /L7.54,10.14 sets window equivalent to HP 7440 with A paper /L7.54,10.74 sets window equivalent to HP 7440 with A4 paper /L7.84,10.20 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A paper /L7.60,10.88 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A4 paper /L10.20,16.38 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with B paper /L10.88,15.90 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A3 paper p-20 /M - Magnification Option (Scale, Size) ------------------------------ /M[F]x - magnification - default /MF.9 "magnification" The M option sets the magnification. F fits the plot to the print window. The default, /MF.9, prints at 90% of the largest size that fits in the print window. /MF.9 prints at 90% the largest size that fits in the print window /M1 plots at the same size as an HP 7475 /N - Page Number Option ---------------------------------------------- /N[i] - page number - default /N "plot page" /Ni says to print only page i of the plotfile. If you do not specify i then all pages in the plot will be printed (this is the default). This option is not allowed with PrintCAD. /N prints all pages in the plotfile /N3 prints only page 3 /O - Origin and Orientation Option ----------------------------------- /O[1|2|3|4[L]] - origin, orientation - default /O "origin/rotate" The O option sets the print window origin and orientation. The origin is one of four corners numbered 1..4 for upper left, lower left, lower right, and upper right, and implies a plot rotation. The L suboption specifies a left handed coordinate system, which mirrors the plot. If no origin is specified then it is chosen so that the x axis is the longer dimension. Here are pictures of PrintGL's view of the output media compared to an HP 7475's view. HP 7475 PrintGL display or A size B size printer plotter y -------- 0,0 -------- y ul ----- ur ul -------- ur | | | | 1 | |4 1 | |4 | | | | | | | | 0,0 -------- x | | | | ll -------- lr | | | | 2 3 | | ll ----- lr | | 2 3 x -------- /O2 puts the print window's origin in the lower left corner p-21 /P - PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W Plotfile Option ------------------------- /Pf - plotfile - no default "plotfile" The plotfile may be specified as the first parameter with no prefix, or it may be specified anywhere in the option list with /P. If you use a file name mask with "*" and/or "?", each matching file is processed, but the first failure or user break stops all processing. /P - PrintCAD Intercept Mask Option ---------------------------------- /PADI|mask - intercept mask /PADI sets up PrintCAD as an AutoCAD ADI plotter driver. /Pmask lets you choose a DOS file mask as PrintCAD's intercept mask. The mask should not include disk or directory information - PrintCAD ignores this information when looking at file names. The mask may contain the character #. This is the same as ?, but when a file matches the mask the character that matches the # selects the PrintCAD configuration - 1..5 selects configurations 1..5 and anything else selects configuration 1. AutoCAD 10 will work with PrintCAD only via /PADI. Regardless of the /P option, PrintCAD always responds to PCAD#.PLT. /Padi sets up PrintCAD to take data from AutoCAD interrupt 78 /P*.plt intercepts data written to *.plt /Px#.plt intercepts data written to x1.plt, x2.plt, etc. /Q - Number of Copies Option ----------------------------------------- /Q[H]i - number of copies - default /Q1 "copies" /Q sets the number of copies for each printed page. The default is one. The H suboption specifies to send the codes to have the printer produce multiple copies, which is much faster than having PrintGL send the data for each page. This only works with page printers. /R - Internal Resolution Option -------------------------------------- /Ri - internal resolution - default /R1016 "other" "internal dpi: " /R sets the internal grid resolution in dots/inch. It is normally 1016 and rarely needs to be changed. To fit very large plots into the -32768..32767 coordinate limit, use /R508. Setting the resolution to a multiple of the output device resolution times the magnification may yield a small improvement in print quality. p-22 /S - Pen Shading Option ---------------------------------------------- /Sc.. - pen shading patterns - default /S0 "pen shade" "pen all" /S assigns a shading pattern to each pen. Unspecified pens use the last specified shade. The shade values are 0..8 and A..F. The percent coverage for each shade is listed below. Narrow line widths may not work well with some shade patterns. 0 100% 1 75% 5 75% coarse pattern A 6.2% D 87.5% 2 50% 6 50% coarse pattern B 3.1% E 62.5% 3 25% 7 25% coarse pattern C 1.6% F 37.5% 4 12.5% 8 12.5% coarse pattern Some printers, especially dot matrix printers in multipass modes, wash out shading because they have a dot size that is large relative to the dot spacing. /S024 sets pen 1 to solid, pen 2 to 50%, pen 3..40 to 12.5% /T - Temporary File Option ------------------------------------------- /T[+]f - temporary file - default /TPLOT.TMP "temp file" PrintGL uses a temporary file when there is not enough memory to handle a plotfile. You can use /T to put it on a RAM disk for extra speed. You can force the use of a temporary file with + (if the plot fills the buffer). Using a RAM disk may speed printing. /W - Pen Width Option ------------------------------------------------ /Wc.. - pen widths - default /WA "pen width" "pen all" The W option assigns pen line widths. Each width may be 0..9, .10 .. .24 dots, A..I for 2..10 units of 4/1016 inch (.1 mm), M for 4/1016 inch (.1 mm), or N to turn off the pen. A..I and M widths are approximations, based on the device technology. Odd widths of 9 or above are modified to the next higher (even) width. Unassigned pens use the last assigned