[wplug] plotters

[Rick Smith]

On Tue, Jun 03, 2003 at 09:27:25AM -0400, John Harrold wrote:
> this isnt really linux specific, but we're looking to get a plotter which
> will have to work under linux.  my advisor put the choice upto me and i
> don't really know that much about them.  so i'm asking you all for your
> suggestions about the different brands and models out there. what should i
> consider (ink usage, operating costs, etc.). our needs are fairly modest:
> we need full color posters three feet wide.

You need to buy HP, of course!   http://www.designjet.hp.com/

Caveat emptor: I have a severe bias and little knowledge of either
HP's products today or their competitors.

I am a stock holder and ex-firmware engineer who worked on
plotters for 15 years, from the old vector machines through the
transition to raster w/postscript and finally the moving of
engineering from San Diego to Barcelona.

A piece of the puzzle you need to understand is what languages
do your application(s)-which-plot speak?

There are a few languages the plotters use:
Postscript, PCL, HP-GL/2, direct render of jpg, tiff and the like.
Probably more today since I've away from it for so long.

Then you need to find out what drivers there are to connect an
application generating that language to a device.

Of course, best is if someone has done it before and has nice
instructions on the web!

Google on "linux designjet" for information about HP stuff.
Some of the pages also listed other brands.