PLPHPGL2.DOC ------------ Protected mode ADI LongPlot driver for Hewlett Packard HP-GL/2 Devices Supported plotters include: Hewlett Packard 7600 Series Electrostatic Plotter Models Hewlett Packard DraftMaster RX Series Hewlett Packard PaintJet XL with HP-GL/2 Language Cartridge Hewlett Packard LaserJet III PLPHPGL2.EXP V1.0 for AutoCAD 386 (R) Copyright 1990-91, Autodesk, Inc. Document Revision 1.3 Mar. 16, 1991 /****************************************************************************** * * * Copyright (C) 1990-91 by Autodesk, Inc. * * * * Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and * * its documentation for the purpose of creating applications for * * AutoCAD, is hereby granted in accordance with the terms of the * * License Agreement accompanying this product. * * * * Autodesk makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the * * correctness of this code or any derivative works which incorporate * * it. Autodesk provides the code on an ''as-is'' basis and * * explicitly disclaims any liability, express or implied, for * * errors, omissions, and other problems in the code, including * * consequential and incidental damages. * * * * Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is * * subject to restrictions set forth in FAR 52.227-19 (Commercial * * Computer Software - Restricted Rights) and DFAR 252.227-7013 (c) * * (1) (ii) (Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software, as * * applicable. * * * ******************************************************************************/ INTRODUCTION This document explains the installation and use of PLPHPGL2.EXP, a protected mode Autodesk Device Interface (ADI) driver designed to run HP-GL/2 language devices (listed above) with AutoCAD 386. Please read the AutoCAD 386 Installation and Performance Guide concerning plotting and printer plotting with Hewlett-Packard plotters and printers, the AutoCAD Reference Manual section on plotting, and your plotter manual. This driver was developed by Autodesk, Inc. and does not represent an endorsement of any particular product. ADI Drivers - This driver is a protected mode ADI plotter driver. ADI is an acronym for the Autodesk Device Interface specification that was used to create this driver. This driver was tested using AutoCAD Release 11. **************************************************************************** COPYING THE DRIVER SOFTWARE Here's how to copy the driver software onto your hard disk. The example assumes an AutoCAD directory is on drive C and named \ACAD and the distribution disk for the driver is in drive A: 1. Change to the directory where you store AutoCAD C:> CD ACAD [Return] 2. Insert the ADI Driver update diskette in drive A. 3. Copy the driver files to your hard disk: C:> COPY A:\PLPHPGL2\PLPHPGL2.* [Return] CONFIGURING AUTOCAD 386 FOR THE PLPHPGL2 PLOTTER DRIVER -------------------------------------------------- In AutoCAD 386, Release 11, only a single ADI driver will be recognized at configuration time. The configuration menu for the plotter devices will always display a P386 ADI driver as a choice. The driver that is selected is determined through the use of the PLPADI environment variable and/or the ADIPLOT.EXP magic file name. If the user picks the P386 ADI driver choice, AutoCAD will search, first for the PLPADI environment variable which names the driver (with either a fully qualified path name or just a file name) and, failing that, searches for the ADIPLOT.EXP magic file name. Both searches start in the current default directory. If the driver is not found, AutoCAD then searches the following directories for the filename in the order given: ACADCFG configuration, ACAD execution and, AutoCAD command line execution prefix. If the driver is still not found, AutoCAD will ask you which disk drive and directory it should search to find the driver. The preferred means for AutoCAD to use this ADI driver are: 1) Use the set command with the environment variable PLPADI and a complete path name, for example if plphpgl2.exp is in the \acad\device directory you would type: SET PLPADI=\ACAD\DEVICE\PLPHPLP.EXP You may want to add a similar line to your autoexec.bat file. or 2) Copy plphpgl2.exp to the file name adiplot.exp. This file name is unique and will be used when AutoCAD