width. For nonsquare matrix printers, PrintGL uses pen points optimized for an h/v ratio of .67, 1, or 1.5. Widths are figured in the direction of higher resolution, and are not accurate in the other direction. Line widths of over eight dots are distorted at the print window edge to fit within the four dot border. /WA sets pens 1..40 to .2 mm /WB2.16 sets pen 1 to .3 mm, pen 2 to 2 dots, pens 3..40 to 16 dots p-23 /X - PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W User Interface Option ------------------- /X[C][P][S][F][U][M][Z] - interface options - default /X "other" "pause to load paper: " "other" "unsupported command messages: " The X option sets various interface options. C causes a break when a plot is clipped. P causes a pause before each printed page. S suppresses location and size messages. F suppresses location, size, file name, and page number messages. U suppresses unsupported command and incorrect number messages. M prevents PrintGL from allocating DOS upper memory blocks. Z turns off the shareware notice panel. /XS gives only the most important messages /X - PrintCAD Control Option ----------------------------------------- /XQ - queries PrintCAD installation /XR - removes PrintCAD if allowed /X[E|N|X][A][M][L][W][P][S][Z][-|+] - controls PrintCAD's setup /XQ checks to see if PrintCAD is installed. /XR removes PrintCAD from memory, if allowed. /XQ and /XR disallow all other options. The other suboptions control setup, and are effective only for initial setup. X specifies XMS for swapping - this is the default. E forces the use of EMS for swapping instead of XMS. N inhibits swapping. This forces the entire program to load in low memory and it will take a large chunk of DOS memory. In return, all of the compatibility problems of swapping TSRs are removed. This can be very useful with DOS extender based CAD programs. A sets an alternate handle (use with PC-Draft-CAD, Drafix, and DesignCAD). M sets an alternate mouse handler. These suboptions may improve compatibility. L forces PrintCAD to load its resident part low. W forces PrintCAD to load its swapping work area low. P causes program prefix segment checking. These suboptions may improve compatibility in unusual situations, but are generally not needed and may make things worse. + or - increases or decreases the PrintCAD memory space, for improved speed or reduced resource usage. S adds progress beeps. This is not advised with the N suboption. Z turns off the shareware notice panel. /XM sets up PrintCAD with its alternate mouse handler p-24 /Y - D/Y and S/E Settings, ADI and HP-GL/2 Options ------------------- /Y[D|Y][S|E][A][1|2] - D/Y, S/E, ADI, HP-GL/2 options - default /YDS "other" "D/Y switch position: " "other" "S/E switch position: " "other" "read ADI: " "other" "read HP-GL/2 (Y|except Pens|N): " The Y option sets the plotter's D/Y switch to D or Y and the S/E switch to S or E. Y starts with the plotter off and responds to esc.(, esc.Y, esc.), and esc.Z commands. D starts with the plotter on and ignores these commands. S sets the standard interpretation of IW (clipping window) commands. E sets 7550 enhanced interpretation of IW commands, so that they use scaled coordinates. The A suboption turns on PrintGL's ADI handler. This is not needed when you specify /PADI in PrintCAD. See HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and ADI Commands for more information on this mode. The 2 suboption turns on PrintGL's HP-GL/2 subset interpretation and sets the Y and E suboptions. The 1 suboption is the same but causes PrintGL to ignore all HP-GL/2 pen width, color, shading, and transparency control. See HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and ADI Commands for more information on this mode. Most HP-GL files will not run if HP-GL/2 interpretation is set. /YD puts the YD switch in the usual D position /Z - Chord Angle, Enhanced Font, Color to Shade Options -------------- /Z[x,y[,z]][E][C] - default, min, max chord angle, enhance font, color to shade - default /Z10,5,180 "other" "def, min, max chord angle: " "other" "enhanced font: " "other" "color to shade on b/w formats: " Except for the C suboption, this option is not useful with HP-GL (including AutoCAD's) or ADI that draws circles, arcs, and text as line segments rather than using circle, arc, and label commands. The Z option specifies the default, minimum, and maximum chord angles for circles and arcs. The HP 7475 defaults to a chord angle of 5 with no minimum. Using chord angles of less than 10 returns little print quality improvement and adds to processing time. The default is /Z10,5,180. For better emulation use /Z5,2,180. The E suboption says to use the enhanced font, which doubles the number of chords on curves in text, improving the curve smoothness. This is only effective on character heights above .5 cm. C says to convert colors to shade levels for monochrome output formats. Otherwise all colors except white are converted to black. /Z5,2 sets the default chord angle to 5 degrees, the minimum to 2 p-25 PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W Menu ----------------------------------------- PrintGL/D and PrintGL/W include a menu interface to let you select options, choose a list of plotfiles, and print. Run PRINTGLD or PRINTGLW with no command line parameters to bring up the menu. The main menu is displayed at the top of the screen, and the bottom of the screen is used differently for each main menu item. The main menu is divided by column into six groups, described below. The functions of the PrintGL options are described in detail above. When the cursor is on a main menu item, the current value of the option is displayed in bottom of the screen. To change the value, press Enter. The options are modified with cursor movement and typing