Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpl-opus!hpccc!hp-sde!hpcea!twakeman
From: twakeman@hpcea.CE.HP.COM (Teriann Wakeman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac<->D-Size Plotter interface?
Message-ID: <430041@hpcea.CE.HP.COM>
Date: 6 Sep 88 18:44:16 GMT
References: <1209@ndmath.UUCP>
Organization: HP Corporate Engineering - Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 35

There are a few Plotter drivers on the market, plus several high end drawing
packages that have plotter drivers built-in {more coming soon, I
 understand}.

MacPlotts by Microspot of England. 
I think this may have been the first plotter driver available for the Mac.
If memory serves me, early versions poltted only from the clipboard.
I have been told that it has been upgraded substancially in recent versions
and is a solid product worth looking into.

PlotStart{?} by Softstyle of Hawaii.
This is the most primitive and troublesome one of the bunch. I know several
people who have tried this product but have yet to meet someone that is
happy with it.

MacPlottsII from Computer Shoppe in ? Carolina.
This is the product that I have used for the last three years so I am biased
on this one. It is a good solid driver that has steadily improved over time.
Like the product from Microspot, it comes in two versions. The business
version supports desktop plotters {All the HP plotters & some others},
and the professional version that supports both the desktop and the 
freestanding big birtha plotters { the complete HP plotter line -RS323 input
versions that is}. MacPlottsII prints both from clipboard and anything
saved in PICT format. It propperly handles hidden lines, supports many fonts
{other drivers may not},and some patterns. It supports pen selection {read
that as colours}. I have plotted A to D size in multiple colours and have
been happy with the way it drives HP plotters.The manual isn't the best in
 the world but the phone help is the best I have ever had {nothing like
the writer of the driver walking you through the setup to show you which
switch on the back of the plotter was in the wrong posistion}.

As A user, I highly recommend MacPlottsII, to drive any HP plotter. But, I
also recomend that you look closely at MacPlotts also before purchasing
a driver.

TeriAnn