Dear listers;

This summary lists the original question and responses received in regards to problems of quality of plots from an HP 2500CP plotter sent through Unix from Arc/Info and ArcView.  Also attached are responses I received (a BIG THANK YOU to Christopher Weaver,  Peter Halls,  Michael Morin,  Wayne Richter and Robert Agnew).  I believe the problem has been narrowed down between printer settings and the network as changes in Operating system (from Solaris 2.5 to 2.7), changes in software (Arc/Info version 7.2.1 to 8.0.2 and changes in versions of JetAdmin/JetDirect did not make any difference.

Original Question

This is a cross post as the problem occurs in both ArcView and Arc/Info.

We have purchased an HP 2500CP plotter (to replace an existing HP 755)

The plotter are set up with a Static IP address so that the device is available to staff utilizing network applications and staff utilizing GIS (we currently are a UNIX shop utilizing ExCeed software).

The problem is the quality of the plots sent to either of the plotter via the UNIX route.  This poor quality (faded out colours and less than crisp lines) is noticed in both postscript and HPGL files sent from ArcView or Arc/Info.  If the files are copied to the Novell side and sent, then the quality is much better.  We are hesitant to replace the other two HP 755's if we are to have to degrade the quality of plots.

Would anyone have any ideas on why we are experiencing this degradation on the UNIX side and not through Novell?

Environment

Unix: Solaris 2.7
ArcView: 3.1
Arc/Info: 8.0.2

Thanks in advance.

Dennis Wood
Account Rep.,  Information Services
Halifax Regional Municipality
Halifax, N.S., B3J 3A5
Email: woodd@region.halifax.ns.ca

Responses


1)
my only guess is printer driver issues.  Maybe by updating the driver that
was shipped with the plotter with one taken from the the HP website might do
the trick.

2)
   you did not define the attributes of 'poor quality', however I may be
able to give you a few pointers.

   The key one is that Arcxxx on UNIX uses a generic PostScript driver.
It generates good quality PostScript but, unless (in Arc/Info) you use the
route through Separator & the PostScript command, there is no means of
including device specific code.  When you print through Novell you pront
through a windows, device specific, printer driver.

   There are a number of 'tweaks' that are necessary to get the newer HP
printers to generate quality output in PostScript (we barely use PCL so I
cannot comment specifically there) ... these tweaks are standard in the
windows drivers.  I suspect that they indicate that the PostScript is
being translated into PCL, rather than directly to the machine, but I hope
to be proved wrong on that.  Whatever, aspects of output quality suffers
in their absence; the  separator route does seem to include some, if not
all, of them.

   If you have not yet tried setting the environment through separator &
PostScript, do give it a try.

Best wishes,

Peter

3)
Most files sent are postscript...may need postscript driver loaded on
unix...but should have it...if you get a FIERY x2p box for your plotter
your problems are over.

Michael D. Morin
Digital Cartographer
Office of Information Resource Management
Ill. Dept. of Commerce and Community Affairs
620 East Adams
Springfield, Ill. 62701
Phone:  217/785-7180  Fax:  217/782-9217
email:  mmorin@commerce.state.il.us
Coordinates:   UTM Zone 16  NAD 27
                            Easting:  273374; Northing:  4408747

4)
I cannot explain your problem but doubt that it is intrinsic to the plotter,
the operating system or the software. We have exactly the same setup (Solaris,
2.7, ESRI products, and an HP 2500CP. We also have Novell queues that our
Windows users use. We see no difference that depends upon the source of the
print job; both ways look very good and are a big improvement over the 750C
we used to have. We purchased our HP a few years ago, though I doubt the
difference in the ages of our plotters could explain anything.

Our Unix queues are set up using HP's JetAdmin. Perhaps that could explain
the difference between your results and ours. Another thing to check for is
the settings on the plotter's front panel. The Windows drivers can override
these settings whereas the Unix queues do not.


Wayne Richter
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
wrichter@dec.state.ny.us
518-783-5733

5)
I use Solaris 2.5.1 with ArcView 3.2 and Arc-Info 7.2.1.

I don't believe we have a "poor quality" issue with our
2500CP plotters (we have 2 and a 3500CP 54" as well).

I use JetAdmin version E.10.18 for Solaris 2.5.1.  (I've
attached this version that I downloaded from the HP Web
Site.)

I haven't modified any of the plotting .AML's from ESRI,
but they may have changed at Arc-Info 8.x.

Remember, ESRI is now pushing Windows/Intel as the platform
of choice, so they may have optimized the drivers for that
platform at the expense of the Unix side.

Double-check your plotter settings:  LANG=AUTO and make sure
your ink/paper is not expired.  We use HP-only cartridges and
inks but will take advantage of other manufacturer's paper
products.

Also, if you use ArcPress (Solaris), be sure to pick the RTL
driver.  Most of the newest HP plotters are PCL-based devices,
so the ArcPress PCL driver works really well - but some of the
large-format HP plotters are RTL-based, while the older models
are HPGL-based, in which case we don't ArcPress to 'em.

The folks here who use the 2500CP product seem to like it better
than the 755CM product - albeit slower and a slight shift of
colors, but overall quality they consider to be quite good.

Good Luck,
Robert M. Agnew
Sr. GIS Analyst - Administrator
City of Las Vegas
(702) 229-6049