numbers/names. The Enter key returns you to the main menu with the new option values. Esc returns you to the main menu with the option values unchanged. The PrintGL documentation (this file) can be viewed by pressing F1 from any menu that displays F1 on its key line. If one of the first two letters of a main menu item is capitalized, that item may be accessed immediately by pressing the letter. When a cursor bar has a notch, the value in the notch may be edited. Menu Specific Functions ---------------------------------------------- The first column of main menu options is dedicated to menu functions that are not relevant to command line operation. These include run PrintGL, switch to an alternate configuration, exit, save the configurations, set menu options, and create a BAT file corresponding to the current configuration. The "Alt config" item rotates between five menu configurations. The current configuration name is in the upper left corner. The "save configs" item saves all of the current menu configurations by writing them into the EXE file. The plotfile list is not saved. You can create multiple EXE files with different names and each can have its own configurations. The "menu config" item lets you set the configuration name, screen colors, up to five initial plotfile masks, and the name of the BAT file created by the "create BAT" option. Screen colors are specified with the mnemonics listed here: k black r red k+ gray r+ bright red b blue m magenta b+ bright blue m+ bright magenta g green y yellow/brown g+ bright green y+ bright yellow c cyan w white c+ bright cyan w+ bright white For PrintGL/W you can also use - and * as color modifiers. These are only effective with 15, 16, or 24 bit color setups. To use the default Windows colors with PrintGL/W, blank out the desired line of colors. continued p-26 "create BAT" creates a single configuration BAT file for PrintCAD. You will have to add any /X or /P options that you need and deal with multiple configurations as desired. Menu Input and Output Choices ---------------------------------------- Column two of the main menu lets you choose the plotfiles to plot (the /P command line option), the plot page number (/N), the output destination (/D), output format (/F), and modifications to the output - compression mode (/F), horizontal and vertical size multiplier (/F) and prefix and suffix printer codes (/J, /K). You may enter up to 99 plotfiles in the "plotfile" main menu option. To choose from a list of files, enter a mask name and press Enter (the cursor must be on the mask). The menu will then display a list of corresponding files. Select any number of the files by moving the cursor to the desired file and pressing Space (or the right mouse button). If no files have been selected, then pressing Enter selects the file under the cursor. The selected files are added to the file list below the cursor. Files that would overflow the 99th position on the plotfile list are dropped. When you "Run PrintGL", PrintGL is run for each file on the plotfile list. Masks are ignored. For any plotfiles that are not successfully processed, an arrow is inserted in front of the plotfile name. You can view the results from the "plotfile" main menu item. The arrow is not considered part of the file name, so you do not need to remove it to retry PrintGL. Printers that support color have a color option ("clr:" on the menu). This lets you specify a black/white printer even though you may have set up colors with the "pen color" menu. Output formats that do not support color do not have this option and always convert the selected colors to black and white. Menu Plot Options ---------------------------------------------------- The third column of main menu options define how the plot will appear on the page. The options include magnification (/M), origin (/O), position (/A), and initial scaling points (/I). Menu Pen Options ----------------------------------------------------- The fourth column of main menu options covers the pen characteristics: width (/W), color and opaque/transparent mode (/C), and shade (/S). Each of these menus use the up and down cursor keys to select a pen, and the left and right cursor keys to choose an attribute. The "pen all" menu combines the four other menus to let you see or choose all of a pen's attributes at once. For color selection, the one character colors (b,c,g,k,m,r,w,y) represent pure colors, and the two character colors are shade pattern mixes. The shade pattern mixed colors use the current shading option for that pen, unless the shade pattern is 100% (solid), in which case 50% is used. p-27 Menu Page Layout Options --------------------------------------------- The fifth column of main menu options covers the page layout. The first three items are suboptions of the /L option - print window and margins, form feed, and box. Tiling options (/B) and multiple copies (/Q) are also here. Menu Other Options --------------------------------------------------- Options that are generally set once and then never touched are in column six. These include the temporary file name (/T), and under "other", plotter switch settings (/Y), the default and minimum chord angle (/Z), internal resolution (/R), and the pause to load paper and suppress unsupported command messages options (/X). At the bottom of column six are the auto run options. Menu Auto Run Mode --------------------------------------------------- The lower right corner of the menu includes "auto opts" and "auto run". In auto run mode, the disk is continually searched for new files that match the mask or file specified in "auto opts". Whenever one is found, PrintGL is run on that file. This is useful with multitasking systems such as DESQview and Windows. Run PrintGL's auto run mode and switch it to the