is loaded if you have selected a P386 ADI driver during configuration. COPY PLPHPGL2.EXP ADIPLOT.EXP Both of these methods require the .exp file to be located in a directory accessible to AutoCAD. Please see the first paragraph of this section. It is necessary to configure AutoCAD 386 for a protected mode ADI DRIVER. You will need to do this before you use the PLPHPGL2 ADI driver for the first time. AutoCAD will save these settings until you change them. Refer to your AutoCAD Installation and Performance Guide for a more in-depth explanation of the steps below. To configure AutoCAD for an P386 ADI plotter driver, select from the AutoCAD Main Menu: Option 5 - Configure AutoCAD Your current configuration will be displayed. Press RETURN. Then select from the Configuration Menu: Option 5 - Configure plotter Select ADI P386 driver from the list of displayed plotters. You will be asked to select the type of Hewlett Packard plotter you have. 1. LaserJet III 2. PaintJet XL w/ HPGL2 Cartridge 3. DraftMaster SX 4. DraftMaster RX/MX Roll Feed 5. 7600 Monochrome 6. 7600 Color Here is a table of the various capabilities of the Hewlett Packard HP-GL/2 devices: | Laser Paint DraftMaster DraftMaster 7600 7600 options | Jet Jet SX RX/MX ROLL Mono Color ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- color | x x(pens) x(pens) x line widths | x x x(pens) x(pens) x x long plots | x x x copies | x x x x x x You will then go through the standard AutoCAD configuration dialogue. The driver needs some specific information depending on which options your device has. All these devices can make extra copies of your plot and you will be asked: After the first plot, this device can print up to 99 additional copies. Select the number of copies of each plot. <1> Enter your choice. If you like, you can override the number you entered before each plot. Would you like to do this? If you answer Y(es), you can change the number of plots at run time. You will then be asked the number of plots you want each time you plot. If you have specifed a device that has a roll feed capability and therefore can do long axis plotting you will be asked the following question: (For HP DraftMaster RX/SX series:) This device can do long axis plots from 65" to 1800" long. (For other roll fed series:) This device can do long axis plots from 65" to 600" long. If you wish produce 64" or longer plots, an additional question will be asked at run time configuration: Do you wish to do long axis plotting? . Answer Y(es) or N(o). If you answer yes, you can do plots of up to 50' (600") - (150' on the HP DraftMaster Series). Otherwise you will only be able to do plots up to 64" long. You may reconfigure at any time and select long axis plotting. For all the devices except the DraftMaster series, the following question will appear. Would you like to re-set line weight #20 to your own line weight? Here you will be given the chance to change line weight no. 20 to any value, but first you need to answer yes to the above question. Hit the Y key. We will then show the message below. Enter the line weight at the end of this configuration. You will now go through the standard plotter configuration dialog. NOTE: Calibration and Long Axis plotting: We have limited the amount of axis calibration to 5% during a long axis plot. Or one-half inch (0.5") inches in ten inches (10"). If your plotter is more than 5% out of calibration we cannot assure accurate long plots. Please have it re-calibrated by your dealer. Finally, if you answered Yes to the earlier question, "Would you like to reset line weight #20 to your own line weight.", we will prompt: What thickness should line weight #20 be? <4.00> The following table shows the default line weights. Line Weight Line Weight Widths No. (mm.) --- ----------- 1 .350 (default) 2 .075 3 .100 4 .120 5 .187 6 .250 7 .300 8 .400 9 .500 10 .600 11 .700 12 .800 13 1.00 14 1.25 15 1.50 16 1.75 17 2.00 18 2.50 19 3.00 20 4.00 Enter a line weight less than 25.0 mm. The weight will be the thickness of the line assigned to pen speed 20. Don't forget the decimal point! The default thickness for line weight #20 is 4.0mm. When you do run time configuration, any AutoCAD color/layer that is given a pen speed of 20, will produce lines the thickness you entered for that