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We use PowerCADD 6 and MacOS X 10.2.8 with an HP DesignJet 1055CM.
It has the postscript option installed.
This is a true Adobe Postscript hardware RIP.
Works great.
No problems at all.

We also have recently started using an HP DesignJet 750C+.
We use the GIMP Print drivers and ESP Chostscript to communicate.
Only been using it for a few months, but no problems yet.

You said you were using the OS9 software RIP.
Have you tried ESP Ghostscript instead?
It can be downloaded from the same site as GIMP Print.

Bob Sandkam on December 08, 2003

Setting up a new Printer in OSX for the HP455CA (or HP488CA, possibly others too)

The following assumes that Gimp-Print and GhostScript have been installed:

In a nutshell:
1. Get the IP address for your HP JetDirect server box by printing its configuration page(s). (might have to read the manual) On ours, pushing the test button on JetDirect box prints the configuration page to the plotter. The SECOND, sheet-fed 8-1/2 x 11 page that prints has the IP address.
Note the IP Address is four sets of numbers separated by periods, example: 192.168.123.113
Note: If unable to make this work with the IP address you obtain, you might try Alfred's suggestion for setting the IP address on the JetDirect box manually. Depends on your network setup as to whether this works.

2. Open up Printer Center / Printer Setup Utility.
3. Click Add (printer) button while holding the Option key down.
4. Select the Advanced option in the first pulldown button.
5. For the Device, Select the Appsocket/HP Jetdirect.
6. Give it a Name, HP 455CA for example.
7. In the device URI field, type the IP address from step one above after the "socket://" already there.
8. Printer Model. Select HP, and then scroll down the list until you see the DesignJet 455CA. It will have some other info appended to the name "CUPS + Gimp…"
9. Click on the Add button and your done.
10. You'll need to go to Page Setup in PowerCadd to select it and a standard or custom paper size.

You should now be able to print to the HP455CA. Select it in the Print dialog if it's not the default printer to come up.
Andy

Andy Caldwell, AIA on January 27,2004

We are (still) using an HP Designjet 330 and it is working fine. Replaced the belt a year ago and that is about all the maintenance we had done since buying the unit new. We bought it from a saleperson named Flintstone from the Bedrock Blueprint and Rock Chiseling Company. But it still does the task.(I am a small firm of one person and the occasional assistant - so this is a MAJOR investment - one that I am about to update within the next few months)

We are using G4's (an 800 Htz powerbook and a dual 867hz G4 Tower)
PowerCADD 6.06
Mac OS 10.2.6 (have had some trouble with 10.2.8 and waiting to go Panther)
X-rip Plot Driver from Macroenter. Costly but I want it to work NOW!!! and it does.
Printing quality is fine all things considered. Things seem a little heavy on older files creaetd with PC4.

Patrick Hansford on December 08, 2003

HP Designjet 800ps, 24" wide. Purchased a year ago after selling the 450C, in anticipation of all the fiddling that has been done to get OSX printing to work. Has been trouble-free except the Apple/HP drivers don't like custom page sizes as far as I can tell, and it likes to print to a piece of paper about 1.4 inches longer than the size it's supposed to be. I hope the drivers are fixed some day by the responsible party, but in the meantime I just live with the untidy size and cut off the excess by hand when I need exact paper size. Silly, isn't it? A $5000 printer that can't trim paper to the right size?

Michael Charek on December 08, 2003

X-rip works fine with my Encad Cadjet II.

John Cruet on December 08, 2003

We have an Océ 9300 that works in both OS 9 and OS X with PowerCADD 5 and 6. We have a JetDirect box that doesn't work under OS 9 (AppleTalk just won't work for some reason), but IP printing to it in OS X works great with or without the JetDirect.

Jeffrey Jakucyk on December 08, 2003

I am sucessfully using an HP 2500cp- which is perhaps 5 years old- with Panther, and formerly Jaguar. No problems except for the pervasive custom sheet size- though I haven't tried it in Panther. Under Panther the new Printer Setup Utility shows a neat little DesignJet icon in the dock while printing.

Howard Partner on December 08

I have been using a HP designjet 100 with PowerCADD 6 and Panther and have had no problems. Dual 867 w/ 1gig of ram.

If you buy an HP Designjet 120 Hp will throw in an iPod FREE
check out:
http://h41111.www4.hp.com/graph_professional/uk/en/index.php?bannerID=U022

Nick on December 08, 2003

We use an Epson 7600 that works great and custom paper sizes are a snap.