background. Then you can output files and they will be printed automatically. Auto run mode uses one of two ways of choosing new files (specified under "auto opts"). The first is by time/date stamp. In this mode it will only catch files that have a time/date stamp that is later than when auto run mode was started and is later than the last file processed in auto run mode. The file with the earliest time/date stamp is processed first. Copying a file does not change its time/date stamp, so copying a file to the auto run mask will not cause it to be seen as a new file. The second way is by archive bit. When auto run mode is started, any file that matches the mask and has its archive bit set will be processed, regardless of when it was created. The file with the earliest time/date stamp is processed first. After it is chosen, its archive bit is unset so that it will not be chosen again. This lets you copy files to the auto run mask to print them. The plotfiles are not deleted. You can overwrite a file and auto run mode will catch it as a new file, but do not overwrite a file that is currently being processed. p-28 Large Paper ---------------------------------------------------------- PrintGL can handle printing on paper larger than the usual 8.5x11, but this takes some extra work. First you need to increase PrintGL's print window to cover the large paper. This is done with the /L option or "window/margins". The print window plus the margins must fit within the printer's printable area. And then you must make sure that your printer recognizes the larger paper height. For continuous forms paper this is best done by setting skip perforation to off, either by printer switch or with PrintGL prefix codes. For Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, IBM, and NEC line printers (dot matrix, ink jet, thermal) use /J27 79, or "modify output" "prefix codes: 27 79". For cut sheet paper, on Canon (except BJ native mode), Epson, Fujitsu, IBM, and NEC line printers use /J27 67 0 n, where n is the page length in inches. For the PDP ProTracer use /J27 67 n, where n is the page length in lines, at six lines per inch. And for some printers you need to increase the right margin. For the Canon BJC in Epson mode use /J27 81 114. For the HI V50/100 in printer mode use /J27 91 88 2 0 1 255. For page printers, legal size paper may be specified with these printer code prefixes: HP-PCL printers /J27 38 108 51 65 (/K27 38 108 50 65 to reset to letter), Canon LBP /J27 91 51 50 59 59 112 (/K27 91 51 48 59 59 112 to reset), IBM LaserPrinter /J27 91 70 5 0 3 1 2 1 (/J27 91 70 5 0 3 1 1 1 to reset). To get a 10x16 print window on 11x17 paper with a Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, IBM, or NEC line printer, use these options: /L10 16 0 .25 /J27 67 0 17. You will probably need to adjust the margins (0 .25) for best centering. The maximum width of the print window on most narrow carriage printers is 8 - 8/(horizontal dpi). For 300 dpi printers, this is 7.97. At 120 dpi it is 7.93. The maximum width of the print window on most wide carriage printers is 13.6 - 8/(horizontal dpi). At 180 dpi this is 13.55. At 360 dpi it is 13.57. The horizontal margin should be set to 0 to get this width. p-29 Tips On AutoCAD ------------------------------------------------------ There are many ways to use PrintGL with AutoCAD. Here is a good way to start. Configure AutoCAD for an HP 7585 plotter. Select output to a file. Do not do any plotter calibration. Set a specific scale, do not fit. Do not rotate. Set a plotter window that is larger than you will ever need, 30x30 for example (this will prevent AutoCAD from clipping the plot). Set up your plotter pen table so that each screen color is assigned a different pen. With PrintGL you can rotate (/O or "origin"), magnify (/M or "magnification"), assign pens (/C,/S,/W or "pen color", "pen shade", "pen width"), and calibrate (/F or "modify output" "h,v size multiplier"). Use /A or "position" "plot center at print window center" to automatically center your plot in the print window. To use the AutoCAD 12 plot preview function set the AutoCAD plot area to match the PrintGL print window with horizontal and vertical numbers reversed (for an 8x10 print window set a 10x8 plot area). Answers -------------------------------------------------------------- If your plot is messed up, with wraparound lines covering the page, you have probably exceeded PrintGL's internal coordinate limit. This happens when the HP-GL coordinates exceed 32 inches. Reduce the internal resolution with "other" "internal dpi: 762" or /R762 for coordinates up to 42 inches or /R508 for coordinates up to 64 inches. If you are having trouble getting the print size or location as desired, check your /L option or "window/margins". The print window plus the print margins must define an area that fits in the printable area of the paper. Printers cannot print over the entire area of the paper. They usually require .25 to .5 inch margins. To get color output from PrintGL set up the pens in your graphics package so that each pen is assigned a color and assign the same colors to PrintGL's pens with /C or "pen color". If your prints are coming out not quite to scale, check that no calibration is being done by the graphics package and then use the "modify output" "h,v size multiplier:" option or the /F option to adjust the print size. See /F - Output Format Option for information on print size correction. For the Canon BJC-800 in Epson mode, the right margin defaults to 8 inches. Use /J27 64 27 81 114 to set it to 11.4 inches. For the Canon BJ-330 and most wide carriage printers, the maximum print window width is 13.57 inches. This is a printer limitation that you cannot get around. If your printer ejects the paper before the plot is