color/layer. See the LINE WEIGHT section below for a complete discussion of how to produce different line widths on your raster device. If you have any questions see the Configuration section of the Installation & Performance Guide to AutoCAD. Also see the AutoCAD Reference Manual for AutoCAD details, and your plotter's User guide for plotter details. AutoCAD will now be configured to plot using the P386 ADI driver. PLOTTING ON A STANDARD SIZE PAPER (Sizes A-E) --------------------------------------------- Either issue the Plot command from the drawing editor or select the plot file option, item 3 from AutoCAD's main menu. Make sure your plotter is cabled correctly, is turned on, and is On-Line. PLOTTING A LONG AXIS PLOT (UP TO 50' - 150' on the HP DraftMaster's) ----------------------------------------- Note: You must have answered yes to the long plotting question asked during the plotter configuration dialogue. ********************************************************************** AutoCAD doesn't directly support Longplots. AutoCAD can plot only 65,535 plotter steps in each direction, which is about 64" for Hewlett Packard plotters which use 1016 steps per inch. Longplots are done by rescaling the plot data sent to the driver, magnifing the data sent to the plotter at a small cost in plot resolution. *********************************************************************** If you are using Hewlett Packard Draftmaster for a LongPlot, you must follow the instructions in the Hewlett Packard User's Guide. You must have a black 0.3mm fiber-tip pen (for plotter paper) or a 0.35mm drafting pen (for vellum or polyester film) in pen stall #8. Only these pens enable the plotter to detect the registration marks used for frame-to-frame alignment. Also on the HP Draftmaster because it uses multiple frames, the double matte polyester film is the only media type that will guarantee precise registration between the multiple frames used to produce long axis plots. This is because non-polyester media will expand and contract due to changes in temperature and humidity. Part of the media will be exposed to the air and part of it will be rolled up. This means that slight gaps may appear between one frame and the next if you use paper, vellum or other non-polyester films. But polyester film is expensive and we recommend as Hewlett Packard does, using it only for archive storage or high accuracy applications. Please see your Hewlett Packard user guide for more details. Start your plot in the normal manner, from AutoCAD's drawing editor, issue the plot command or select the plot option (#3) from AutoCAD's main menu. Specify the part of the drawing you wish to plot by answering the prompt: What to plot -- Display, Extents, limits, View, or Window : AutoCAD displays the basic plot specifications and asks if you want to change any of them: Do you want to change anything? -- Answer es The following prompt will appear with the currently selected X-axis length. X-axis paper length for this long plot? (Inches only) If you want a different value than XX", enter it at this time. We only allow inches here. Note: that you must enter a legal value here, otherwise the prompt will be repeated. A legal value is numeric, greater than 0 and less than 600" - (1800" on the HP DraftMaster series). We do this here so that we can lie to AutoCAD. It would be to late if we waited for the run time configuration to be completed. When you come to the question below you MUST enter the x-axis paper-length for long plotting you entered earlier as the first value. Enter the Size or Width, Height (in Inches) : We must change the width here to what we've entered above, because that width displayed is used to calculate how much to lie to AutoCAD. The Height you enter here size of the paper roll mounted in your plotter. It will be 35" or less. For example, you have a 500' roll of 35" wide paper in your plotter. You want a long plot 300 inches long. You will enter the plot length of 300" twice: once at the question of x-axis page length and secondly at the size question -- Enter the Size or Width, Height (in Inches) < >. Here 300",35" would be correct. Then, when you come to this question: Specify scale by entering: Plotted units=Drawing units or Fit or ? : IMPORTANT!! - SPECIAL PLOT