Agilent Technologies 8510C, Operating And Programming Manual

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Printer Setup
F or instructions on making actual prin touts, refer to \Printing" tow ards the end of this
c hapter.
Using the High Speed Configuration
As men tioned ab o v e, y ou need a sp ecial cartridge called the \Plotter in a Cartridge" from
P acic Data Pro ducts. This device programs the laser prin ter so it understands plotter
commands (HP-GL). The cartridge essen tially turns the laser prin ter in to a plotter. The
\laser plotter" accepts HP-GL commands and \draws" the picture in its o wn memory . The
prin ter then pro duces a page based on the \drawing" in its memory .
Why is it faster?
In normal laser prin ter op eration, the analyzer m ust send pixel data for the entir e p age |ev en
if the display ed measuremen t is v ery simple. A whole page of pixels at 300 DPI requires a
little o v er 1 megab yte of data. It takes a long time to transfer this m uc h data o v er the serial
bus. With HP-GL em ulation, prin ting is faster for t w o reasons: 1. There is far less data to
transfer since only HP-GL commands m ust b e sen t o v er the serial bus. 2. The laser prin ter
m ust only c hange memory lo cations that equate to blac k pixels. The ma jorit y of memory
lo cations (those that represen t white pixels) do not need to b e accessed. This sa v es ev en more
time.
My printer has built-in HP-GL.
Do I still need the cartridge?
Y es. T o use the built-in HP-GL em ulation mo de, laser prin ters usual ly require the computer
or instrumen t to send a sp ecial \escap e sequence" co de. The co de turns HP-GL mo de ON.
Suc h prin ters usually do not allo w y ou to turn HP-GL mo de ON from the fron t panel. A t
this time, the 8510C cannot send this sp ecial co de, so y ou m ust use a sp ecial cartridge to use
HP-GL mo de.
Ordering the Cartridge
There are t w o v ersions of Plotter in a Cartridge:
Standard F or use with the HP LaserJet Series I I.
\P ersonal Edition" (P .E.) F or use with the HP LaserJet I IP , I ID, I I I, and I I ID.
Y ou can order either of these cartridges from man y computer suppliers. W e found them for
ab out half suggested retail price at:
DH Systems: 1940 Cotner Av e,
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(800)-747-4755
A tten tion: Sales Departmen t
The part n um b er to order from DH Systems is:
Standard DH 701-PCR T
P ersonal Edition DH 702-PCR T-P
COPY
Printing and Plotting
6-7