How to print or plot?

Andrew Ghali

I have both an HP LaserJet 4000N and an HP 650C/PS E-size plotter.  I would like to print to at least one of them, and, eventually, both.  I can't seem to get any traction with the "plottermanager" command as it brings up Konqueror on an absolutely empty directory.

This is becoming very frustrating as I have paid for working software, not a trial version.  Am I missing something?  Is this a rookie mistake?  I hope not.

 

Tijs Vermeulen

Hello Andrew,

 

The plotter manager is supposed to open the filebrowser on the directory containing pc3 files. A pc3 file is a printer configuration. Normally pc3 files can be edited with the pc3 editor.  However, at this point, the pc3 editor has not been ported to Linux yet.  It is one of the things we aim to add soon.

 

What does work already in Bricscad (Linux) is the generation of a default pc3 file.  In the print dialog (File>Print...), you can see a dropdown "Printer/Plotter configuration".  There you should see your available printers and "None (uses default)".  If you pick "None (uses default)" and hit "Apply" a file default.pc3 will be generated (a dialog will popup if it is ok to generate default.pc3).  If you re-open the plotter manager, you should see default.pc3 in the formerly empty directory.

 

A current workaround to create pc3 files to your liking is:

- set the printer you want to print to as default system printer

- configure the printer exactly how you want it for a particular print (A3, landscape, etc...)

- make sure the file default.pc3 does not exist in the plotter manager directory

- generate a new default.pc3 file using "None (uses default)" in the print dialog

- rename the file default.pc3 to have a meaningful name, retain the pc3 extension

- this new pc3 file should now be available in the "Printer/Plotter configuration" dropdown

 

This way the printer configuration will remain available, even after changing the default printer settings of your system.

Tijs Vermeulen

Mind that for a simple print, you do not need the plotter manager or pc3 files at all.

You can directly use the "Printer/Plotter configuration" dropdown.

Andrew Ghali

When I select "Apply" in File --> Print ( "Print [Model]") I get a pop-up box:

"The current layout has no printer configuration.  Create a default configuration (default.pc3) to use in such cases?"

To which "Yes" gets me another pop-up box: "Failed to create default plot configuration (default.pc3).  OK."

I wish I knew why it failed to create the default.pc3 file but I have no further information.

So I can't make any progress this way.

I'm not sure where to find the printer/plotter dropdown but I'm game to try it.

Bruno de Mello Campos Limmer

Check if you have write permission to the directory Bricscad is trying to write.

Andrew Ghali

If the directory is ~/Bricsys/Bricscad/V10/en_US/PlotConfig  then yes.  I even chmod'ed to 777 every step of the way.  This is the directory that "plottermanager" brings up.  I can not say exactly that this is the directory that Print --> Apply is attempting to write to due to the complete lack of diagnostic information.

Andrew Ghali

OK, this is a CUPS vs. lprng problem.  I spent the afternoon installing CUPS over the top of lprng.  First lesson: DO NOT use the CUPS PPD for the HP 650C.  I wasted a lot of ink on a 3x4 foot page of junk - they say it "mostly" works.  Mostly not.  Second lesson: the generic PS PPD is mindlessly crippled.  I had to modify it to support up to size ArchE by copying the stuff out of the "GENPS.PPD" portion of /usr/share/ppd/cups-included/postscript.ppd into my /etc/cups/ppd/PLOTTER.ppd.

Now it works just fine.  Well, the preview window comes up at 3%, which I don't understand.  But I can kind of work with that.

David Berno

Another problem i have with HP plotter driver.

For hp Designjet t610 (and other) there are no driver. Even hplip have a driver for this plotter.

Can you (Bricsys) intercede with HP?

Thanks

David Berno