SCALING REQUIREMENTS FOR LONG PLOTS In order to create long-plots, the driver has to magnify the plot sent from AutoCAD. This question (asked by AutoCAD) must be answered with a scale factor to get accurate long plots, otherwise the resulting plot is may be incorrect. Let's start by considering the relatively simple situation where you want the plotted size to be the same as the AutoCAD drawing editor size you selected. We'll assume you would want to plot a scale of 1:1 if AutoCAD were able to create long plots directly. You have a drawing that is 100" long and you want a 100" plot. Your scale factor would be 1"=1". But what if drawing is 300 yards long and you want the plot to be 300". Your scale would be 1"=3'. For every inch of Plotted units you need 3' of Drawing units. The ADI driver will automatically scale your drawing to fit within the desired length. This length will also control how far the plotter advances the paper at the end of the plot. The driver will send all the vectors off to the plotter's buffer or hard disk. The pen plotters will automatically advance the page to plot each frame. Raster devices will wait until the entire drawing is received before plotting. For those who are curious, the driver actually will figure the magnification factor, M, by which to scale plot data by (assuming inches) using the equation: M = (X-Axis length * plotter steps / AutoCAD's plot-space) + 1. The AutoCAD plot-space is 65,535 steps and the plotter steps is 1016 steps/inch. for all HP-GL/2 devices. If you want a 300 inch long plot the factor M would be: M = (300 * 1016 / 65,535) + 1 M = 5.65 or M = 5 after truncation. The driver modifies the plotter units (in steps/inch) by dividing the default units (1016) by M (5) in this case. Then the plotter scales up all plot data by multiplying by 5. The plot is magnified by this factor of 5 in both X and Y directions. LINE WEIGHTS ------------ NOTE: Line Weights are not presently supported by AutoCAD at this time. We are offering the feature here because users have requested it. There are devices like Hewlett Packard rastor plotters that are capable of producing various line weights. But the use of line weights may have unexpected results We must caution the user to about their use. Some of these unforeseen results are: The HP 7600 series of plotters will not produce a line of dots if the line weight is greater than 0.8 mm. This will happen on the AutoCAD linetypes of dot2 and dotx2. If you assign a line weight 13 or greater to either of those AutoCAD linetypes, the line will not be plotted. This is built in by the HP 7600's firmware. The HP LaserJet and HP PaintJet will take a dot and produce a dash the length of the line weight thickness. This dash will always be along or in the y-axis direction, no matter the orientation of the line. Hardware line weights can be a useful tool. Use them with care. Some of the devices supported by this driver (e.g., Hewlett Packard 7600, Hewlett Packard PaintJet and Hewlett Packard LaserJet III) are capable of plotting various width lines. These widths are sometimes called "line weights". AutoCAD has no provision for assigning different line weights to different pens. But the devices which support selectable line weights do not actually have physical pens, so it is possible to map AutoCAD's pen speed assignments to line weights. This driver defaults to mapping the value in the pen speed field to line weights. After you have selected what you are going to plot, you will be asked: Do you want to change any of the above parameters? -- Answer Yes You will be shown a table of Entity Colors from 1 to 15 and the associated Pen Numbers, Line Types and Pen Speeds. Substitute for the Pen Speed value, the line weight numbers from the following table: Line Weight Line Weight Widths No. (mm.) --- ----------- 1 .350 (default) 2 .075 3 .100 4 .120 5 .187 6 .250 7 .300 8 .400 9 .500 10 .600 11 .700 12 .800 13 1.00 14 1.25 15 1.50 16 1.75 17 2.00 18 2.50 19 3.00 20 4.00 For example if you assign to Entity Color #4 (cyan) Pen Speed 9 from the above table, all the color 4 entities drawn in AutoCAD will be plotted with lines .8 millimeters wide. Do not use line weights greater than .8 mm to draw text. The results are not satisfactory. For faster throughput on pen plotters, use