Encad Windows Printer Driver __TOP__

What is a .plt file? A .plt file is a format of file necessary to print on a prefixed printer (plotter), whether connected to the PC which has been generated from, or in other place: e.g. a Copy Centre. This format reduces the dimension of the file to few kilobytes, rendering it even suited for e-mail. You need to install on your PC the specific driver for the plotter that will print it, using the FILE port and the option “Plot to File.

Encad Windows Printer Driver

The HP 500 Designjet Printer: slow plot generation. Born as a normal printer with PCL 3 language (PCL 5 and higher are HPGL-2 compatible, instead), to work in CAD needs an optional HPGL card; this is already installed on all other models. Without this card you'll practically generate, load and print an A0 size in PDF!! If we think the time we need, very often, for few A4 PDF pages..... Slow plot generation, output data size up to 10x larger than drawing size, incomplete plot; system crash or a need of more memory, Print Server or Buffer. To say the truth, this may happen even with an HPGL equipped device; there are many reasons: Autocad itself that creates enormous files, the System Operative version, an old driver not updated, Windows itself. It's possible to get rid of these inconveniences providing with a more powerful, up-to-date driver - a Third Party Product that we can supply - even suggested by HP, Autodesk and many Others. You may forget all these problems by installing a good driver and cut down - 50/70% - the weight of files and time for printing.

HP-RTL: practically a standard Mixed protocol raster/vectorial that HP developed for his "inkjet large format printers". It is already the standard for many Producers and also here with many dialects.. The HP DesignJet Windows drivers don't provide an interface for controling colors and line widths, or for optimising output for vector mode applications: and very heavy as well.

We read - PC PROFESSIONAL Magazine - CANON giving an answer to a customer that was complaining about the lack of an XP driver for his printer: "Every producer provides his product with a driver for most popular Operative Systems, the moment of first issue giving all informations about it. .............Updating Windows 2000 to Windows XP, for instance, Microsoft modified substantially instructions for dyalog between O.S.s, drivers and printing peripherals..."

What is a driver? A driver is a piece of software used by your computer to communicate with a particular peripheral. There are drivers for printers, video, sound, modems, and many other peripherals. Drivers are regularly updated and new versions can help fix problems and bring significant performance improvements.

Driver: why do we need them? Every printing peripheral is piloted by the Application; therefore the program must know the protocol (language) of the printer to send instructions wich; so we say that the Program is compatible, has the driver for that specific peripheral*. Other case is that the peripheral may declare to have itself the driver for that specific Program as it knows the language that will send it printing instructions. Tipical: my HP printer has driver for Autocad (and maybe, sometime, it says for which Autocad version).

*From an Autodesk Thecnical Support page: "Other important considerations when finding a driver, is to consider the type of printer you have, the AutoCAD version and the Operating System version. For example, you would need a specific driver for an HP DesignJet 200 plotter for AutoCAD 14 in Windows NT. In Other words, this particular driver would probably not work for an other HP DesignJet plotter model running in AutoCAD 2000 in other Windows version".

Support of a new technology Some peripherals rely on the processor computing power (for instance, most inkjet printers). Others peripherals integrate dedicated, specialized chips (for instance, graphics accelerator cards). New drivers optimize the communications speed and task sharing between the processor and the peripheral. A new driver can bring as much as 50% performance increase for certain tasks.

We must realize that this is the only way to talk two entities speaking different languages in Windows. Missing such possibilities, we rely on a Third which acts as translator between the two: "Windows Printer Manager", that is a generic printer driver.

*From PC PROFESSIONAL magazine Responding to an User complaining about missed develop of a new driver in Windows XP for old printers 1520 e 3000 under Win95/98, Epson gives this answer: ".....in this case it's not just a simple update ..... but a totally new develop, costing very important human, economic and financial resources, same as those necessary to introduce a new, modern product that the market is uninterruptedly asking......................".

For these reasons Manufacturers prefer join to Windows, even with all problems and limits that is possible to experience when you print (plot) from a CAD program. Missing some specific drivers the assignment is submitted to a generic driver, the "Printer Manager" in Windows, that is an independent application, autonomous from the Operating System, just as any other printer driver.