finished, you probably need to specify a paper length prefix code. For most line printers use /J27 67 0 n where n is the page length in inches. p-30 PrintCAD Answers ----------------------------------------------------- To access PrintCAD from a CAD package you must PLOT. Do NOT print. AutoCAD 10 will work with PrintCAD only via /PADI. If you are getting system crashes or nothing from PrintCAD, try the options /XA, /XM, /XE, and all combinations of these (/XAM, /XAE, /XME, ...). Try /XN for DOS extender based software. Try /XL, /XW, and /XLW if none of the above work. To get color output from PrintCAD, you must: - Define a multipen plotter in your CAD package. - Set up the pens in the CAD package so that each color is assigned to a pen. - Use the /C option to assign the same colors to PrintCAD's pens. Plot spoolers are not generally compatible with PrintCAD, and would be of little value if they were. Print buffers/caches are generally compatible and useful. You must install the buffer first. If your prints are coming out not quite to scale: - For ADI plotters check that the plotter is set to 1016 steps/inch. - Check that no calibration is being done by the CAD package. - See /F - Output Format Option for print size correction. Color Processing ----------------------------------------------------- Color graphics devices use a variety of color technologies. PrintGL supports these basic types. CMY or cyan/magenta/yellow is used by inkjet printers with no black ink. This uses three color planes and gives eight pure colors. CMYK or cyan/magenta/yellow/black is used by inkjet and dot matrix printers. This uses four color planes and gives eight pure colors. Using black ink instead of a cyan/magenta/yellow mix gives a more neutral black color. RGB or red/green/blue is used by displays and bit maps. This uses three color planes and gives eight pure colors. RGBI or red/green/blue/intensity is used by displays and bit maps. This uses four color planes. All simple colors except black are intense. When you specify any color mixed with black at 50%, then instead of mixing the colors at 50%, the intensity is turned off. This gives fifteen pure colors. CMYK and RGBI are used by default when they are appropriate. You can switch to CMY or RGB with the ` suboption of /F. For displays this gives a better picture of how a printer will handle the colors. For dot matrix printers it may speed printing by eliminating the use of the black ribbon. /FA! (300 dpi color HP-PCL) uses CMY color by default. /FA!` switches to CMYK color to access true black on the DeskJet 550C. p-31 Useful Prefix and Suffix Codes --------------------------------------- Below, n represents any number 0..255, nA represents any number in ASCII format (1 becomes 49, 2 becomes 50, 43 becomes 52 51, etc.). Canon, Reset 27 64 Epson, N inch paper 27 67 0 n Fujitsu, 17 inch paper 27 67 0 17 IBM, NEC Right margin n columns 27 81 n (not for IBM) dot matrix, Skip perforation off 27 79 inkjet Unidirectional printing 27 85 1 Esc/P2 N/dpi inch paper 27 40 67 2 0 lo(n) hi(n) Unidirectional printing 27 85 1 HP PCL, Reset 27 69 DeskJet, Portrait mode 27 38 108 48 79 LaserJet, Top margin 0 27 38 108 48 69 PaintJet Skip perforation off 27 38 108 48 76 11 inch paper 27 38 108 50 65 14 inch paper 27 38 108 51 65 11x17 inch paper 27 38 108 54 65 Manual feed 27 38 108 50 72 HP DJ500C High quality, slow 27 42 111 49 81 No ink depletion 27 42 111 49 68 HP PJXL300 Low quality, fast 27 42 111 45 49 81 HP QJ HP-PCL mode 27 37 65 DIP switch mode 27 37 64 IBM LP 11 inch paper, tray 1 27 91 70 4 0 3 1 1 14 inch paper, tray 1 27 91 70 4 0 3 1 2 14 inch paper, manual 27 91 70 4 0 1 1 2 Can BJ nat Page length, right margin x 10 27 40 103 3 0 n 1 n Can CaPSL, Reset 27 99 LBP, 11 inch paper 27 91 51 48 59 59 112 BJC880 14 inch paper 27 91 51 50 59 59 112 Manual feed 27 91 49 113 Automatic feed 27 91 48 113 Full page memory mode 27 59 27 91 50 38 122 Cursor to top of page 27 91 48 100 Diablo mode 27 58 ISO mode 27 59 PostScript Paper tray n nA 32 88 80 ProTracer N line paper 27 67 n HI V50/100 Max margins 27,91,88,2,0,1,255 p-32 Output Devices (Displays, Printers, Plotters, Bit Maps, Fax) --------- Canon BJ and BJC Printers ------------------------------------------ PrintGL has five basic drivers for Canon BJ and BJC printers. /F7 is the IBM mode driver. It works with the BJ130e, BJ5, BJ10/10e/10ex, BJ20, BJ200/230, and BJ300/330. /F7+ gives dark print with line to line overlap. /FJ is the BJ130 mode driver. It works with all Canon BJ printers in IBM or native mode. The printer is set to 10 pitch text. /FB is the Epson mode driver. It works with the BJ200/230, BJC600, and BJC800/820. Color is supported. /FB+ gives sparse line to line overlap. For the BJC800/820 the prefix code 27 81 114 sets the print width to 11.4 inches. /F& is the native mode driver. It works with the BJ200/230, BJC600, and BJC800/820 in any mode. Color is supported. Epson/IBM mode prefix codes are not compatible and are not needed. Always use form feed with the BJ native driver unless you have previously set BJ native mode. /F@ is the CaPSL mode driver for the BJC880. Color is supported. Some of these printers have an image density option (DIP switch and/or front panel switch). Low density eliminates every second dot. To get the full 360 dpi resolution, use high density. Canon LBP Printers ------------------------------------------------- /FD works with any Canon LBP 4 and 8 printers that do not have the SX or 30 suffix. If the printer is in Diablo mode, it is switched to ISO mode. At 300 dpi it takes up to one meg of printer memory to print a full page of graphics. The ! suboption switches to CaPSL 4 data compression. /FD+! is the best driver for the LBP 8 Mk4 at 600 dpi. You might need to set up the printer with /J27 59 