different width pens in the carousel to get pen widths. Otherwise, the plotter will multi-stroke each vector. MULTIPLE COPIES OF THE PLOT --------------------------- At configuration time, if you want multiple copies of a plot, you must enter a number to the question asked at configuration time: Select the number of copies of each plot? <1> If you have answered yes to the configuration question: If you like, you can override the numbers before each plot. then at runtime you will be asked: How many copies of this plot would you like? <#> where # is the number of copies you selected at configuration time. Enter the new number you need and HP-GL/2 device will make that many additional copies. Note: Insure that you have sufficient paper to produce the plots requested! Check the roll if you choose this option. Pen Optimization for Rastor Devices: ------------------------------------ For the HP 7600's, HP LaserJet III and HP PaintJet XL there is no need to do any Pen Motion Optimization. It is set to 1, End Point Swap, by the driver at plottime. This will produce the quickest output with no loss in quality. STOPPING THE PLOT ----------------- If you wish to stop the long axis drawing while AutoCAD is sending vectors to the plotter, abort it in the normal manner (Control C). Please read your Hewlett Packard plot device manual for exact details on how to abort the plot and clear it's memory buffer. We will give a brief synopsis here. If your plotter is: Hewlett Packard PaintJet XL, hold the On-Line button down until all the lights flash to clear the aborted plot. Hewlett Packard DraftMaster X series, press the CANCEL button. Hewlett Packard 7600 240D/E, press the plotters' RESET button. Hewlett Packard 7600 250/255/355, delete the incomplete plot by pressing the Plot Management Key, select Queuing Operations and then select the plot and delete it from the queue. Failure to reset the plotter may eventually produce a plot with portions of the terminated plot overlaying the successive plot. If you wish to stop the plotter after AutoCAD has finished sending all the vectors and while the plotter is still plotting, follow the procedures outlined above for your specific device. Once again please consult the plotters' User's manual for more information. NOTES ON OPERATION ------------------ Here are some tips for using the HP-GL/2 P386 ADI driver with AutoCAD: 1. The plotter must be connected, turned on, and on line before you plot using the HP-GL/2 P386 ADI driver. 2. Do not turn the plotter on and off in the middle of a plotting session. An error message will be displayed if you try to use the HP-GL/2 P386 ADI driver while the plotter is turned off. 3. To send a plot file to the plotter, type the following at the DOS command line: copy 'filename' lpt(n): OR copy 'filename' com(n): where filename is the name of the file you wish to plot and lpt(n) or com(n) represents the port you have connected to your plotter. If using the serial (com) port, you will first have to issue a mode statement to match the serial configuration of your plotter. If you are using a HP PaintJet or a HP LaserJet and serial port 1 (com1:), and are using the DOS copy command as shown above, the mode command is: MODE COM1:9600,0,8,1. or 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit. If you are using any other HP-GL/2 device the mode command would be: MODE COM1:9600,e,7,1 or 9600 baud, even parity, 7 data bits, and 1 stop bit. Please see your DOS manual for more information on the use of the mode command. 4. Disk Space Considerations: If you wish to plot to file, please insure that you have sufficient disk space to do so. File sizes are not dependent on the size of AutoCAD's DWG file, rather they depend on the contents of that file. CHROMA.DWG, while only 12,359 bytes as distributed with AutoCAD, expands to almost 240k bytes when plotted to file. This is due to the amount of fill the plotter must do to plot this file. Each solid filled object in the drawing requires that the driver send pen movement information sufficient to fill the object. Simple line drawings will require much less disk space. PLOTTER SPECIFIC INFORMATION ---------------------------- Hardware Requirements: ---------------------- The hardware requirements specific to using the PLPHPGL2 