Plotter drivers

I am rigging up an HP Designjet 430 Plotter (old I know) and need to download the drivers for it. I use Autocad LT 2007 and wondered if the drivers would be available for this version as the ones supplied are for Autocad 2000.

Regards

And where did you obtain the drivers from? HP?

What OS are you running?

I would get them from HP site I imagine.

Im running XP Professional SP 2

I just visited the HP website and judging by the list of operating systems you shouldn't have a problem.

Ok so it doesnt matter what version of Autocad I use, there will always be drivers available for even an old plotter such as this.

I get the feeling this was a silly question.

Thanks ReMark, appreciate it.

Your welcomed.

I wouldn't use the term "always" but there is a good likelihood in most cases. I usually recommend that people first check the plotter manufacturer's website. It's only logical. If nothing is found then expand the search using Google or Yahoo. There may be a website that retains "old" drivers. Failing that, the last resort would be "generic" drivers. There are still companies that produce these but at a price.

Ok thats my question answered.

Thanks again

All depends on how old your plotter is. Nearly anything from the ink jet era and newer is available, but some of the older pen and pencil plotters are hard to find drivers for.

I've never used it, but there is software available from winline.com that they claim is able to make almost any printer or plotter usable. There are versions available for vista and xp. I don't know the cost, however. Where you really run into trouble is finding cables for some of that old stuff. Some computers these days don't have serial ports on the back anymore, and many of the companies had proprietary pin-out configurations. This information is generally available, and if you are handy with a soldering iron you can make the cables yourself. Ioline was really bad about doing that, as were some others.

Have a good weekend!

Cables should not be a problem for the HP DJ 430. When a computer does not have a parallel or a serial connector usually a "pigtail" (USB to serial for example) or an add-on card that gets inserted into one of the PCI slots inside the computer will solve the problem. I've only had to have one "custom" cable made and that was for my very first plotter. That was so long ago I'm embarassed to say.

Cables should not be a problem for the HP DJ 430. When a computer does not have a parallel or a serial connector usually a "pigtail" (USB to serial for example) or an add-on card that gets inserted into one of the PCI slots inside the computer will solve the problem. I've only had to have one "custom" cable made and that was for my very first plotter. That was so long ago I'm embarassed to say.

Yes, I didn't say that very clearly. The cabling problem only applies to the very very old stuff. I have an Ioline LP4000 and it requires a hinky cable. It's not really all that old. After all, it was built in 1985! I bet there are lots of us still using plotter that are a quarter of a century old!

Yes' date=' I didn't say that very clearly. The cabling problem only applies to the very very old stuff. I have an Ioline LP4000 and it requires a hinky cable. It's not really all that old. After all, it was built in 1985! I bet there are lots of us still using plotter that are a quarter of a century old![/quote']

 

My old Autocad installation book indicates that most all plotters (except for H-P) use straight through $1 special long plotting cables up to 25 feet. The H-P variety requires a crossover style, to which they have a certain name for too, and these are not easy to find on the used market either. This applies to the early inkjets and thermals too. You need to load up some driver information, to tell Acad exactly which plotter and model you have, and then sit back and answer the lengthy Q and A session they then have. Yes, Yes, No, No etc.

 

Back when, I figured out the twists, and soldered up an adapter using common blank connectors. Use it on occasion to tell if a plotter has H-P guts or not.

 

Most all of the $1 special cables I find at swap meets are for the older 24 pin connector. You then need a 24 to 9 pin adapter (or solder up yourown) which is often another $1 if using modern serial ports. I use a common LPT to 24 pin adapter if using one that connects in to the other port. Another $1 special.

 

 

 

Wm.

My old Autocad installation book indicates that most all plotters (except for H-P) use straight through $1 special long plotting cables up to 25 feet. The H-P variety requires a crossover style, to which they have a certain name for too, and these are not easy to find on the used market either. This applies to the early inkjets and thermals too. You need to load up some driver information, to tell Acad exactly which plotter and model you have, and then sit back and answer the lengthy Q and A session they then have. Yes, Yes, No, No etc.

 

Back when, I figured out the twists, and soldered up an adapter using common blank connectors. Use it on occasion to tell if a plotter has H-P guts or not.

 

Most all of the $1 special cables I find at swap meets are for the older 24 pin connector. You then need a 24 to 9 pin adapter (or solder up yourown) which is often another $1 if using modern serial ports. I use a common LPT to 24 pin adapter if using one that connects in to the other port. Another $1 special.

 

 

 

Wm.

The cable for the Ioline plotter I mentioned has all sorts of weird stuff. At the plotter end of the cable there is a jumper between 2 pins on the connector, as well as the crossover bit. I always wondered why if it needed to be jumpered, why didn't they do it inside the plotter instead of on the connector? I suspect it was a design error that escaped detection till it was too late to do anything else about it. I can't remember right off the top of my head right now but there's something hinkey about the way it's grounded too. I'll have to look it up again. This one is from back in the good old days when so many companies were trying to re-invent the wheel, instead of following an industry standard.

I have only one driver for Ioline, and it works with an Acad 4.1 driver setup, of circa 1993. Per the documentation, says that it will in one way or another work as a HP-GL driver, eventially.

But for now (circa 1993) it has something to do with DMPL language. You are to use a three wire cable off a 9 pin serial port, but a few of the pins near to the computer have to be tired over too.

Wm.

The OP should not require any custom made cables or cross-overs to run his DJ 430.

The OP should not require any custom made cables or cross-overs to run his DJ 430.

Correct. We kinda got off topic there, and it was my fault. Sorry bout that. The 430 won't need anything out of the ordinary.