Fortunately for consumers, a Third Party is specialized in the production, development and updating of the drivers for many peripherals. Same HP (as Autodesk and many others), recommends the use of it, when those of his printers and of his new plotters are not satisfactory.

CADJET 2 36???x150??? roll Color wide format printer/plotter ???Used originally by Eastman Kodak. Prints crisp, clean lines at 300x300 dpi resolution, in monochrome or color. Will print higher quality 600x600 dpi monochrome at a reduced speed. The ENCAD CADJET 2 was designed for CAD plotting & advanced inkjet performance in an entry-level inkjet plotter. No other comparably priced plotter was better at plotting, color capability, and all other features required by CAD users. Wheeled stand with wire basket included. Specifications, user guides and drivers available online.

It was two weeks before EFI telephoned me back, this time from an office in The Netherlands. Again, they were pleasant. But nothing ever got resolved. I had first attempted to load the EFI software onto a Mac 9600 (this was five years years ago). When that failed I loaded the Fiery printer driver CD onto a Mac 3400c laptop with OS 8.5 (the 9600 that got clobbered had OS 8.1). The Fiery did not seem to want to work without my installing the PS portion (the crucial PostScript, the portion that wrecks your Apple LaserWriter). So I had to install the PS, waste my time getting a long download of the Apple LaserWriter update. At least the Fiery worked and now my laser printer worked as well. For reasons I don't fully understand my Mac 9600 runs the Fiery from LaserWriter 8, and not from PS printer option, which does not even appear in my chooser on that printer. On my Mac laptop the chooser offers both options, PS printer and LaserWriter; I use the PS printer for the Fiery/HP printer.

I then loaded the Fiery printer driver CD onto a Mac 3400c with OS 8.5 (the 9600 that got clobbered had OS 8.1). The Fiery did not seem to want to work without my installing the PS portion (the crucial PostScript, the portion that wrecks your Apple LaserWriter). So I had to install the PS, waste my time getting a long download of the Apple LaserWriter update. At least the Fiery worked and now my laser printer worked as well. For reasons I don't fully understand my Mac 9600 runs the Fiery from LaserWriter 8, and not from PS printer option, which does not even appear in my chooser on that printer. On my Mac laptop the chooser offers both options, PS printer and LaserWriter; I use the PS printer for the Fiery/HP printer.

Pros: If is rare that you need to include 8 to 12 pt type on a large poster, but if so the Hewlett-Packard DesignJet CP with EFI Fiery RIP handled 8 to 12 pt type in the same professional manner as do HP's 600 dpi laser printers. With the naked eye my letterhead and a typical letter looked the same nice quality as I get from my other laser printer (which actually is a true 1200 dpi QMS 2060FX monochrome printer). Thus the EFI Fiery RIP with the HP 2800 printer seems to handle type correctly. Actually this may be Apple's LaserWriter, since I did not install the EFI PostScript driver after it trashed my LaserWriter. The EFI PS driver got removed in resurrecting my hard drive at a computer repair shop (something that was long overdue and by no means a result of specifically loading the EFI drivers, though I did have to add the EFI trashing to the list of jobs the computer company was asked to repair).

Printing PostScript files, such as raw Tiff's from Adobe Photoshop. Since PageMaker can arrange only up to 42 inches (QuarkXpress is not much better), most people send their larger images directly from Photoshop. I have tended not to do this because on earlier model computers, printers, drivers, and Photoshop versions, printing from Photoshop often took longer than printing from PageMaker. But this speed difference may no longer be present. Anyway, for long images such as banners, unless you get Adobe InDesign or PosterWorks or other banner layout software, you have little choice but to print from Photoshop. The Fiery instructions say to print TIF files with the Fiery Downloader instead. I naturally first tried to print directly from Photoshop; I must have not loaded something correctly because the print function refused to accept the full size, said the image would be clipped, and indeed clipped away most of my image. What the printer (or driver or Photoshop) did not like was a custom page size. It wanted to accept only its own list of paper sizes which of course are rather useless if you are a creative artist. But when I went out of Photoshop and went into EFI Fiery Downloader, it accepted my TIF file, but screwed up the orientation. I lost lots of expensive 36" wide format coated inkjet paper in the process.