plotter P386 ADI driver with AutoCAD. o A parallel card and cable as described in the AutoCAD Installation & Performance Guide is your best choice for good performance with raster devices such as the HP7600 series of electrostatic plotters, the HP LaserJet III, and the HP PaintJet XL printer. o A serial card and cable is required for plotting to the HP DraftMaster series plotters and can be used with the raster devices. Plots will take significantly longer to send to the plotter. We do not recommend serial communications for raster devices. Hardware Installation: ---------------------- The supported Hewlett Packard device must be connected to the computer with a standard Centronics-type parallel cable or a serial cable. The AutoCAD Installation & Performance Guide (AutoCAD IG) section for Hewlett-Packard Plotters contains information regarding pin connections, switch settings, serial and parallel cable information for the Hewlett Packard 7600 and Hewlett Packard Draftmaster plotters. Serial Mode for HP PaintJet XL and HP LaserJet III: -------------------------------------------------- The following diagram illustrates how to connect the RS-232 Serial IO cable between the computer and the printer: Printer end Computer end 2 ----------------------------- 3 3 ----------------------------- 2 4 --- --- 4 | | 5 --- --- 5 7 ----------------------------- 7 6 --- --- 6 | | 20 --- --- 20 You may also use the Hewlett Packard cable (part no. #17255D) or similar as described on page F-4 in "LaserJet III Printer User's Manual". You must also configure the HP LaserJet III for Serial Operation, See Section K in "Your Guide to Setting Up Your LaserJet III Printer". HP PaintJet XL Rear Panel Switches: ---------------------------------- To use the HP PaintJet XL with a serial cable, the switches should all be set to the down position as follows: SWITCH ON/UP OFF/DOWN Baud0 X Baud1 X Par0 X Par1 X DTR/XON-XOFF X MET/ENG X ROM 8/PC 8 X If you use the HP PaintJet XL with a parallel cable, the switches won't matter. Parallel Port Usage with Hewlett Packard HP-GL/2 devices: -------------------------------------------------------- Warning: The HP PaintJet XL must be allowed to finish a plot before starting another plot with a parallel cable. If you try to plot a second drawing before the plotter finishes a plot, the HP PaintJet XL will reset itself, clear its memory and terminate the original plot. This same problem has been verified on some models of the HP LaserJet III. HP PaintJet XL and Color HP Electro-static (Hewlett Packard 7600 355) --------------------------------------------------------------------- These color devices are used with a color pallette that approximates the AutoCAD colors. When you select either of these devices, your pen tables are filled with pen numbers that match the AutoCAD color/layer tables. At run-time configuration your pen table will already be filled out with pen number's 1 to 15 assigned to AutoCAD color/layer's 1 to 15. When you draw any objects in red (AutoCAD color 1) your object will be plotted in red and any objects created in blue (AutoCAD color 5) will plot in blue. You may change this but each time you reconfigure the driver from the reconfiguration menu, the pen table will be set to these defaults. Hewlett Packard 7600 Electro-statics: -------------------- Plot positioning. A plot on a smaller sheet than the default size for the 7600 will be centered in the middle of the page. For example an A size plot on a 240E will be centered about 17 inches from the edge of the paper. If you need to force a A, B, C... size drawing to the edge of the page, simply make use of a user page size that is set to the full height of the paper. For example, if you want an A-size plot along the X-axis, Enter the Size or Width,Height (inInches) : enter the paper size as 10.5,35.18 for an E size plotter. Not the 10.5,8.0 as given for the A size sheet. Hewlett Packard DraftMaster Plotters: --------------------- The following table details the actual physical plotting areas for each page size supported by the Hewlett Packard DraftMaster plotters: Media Plotting Width Plotting Height Media Orientation Size Normal Expanded Normal Expanded (as loaded into plotter) A 8.83" 9.66" 7.3" 8.1" Portrait B 14.83" 15.66" 9.8" 10.6" Portrait C 