#HP LaserJet Driver
2 messages in this thread
Jamie, I have a few comments reguarding the HP LaserJet device driver. The
device driver is causing a problem since it does a LaserJet reset before
moving a drawing down to the printer. This is fine, even desirable, with the
LaserJet+, because it is generally dedicated to one machine and has very
limited amounts of RAM. However, with a LaserJet Series II, which can have a
2 or 4 megabyte upgrade board, on a network, it is unacceptable. Downloading
a drawing on the network causes any resident forms or fonts to be cleared.
Recommendation: Have the driver ask during configuration, if a reset is
desired. Another problem is speed. While the parallel port is a slow medium
for the large amount of data moved, it seems some improvements could be made.
I have noticed on some drawings that the transmission time to the printer is
small compared to the time take by AutoCAD to process vectors. And why some
many passes? Recommendation: Don't display the text string "Processing
Vector XXXXX" so often. I would guess that just the screen I/O is a large
part of the time taken. How about writing "Processing Vector " just once and
the vector number ever 100 or 200 or so. Also, could a larger data
rasterizing area be used to reduce the number of passes? Another problem is
that I also use an HP LaserJet+. This means I can get Full page graphics at
150 DPI or part page at 300 DPI. It is difficult to go to the configuration
menu every time I want to switch between the two. Recommendation: Let
resolution be a parameter entered at PRPLOT time. Request: If, or until, an
option is provided to turn off the reset by the driver could you provide me
with a release 9 patch to the HP driver that will disable the reset code from
being sent? Thanks, Leif Eriksen
Leif – Let me try to answer your questions about the HP LaserJet printer
plotter driver.
1. AutoCAD can't tell how much memory the printer has. Rather than ask an
obscure question that will confuse many users, it follows HP's recommended
practice of resetting. It also deletes all soft-fonts that have been loaded
as "permanent". If you really can't stand this, you can direct the PRPLOT
output to a file and strip these command codes from the file before sending
it on to the printer. I suppose you could also patch PRHPLJ.DRV to stop it
from writing these command codes.
2. Printer resolution is handled as a model-number type of specification in
order to reduce the number of prompts you must answer at PRPLOT time, and to
enable scripts to run without regard to what printer is configured. If you
have need for 150 and 300 dpi on a regular basis, you could avoid
reconfiguring by maintaining two configurations as described in Appendix B of
the AutoCAD Reference Manual (although this does entail exiting and
reentering AutoCAD). Will this work for you? (Comfiguration of multiple
plotters and printers, from which you could select one at PLOT/PRPLOT time,
is on the wishlist.)
3. Vector-to-raster conversion requires a great deal of memory for the
raster bitmap. PRPLOT gets as much memory as it can (from normal I/O paging
space) and rasterizes "bands" of the drawing there. The larger the memory
area it can get, the fewer passes are needed. Since extended/expanded RAM
*reduces* the amount of normal I/O paging space (due to extended page space
control tables), setting ACADXMEM and ACADLIMEM to NONE before PRPLOT-ing
will minimize the number of passes. (PRPLOT's memory usage is due for a
major overhaul in a future release.)
.