Doug MacKay on December 08, 2003

I use an HP755cm, with no problems.

For some reason, it doesn't show up when I try to 'add' it in Print Center, so I use IP printing.

patrick m a r r on December 08, 2003

HP250c on OSx with Gimp and Ghostprint, using an external printer server and IP printing set up in Gimp. It works just fine, and I believe Alfred is running the same setup.

Oh but my this plotter is getting old though...

lavardera on December 09, 2003

We use an Oce TDS600 print/copy/scan system for OS9, OS X, and Windows2000, with no hassles. Its an Oce 9300 printer, 9300 scanner, and a dedicated PC rip/server running OCE TDS600 software. Oce Tech said it wouldn't work in OS X, but it does quite easily. Scanning directly to pdf is particularly useful. Prints fast. Collates.

Alan Mushroe December 09, 2003

I have been using the HP DesignJet 500PS for about 3 years. The quality of the machine and the output are great. The HP software RIP however was painfully slow and prone to crash in OS 9. Overall, I began to wish I have never purchased it. It got worse when we moved to OSX. HP never offered drivers or PPD's for OSX. We dedicated a machine booted in OS 9 to run the plotter. Again, I regretted my purchase.

About a year ago someone referred me to GIMP Print. This appeared to be the answer, but I still couldn't find an appropriate printer description file. Finally, I found one from "taylorbuymelunch". I don't have the URL but you can search for it. It worked great in Jaguar. Printing times were reduced and there were no crashes with GIMP and Taylor.

I recently installed Panther. Panther includes the GIMP drivers with the install. You still must use the Taylor PPD. So far it appears to work flawlessly. It's even faster under Panther.

One note, I print to PDF from PCad 6 and then send the PDF file to the printer. It works better for me this way.

I would still prefer a plotter with a hardware RIP, but my solution is far more cost effective and nearly as fast for my work. ..

Sorry it's Tylerbuymelunch.

http://buymelunch.org/printing/

Works great

Gary Tilson on December 05

I have been using the HP 500PS with a dual g4, My machine boots to both OSX and Classic (9). What I have to do when printing is choose the save as file form the printer menus. choosing PostScript as the selection then save the print to a folder I leave on the desk top for plans to be printed. Then launch the PS500 Rip in Classic. Once this dialog box is on the desk top you can drap the file to be printed over to the rip and drop it there. It will now print in classic. If find the speed isn't too Bad much faster than on my old G3. I helps to select hold rather than print back in the print dialog box then you can do previews, rotate etc from the rip. Works I guess. Not a smooth a native rip. I also am trying out a print driver by print Pro. So far working OK for me. the resolution in fast mode is a little heavy but seems to be going along ok a litter faster that the previous described method and no going through the file same routine.

Dwight on December 08

My HP650C is connected to my G4 by ethernet, and I can print to it using either of 2 drivers--Panther's built-in gimp-print driver (the 650C does NOT show up as a supported model in the Printer Setup Utility under IP Printing--but I found that the 250C driver works fine), or MacroEnter's X-RIP which I bought pre-Panther when there was no other alternative (or so it seemed.)

Steve Woolf on December 19, 2003

I got my HP488CA to work doing the following:

To obtain the IP address for the external Postscript RIP you have to do a test print.I tried to print a test with the 488 but could not get it to work. So as a work around I attached my HP6MP Laserjet to the external Postscript RIP and it worked. (See the HP help site for the correct buttons to press to make it print a test sheet)

Once you know this info, you can do a printer setup using "IP Printing"

Works great.

I gotta tell you, my transition from a G3 / OS9 to G5 / Panther has been a piece of cake (knock wood)

Robert Isaac on January 16, 2004

We use PAD System Apparel CAD in Classic and save our HPGL plotfiles into a folder in 10.3 ( One can nicely have a preview of the file in GraphicConverter ).

Either Use DropPrint http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/mac/14375 to send the .plt Plotfile manually to an IP address or create an AppleScript using Terminal Command lpr -l <filename> and attach this as an folder action (much like watched folders with Distiller). One can send the files to virtually any HPGL capable Plotter attached via Printserver. I use this with my HP DesignJet 2500CP (with 10/100 Ethernet) or Encad Cadjet 2 as well as some older HP DesingJet (433 ?).

Next to this Gimp-print is the way to go using PDF or Postscript.
I haven't succeeded yet in writing a CUPS filter to pass HPGL directly to suitable Plotters, but it's supposed to work as well.

Dirk Maas on 22 January, 2004