27 91 50 38 122. To switch back to Diablo mode on completion, use /K27 58. Any Canon LBP printer with the SX or 30 suffix is an HP-PCL printer and should use the /FI drivers. Display ------------------------------------------------------------ When you display a plot, the cursor keys scroll the plot, S cycles between full, half (the default), quarter, and eighth page scrolling, and Enter or Esc returns to DOS. PrintCAD cannot drive displays. /FC drives a CGA, but does not give color. continued p-33 The EGA drivers, /FE and /FM, require a 128K or 256K EGA. /FC will work with a 64K EGA. /FM is for an EGA card with a digital (TTL) monochrome monitor. /FH supports the Hercules monochrome graphics card. /FV works with any VGA card. /FV+ works with VESA 800x600 mode, /FV* works with VESA 1024x768 mode, and /FV^ works with VESA 1280x1024 mode. For MCGAs, use the VGA driver without color - /FV~. Display output cannot be redirected to a file (the /D option is ignored). Epson, IBM 9 Pin Printers ------------------------------------------ /FN, /FW, and /F1 cover a wide range of Epson/IBM compatible 9 pin dot matrix printers. You need a cyan/magenta/yellow/black ribbon to get color prints. The * drivers use 1/240 graphics. /FN+, /FN*, /FW+, and /FW* use 1/216 indexing and do three vertically interleaved passes. /F1+ and /F1* use 1/144 indexing and do two vertically interleaved passes. /FW sets line feeds to 1/6 inch. For Epson printers and other printers with 1/216 indexing hardware, /FN is preferred. For some not quite compatible printers, /FW works. For IBM Proprinters and other printers with 1/144 indexing hardware, /F1 gives better results. These drivers use the following escape codes: esc 3 set n/216 line feeds for all /FW esc J index n/216 (n=2 for 1/144 index) for all /FN and /F1 esc L graphics command for /FN, /FN+, /FW, /FW+, /F1, and /F1+ esc Z graphics command for /FN*, /FW*, and /F1* esc r set ribbon color (only if color is specified) Epson, Fujitsu, NEC, Toshiba 24 Pin Printers ----------------------- /FT covers all Epson LQ printers and many compatible printers (Panasonic in LQ mode and others). /FF works with Fujitsu 24 pin printers in Fujitsu mode. /F9 works with NEC 24 pin printers. /FO works with Toshiba 24 pin printers. /FO resets the line feed distance to 1/6 inch on completion. For all of these drivers, you need a cyan/magenta/yellow/black ribbon to get color prints. The + and * drivers use 1/360 graphics mode, and the * drivers use 1/360 (1/120 for /FO*) indexing and reset the line feed distance to 1/6 inch on completion. A clean paper path with equal tension on each side is needed for good 360x360 graphics. continued p-34 Many 24 pin printers are not capable of 360x360 graphics and a few cannot handle 360x180 graphics. The compression mode drivers (! suboption or "modify output" "compression mode: Y") may or may not be an improvement. The /FT drivers use the following printer escape codes: esc $ absolute tab esc * ' graphics command for /FT esc * ( graphics command for /FT+, /FT* esc + set n/360 indexing for /FT* esc 2 set 1/6 indexing for /FT* esc J index n/180 for /FT, /FT+ esc r set ribbon color (only if color is specified) Epson Stylus and Esc/P2 printers ----------------------------------- /F$ drives Epson Stylus and other Esc/P2 printers at 360 dpi. Note that Esc/P2 requires a different prefix code for paper size than other line printers. Always use the form feed option with this driver unless you have previously set compressed graphics mode. /FB~ drives Epson Stylus and older Epson 48 nozzle inkjet printers, using compressed Esc/P control codes. It does not require a form feed or interfere with previous printer settings. Fax/Modems --------------------------------------------------------- PrintGL will not create data for direct use by fax/modem devices. Most fax software will read PCX files and PrintGL can generate such files. Use /FZ~200,196 or "ZSoft PCX b/w h,v dpi: 200,196" to generate a PCX at 200x196 dpi which is the native fax high resolution. 200,98 matches the fax standard resolution, but this is not recommended for graphics. The default 7.54x10.14 will fit on a one page fax. HI Jetpro V50/100 -------------------------------------------------- You can drive the HI V50/100 with HP-GL/2. Set the resolution to 360 (/F0 360) and reverse the width and height in the print window, for example 10x8 instead of 8x10 for 8.5x11 paper. The maximum window height is 15.25. In printer mode the HI V50/100 acts as a Canon BJ IBM mode printer (/F7). The maximum print width is 15.25 and you need the prefix code 27,91,88,2,0,1,255 to get beyond 13.6 inches. p-35 HP DeskJet --------------------------------------------------------- /FI works with any black/white DeskJet in portrait mode. /FA has three modes for different levels of color HP-PCL. /FA uses RGB color and works with the DeskJet 500C. /FA! uses CMY color and works with all color DeskJets. /FA!