AutoCad 2000 - Windows 7 Ultimate - HP Designjet 500

Have you looked in the PLOT command dialog box for the list of all available printers/plotters?

If it doesn't show the DesignJet as an option, I'm afraid I don't know how to refresh the options.

It only shows heidi plotters. Many of hp but different ones. Guess the 2000 is too old, but no economy in buying a new version. I hardly use it anymore. Plus I changed to mac. Tks

Is there a way to save the drawings into a different format that the printer will recognize?. For example, could you create a Word document and embed the drawings in it, then print the Word document?

Another thought is to save the drawings as pdf files, then (perhaps) print the files. You can download a free program to generate pdf files called Primo. Once you create a document or drawing in one program (like autocad), you 'print' the file to Primo and it saves the file as a pdf. You can then generate the hardcopy of the pdf on your printer.

--These are just a couple ideas of work-arounds until you get the printer driver fully installed. I've had a lot more problems with Win7 getting device drivers to install properly than I ever did with XP - but with patience and persistence, I managed to get them all working.

if you didn't knew the word has quanted scaling such as you set you obj. to pos(x,y)1.111 , 2.2222 in what it prints would be "actually" at 1.100 2.225 in - interesting enough the excel doesnot have such a qute bug built in ((some departments in MS seem to get over-financed - so they don't know what to to with the rest of the money - and they build such headaces for you to discover . . . as USE A PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE IF YOU NEED THE WORK TO BE DONE - such as the word micro reffers to the younger part of your family - it's at least how i get this ))

Adding printers to AutoCad is not straight froward.

This: Free CAD software * for your DWG files: DraftSight - Dassault ... is free, does everything AutoCad does and recognizes your printer with any set-up headaches.

There are other free drafting programs out there, but this one does everything my work AutoCad does.

AutoCad is overpriced and needlessly complex.

I will certainly look into this. Autocad is now $4,000.00 plus. When you use it frequently, it makes sense but for a one shot drawing it makes you bleed. Autocad and windows never have been without problems to communicate. Autocad and Mac had a divorce for, I guess over 10 years, but are back in love? Thanks for the link. D

I used tp print to PDF first from Autocad and then printed the PDF on the plotter. It was always messy setting up the print to the plotter directly from Autocad.

It saved a lot of paper that way.

This is a very good point.

I use a dwg to pdf converter now and I can get the file to print. However, the converter doesn't react that well. The drawing I made is a building 192 X 180 feet and I draw in model. The paper I use are 23 X 35 inch sheets for offset printing.

The designjet in the conversion protests by saying the paper is too big or too small and prints the drawings to 50% of the paper. Also the line width and colors I have not really under control.

I even downloaded autocad 2013 - (on the MAC). Same problem: no good driver at HP for my plotter. This autocad however can export in pdf and the print quality is OK.

Problem I have is that the size is determined by the (student border stamp) around the drawing. This route I will go again tomorrow and set the drawing limits close to the border to get a print as big as possible.

The designjet is a 24 inch model and makes good quality prints from excell etc...

Thank you for the help. D

Have you tried running AutoCAD in "XP compatible mode"?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7

Downloaded the trueview. Nice to convert but printing is not working.

From Trueview you need to have the right designjet driver. The program is very complicated till now. The DWG to PDF converter stopped working after the 10 th drawing. Had to buy or delete. I always get caught in free downloads, where free is synonym with the download and NOT with the program.

That converter promised a lot - pen width adjustment, size modification and more, but none works well. For free ok but pay for Sh#t? Not me.

Has someone a download hint for a good (and free) converter? Tks.

Since you mentioned you have Win 7 "Ultimate", follow Shockhiscan's advice, and Bwire's link, and install XP mode. It's an included perk of the Ultimate and Pro editions of Win7. It basically runs a full version of XP in a "virtual" environment, you won't be able to tell the difference between your old XP computer and XP running under Win7, then all your old drivers will work (at least that's how it's supposed to work).

We have some old utilities that still rely on AutoCAD R14, and it won't run at all under Win7, so we run it in a virtual XP session under Win7 Pro, works like a charm.

Tom D.

we use vmware workstation - I think it was about $250. It would allow you to VM your old XP machine (if you still have it). You can have a 32 bit VM running on a 64 bit host.

You can also use a vmware player, but you would need your buddy to create the vm for you with all your programs and drivers in it.

We believe there is a free VM from Oracle - virtualbox or something. We have not tested this.

XP should come with the Win 7 ultimate, but you still need the VM install.

I hope you still have the XP drivers.

ACAD 2000 still messes up the drop down directories always defaulting to icons instead of lists, we have not tried a win 2000 VM install.

We recently retired an old Designjet that came out in XP days and won't work on Vista/Win 7 machines.

The problem is that HP refuses to update drivers to anything else beyond XP for those old plotters as they want to sell new plotters, not allow you to use old ones into the next millenium.

I hacked a Win 7 driver to work with the old plotter but could only get it to work in monochrome. By then I realized it would be cheaper to buy a new plotter rather than invest more hours into futililly trying to make the old one work.

And, for once, this isn't AutoDesk's fault.

FWIW (for what it's worth)

Hooker

I have the same issue with an Epson Stylus Pro 7500. Epson won't update the drivers to run on Windows 7 and their tech support says to use a RIP program. The RIP software vendors all say the same thing: need Windows 7 drivers for their programs to plot to the Epson.

I have a HP DesignJet 650c plotter and it worked okay with MS Windows XP. It doesn't work with Vista and above OS, so I use a dedicated PC running XP to plot. But then, I'm running CMS IntelliCAD 7.2 or Draftsight. IntelliCAD does nearly everything AutoCAD does (w/ a few exceptions) and is hell of a lot cheaper!

I have no problem converting the drawing files to *.pdf format and plotting them. Oh sure, some of the line weights need to be tweaked, but that is a minor inconvenience....nothing is perfect!

You may have to find the proper drivers for your OS. Did you search the HP website for driver upgrades? If there is none available for Windows 7, then you may have to do what I've done by employing a dedicated PC, or upgrade your CAD.

Also, if your using a *.dwg or *.dfx converter to *.pdf make sure is a good one, not some freebie with limited capabilities.

http://www.dwgpdfconverter.com/

We are also using pdf995. It costs $9.95 for the licensed version. It is (was) a free trial. So far it works well with ACAD.