20.83" 21.66" 14.8" 15.6" Portrait D 31.83" 32.66" 20.8" 21.6" Portrait E 41.83" 42.66" 32.8" 33.6" Portrait Drawings created to plot on a Hewlett Packard DraftMaster should keep these physical limits in mind when they are initially created. If plotting in expanded mode, lines drawn at the edge of the plot will be under the pinch rollers and could be subject to smearing. Hewlett Packard LaserJet III in HP-GL/2 Mode: -------------------------------------------- Output of Plots: ---------------- NOTE: THE HP LASERJET III HAS A FIRMWARE BUG IN ITS IMPLEMENTATION OF RELATIVE PEN MOVEMENTS UNDER THE NEW HP-GL/2 GRAPHICS LANGUAGE. CUMULATIVE POSITIONING ERRORS WILL APPEAR ON DRAWING, THE MORE COMPLEX THE DRAWING THE GREATER THE POSITIONING ERRORS WILL BECOME. AT THIS TIME WE CAN NOT RECOMMEND THE HP LASERJET III WITH THE ADI 4.1 DRIVER WHEN PRECISE PLOTS ARE REQUIRED. IF ACCURATE PLOTS ARE NEEDED PLEASE USE THE LASERJET III AS A PRINTER PLOTTER. Page Protection: ---------------- If you have a HP LaserJet III, the factory default setting for Page Protection is OFF. This only allows 191 Kbytes for Image Memory that will result in a HP LaserJet III error message: Printer Overrun, and will only plot part of your drawing. See page 4-25 for an explanation of Page Protection and read Chapter 4 for instructions on how to reconfigure your HP LaserJet III. Setting Page Protection to "LTR/A4" should eliminate this problem. The use of legal size paper will naturally need more memory. Hewlett Packard LaserJet III's must have at least a one megabyte memory upgrade to work with the HP-GL/2 driver. Fills: ------ NOTE: WE ARE UNABLE TO MAKE FILLS WORK CORRECTLY ON THE LASERJET III. STRIPES OF WHITE SPACE WILL APPEAR WITHIN THE FILLED AREAS. THIS IS A HARDWARE PROBLEM AS OTHER HP-GL2 DEVICES CORRECTLY FILL WHEN USED WITH THIS DRIVER. ALSO THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH JAGGED EDGES ON FILLED AREAS. Due to the finer resolution of the HP LaserJet III, you must reconfigure the pen width settings or you will end up with "streaks" in filled areas and/or broken lines. Any large filled area should show some streaking at the default pen width of .010 (Inches). There is a workaround by varying the Pen Width selected at plot time configuration and opting for the adjusted filled boundaries. When the plot time configuration asks: "Pen width in Inches <0.010>" start with a pen width of .009 and do a test plot. Be sure to answer yes to the following question: "Adjust area fill boundaries for pen width? " If there still are streaks, reduce the pen width by .001 until the plots are acceptable. You'll see that each plot with a smaller pen width will take more time. This is to be expected. Please don't confuse this use of pen width with the use of line weights referred to in other parts of this document. Serial Operation: ----------------- To operate the HP LaserJet III as a serial device follow these steps: 1) Take the printer off line. 2) Hold the MENU button down for 5 seconds until the READY message changes to AUTO CONT.... 3) Press the MENU button once more. It will display I/O=PARALLEL * If it shows I/O=SERIAL *, put the printer back on line. 4) Press the '+' button once. It should display I/O=SERIAL. 5) Press ENTER to save the setting. A * should appear in the display. 6) Put the HP LaserJet back on line by pressing the ONLINE button. Please refer to your Hewlett Packard LaserJet III documentation for additional help. Legal Paper Size: ----------------- If you wish to plot a drawing longer than the 10.5" of letter size paper, you will have to install your legal size paper tray. If you don't have a legal size tray, you can manually feed the legal size sheets to the printer. You must set your for manual feed before you send the plot. A good time to do this is when AutoCAD tells you to "Postition paper in plotter." "Press RETURN to continue....". If you do use manual feed, the HP LaserJet will display what size paper to feed it. Please see your Hewlett Packard LaserJet III user's guide for details of how to set it up for manual feed. AutoCAD, AutoSketch and ADI are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. IBM, PC, XT, AT are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. HP is a trademark of Hewlett-Packard Corporation.