` uses CMYK color to give give better blacks only on the DeskJet 550C and 560C (the DJ 1200C converts from CMY to CMYK color internally). HP LaserJet -------------------------------------------------------- /FL works with any LaserJet compatible printer. /FL! works with LJ 2 (PCL 4) printers. /FI works with LJ 3 (PCL 5) printers. /FI+ is a 600 dpi driver for the LaserJet 4. All of these drivers work in portrait mode, which may be set with /J 27 38 108 48 79 or you can reset the printer with /J 27 69. LaserJets with under one meg of memory may not be able to handle a full page of graphics. /FL! uses less printer memory than /FI, so it may be preferred on LaserJet 3s with limited memory. HP PaintJet -------------------------------------------------------- /FP drives 180 dpi PaintJet printers. /FP! uses data transfer mode 2 and works only with a PaintJet XL. Use /FA! (the DeskJet CMY driver) with the PaintJet XL300. HP QuietJet -------------------------------------------------------- /FQ works with QuietJets in HP-PCL mode. HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and HP-RTL ----------------------------------------- /F8 drives HP-GL and HP-GL/2 pen plotters. The output is low level HP-GL, converting text, arcs, fill, and clips to vectors. The output is HP 7220 compatible, containing IN, IP, SC, SP, IW, LT, PA, PU, and PD commands. PG is used for form feeds. If you specify no form feed then multiple plots may be appended to the same page. /F0 drives HP-GL/2 raster plotters (HP-GL/2 / HP-RTL devices). /F0- drives HP-GL/2 printers (HP-PCL 5 devices). /F0+ drives HP-RTL raster plotters. For any of these drivers, you can append the nominal resolution (for example /F8 300). When you set the nominal resolution of HP-GL to other than 1016, enhanced IW command interpretation (HP 7550 enhanced mode) is needed to handle dashed lines correctly. For HP-GL output the width parameter (/W) is used as a pen selector, so for each pen in the original HP-GL, you can specify a new pen in the output. The default /W option for /F8 is /W12345678. Shading and color are ignored. p-36 IBM ExecJet 4072, ExecJet II 4076, Color Jetprinter 4079 ----------- These are three completely different printers. The ExecJet 4072 is Canon BJ330 compatible. Put the printer in IBM mode and use /F7. The ExecJet II 4076 is a DeskJet compatible printer and should be used with /FI. Use the prefix code 27,38,108,48,69 to start printing at the top of the paper. The 4079 is basically a PostScript printer and it can be driven with /FS360. Newer versions of the printer can be set to ASCII text mode and driven with /F& (Canon BJ native mode), which will likely be faster than PostScript. Older printers can be turned on with the two leftmost buttons held down until startup is complete and then put in ASCII dump mode to use /F&. Always use form feed with the BJ native driver unless you have previously set BJ native mode. IBM LaserPrinter 4019, 4029, 4037, 4039 ---------------------------- /F4 drives any LaserPrinter 4019, 4029, or 4037 in PPDS (native) mode. /FL will work for HP LaserJet mode. At 300 dpi it takes up to one meg of printer memory to print a full page of graphics. The ! suboption or "modify output" "compression mode: Y" switches to 4029 data compression. /F4+! works with the 4029 with 600 dpi PPDS upgrade. All 4039s are HP-PCL printers and should be driven with /FI or /FI+ (the printer menu must be set to 600 dpi in this case). These printers do not support PPDS mode (/F4). IBM 24 Pin Printers ------------------------------------------------ PrintGL has three drivers for Proprinter X24 compatible printers. Use native mode, not AGM. /F6 is for all IBM X24s and the 24P. These printers do 1/144 inch indexing and using them at 180 dpi gives horizontal white streaks every 2/3 inch. The /F6 drivers compensate for this by indexing 19/144 per line, giving 182 dpi. To work properly the printer must start on a 1/72 boundary so it is best to keep line feeds at a multiple of 1/72 (1/6, 1/8, 1/9). /F5 is referred to as X24 alternate 1 and is for printers that are X24 compatible except for 1/180 inch indexing. This is the case with most X24 compatible printers, including the IBM Quickwriter and IBM 2390 and 2391. /F5* works only with printers that do 1/360 indexing, including the 2390 and 2391 but not the Quickwriter. /FX is referred to as X24 alternate 2 and is the same as /F5 except for the vertical units command. /FX works with Panasonic printers in X24 mode. The compression mode drivers (! suboption or "modify output" "compression mode: Y") may or may not be an improvement. p-37 IBM Quietwriter 2 and 3 -------------------------------------------- /F2 and /F3 drive the Quietwriter 2 and 3. Line feeds are set to 1/6 inch on completion. JRL J bubblejet ---------------------------------------------------- /F# drives the JRL J bubblejet in Epson LQ mode. Kodak Diconix Color 4 ---------------------------------------------- /FK drives the Color 4. Mannesmann Tally MT92C --------------------------------------------- /FA (the DeskJet 500C RGB driver) drives the MT92C. Pacific Data Products ProTracer ------------------------------------ /FG drives the ProTracer (base model) in IBM Proprinter mode. The maximum print window width is 14.97. PostScript --------------------------------------------------------- /FS outputs printable Encapsulated PostScript with no preview bit map. Text, arcs, fill, and clips are converted to vectors, so PrintGL is not a general purpose HP-GL to PostScript converter. If no form feed is specified then "showpage" is not output, and more PostScript may be appended to the page. PostScript overwrites as it draws, so overlapping lines appear opaque. You can specify the nominal resolution of the PostScript by appending it to the /F option (for example /FS 300). You can specify the paper tray with a prefix code that includes the tray number followed by " XP". For example /J 49 32 88 80 uses tray 1. /FY (not included in PrintCAD) appends a black/white TIFF preview bit map to a PostScript file. To use it, create a PostScript file with PrintGL and then run PrintGL again, specifying the same options except /FY instead of /FS. The destination file is appended by default. /FY assumes a PostScript file, generated by PrintGL, is being appended. You may set the resolution - the default is 72x72 dpi. Here is an example: PRINTGLD sample.plt /Dsample.eps/LB6,6/O2/FS PRINTGLD sample.plt /Dsample.eps/LB6,6/O2/FY Star Micronics SJ-144 ---------------------------------------------- /F: drives the SJ-144. Always use the form feed option with this driver unless you have previously set CDM mode. When using /F: with PrintCAD and color you might need to use /XM+ to give PrintCAD enough memory for processing. p-38 Tektronix ColorQuick ----------------------------------------------- /FR drives the ColorQuick. ZSoft PCX Bit Map -------------------------------------------------- /FZ gives ZSoft PCX bit map output. The format used by PrintGL is described below. For multiple page plots and tiled plots use a three digit number for the output file (/D option) so that a new (sequentially numbered) file will be created for each page. The file starts with a header composed of 128 byte values: 10,2,1,1,0,0,0,0, max_x,max_y, 2 bytes each, in dots dpi_x,dpi_y, 2 bytes each 0,0,0, color palette 0,0,192, or 254,254,254, for color or b/w 0,192,0, 0,192,192, 192,0,0,192,0,192,192,192,0,192,192,192, 0,0,0, 0,0,254, 0,254,0, 0,254,254, 254,0,0,254,0,254,254,254,0,254,254,254, 0, color_planes, 1, 3, or 4 width 2 bytes, in bytes 1,0,..,0 The scan lines follow, in top to bottom order. For color plots, each complete scan line consists of a blue, green, red, and intensity scan line. The intensity line is not included for /FZ`. 1 is the background and 0 the foreground for b/w files. 1,1,1,1 is the background for color files, with 0 representing the absence of blue, green, red, or intensity. The bit usage is reversed with /LR or "reverse image" . Each scan line is composed of these data commands ($ means hex): $00..$BF - 1 byte of bit mapped data ($00..$BF) $C1 $C0..$FF - 1 byte of bit mapped data ($C0..$FF) $C2..$FF $00..$FF - 2..63 bytes of repeated bit mapped data The width and height of the bit map are specified by the /L or "window/margins" option plus eight dots. The width is extended to a multiple of sixteen. p-39 HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and ADI Commands ------------------------------------- PrintGL supports the 7475 and 7440/17440 command sets except for character set 8 (Katakana), digitize commands, output commands, the error mask command, and some device control commands. In addition, PG, AF, ES, LO, character set 5, line types 7 and 8, and proportional spaced fonts are supported. And forty pens are allowed instead of eight. With /YA or "other" "interpret ADI commands: Y", PrintGL supports ADI 4.0 vector plotter binary commands along with HP-GL. The ADI plotfile should be created at 1016 steps/inch with up to forty pens and up to eight non-solid line types. With /Y1 or /Y2 or "other" "read HP-GL/2: Y", PrintGL adds support for a subset of HP-GL/2, switches to enhanced IW and RO interpretation, and switches to plotter on/off mode (/YY) with esc% .. B switching the plotter on and esc% .. A switching it off. Most HP-GL files will not run if HP-GL/2 interpretation is on. These additional commands are supported, at least in part: AC anchor corner BP begin plot CR color range IR P1,P2 relative NP number of pens PC pen color PE polyline encoded PW pen width SV screened vectors TR transparency mode WU width units Some of the significant limitations are: LA is not supported - round ends and round joints are always used. The maximum line width is 24 dots. The PrintGL pens are the default but the HP-GL/2 may change them. PrintGL acts like an HP-GL/2 plotter, not an HP-GL/2 printer, so form feeds are done with the PG command not the form feed character. If you are using a monochrome printer, you must turn PrintGL's color off with ~ or "clr: N". HPGL.DOC and HPGL.CHR include details on this subject. The 7550 manual is a good reference for HP-GL - HP manual 07550-90001. p-40 Compatibility and Technical Information ------------------------------ PrintGL/D will run on any DOS computer with MS-DOS 3.0 or above. MS-DOS 3.3 or later is recommended. It requires up to 256K of free memory. More memory may speed printing. The PrintGL/D menu can use any text display mode with at least 80 columns and 25 lines. It writes directly to the display buffer. PRINTGLD.EXE should not be compressed with EXE file compressors because it rewrites the EXE file when saving its configurations. PrintGL/W is an MS Windows 3.1 program and requires a 286 computer. It uses its own printer drivers, not Windows printer drivers. PrintCAD will run on any DOS 286 computer with MS-DOS 3.0 or above with 400K of EMS or XMS memory and a base memory region of 512K. Because it is a swapping resident program, it may have problems in some environments. PrintCAD can handle VCPI (Virtual Control Program Interface) based DOS extenders, but DPMI based programs and stand alone DOS extenders may cause problems. When using a DOS extender based program such as AutoCAD 386 or Microstation 4, use an extended/expanded memory manager that provides VCPI, such as MS-DOS 5 EMM386/HIMEM, QEMM 386, or 386MAX. PrintGL was written by Cary Ravitz and compiled with Borland Pascal 7.0. User Support --------------------------------------------------------- Correspondence about this program may be sent via the support bulletin board, fax, Compuserve, or mail. BBS: 606-268-0577 1200..14400,N,8,1 24 hours/day To ask a question, prepare an ASCII text file with the details of your question. Call the bulletin board and choose upload question. XMODEM, 1K XMODEM, or ZMODEM file transfer protocol is required. Your question will be assigned a number (such as 1015) - remember this number. An answer file (with the assigned number) will be posted, usually within 24 hours on weekdays. To get an answer, call the bulletin board, choose the download option, then the answer option, and then enter the answer number. Compuserve: Cary Ravitz [70431,32] Fax: 606-268-0577 If your fax machine does not send the fax calling signal, the BBS will answer and hang up (about 30 seconds), then the call is routed to the fax. Mail: Ravitz Software Inc. P.O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 USA