13 Feb
2007
13 Feb
'07
3:14 p.m.
As difficult as it is to find information on vintage terminals, its
even harder to find information on vintage pen plotters. A pen
plotter was about the only form of graphical output you could expect
to see on a vintage graphics system as film recorders were very
expensive.
OK, what do you have in your collection(s)?
My company used to write pen plotter drivers for the Mac, we still
sell the odd one. We used to get loads of pen plotters loaned to
us by the manufacturers, and we hung on to the manuals when
we could (which we usually managed). So I still have quite a
library of data on the command sets for the ones made from
the early 80s onward. If anyone wants any details I can probably
help somehow, just have to be sure I'm not going to be sued for
copyright infringement.
As for actual plotters (not my personal property though, just 44% mine):
HP DraftMaster MX Plus,
HP 7475A
Graphtec MP3200
What I would like to get my hands on is an HP 7550 in the UK.
I saw one last week on eBay in the US but shipping would be
too expensive.
Roger Holmes.
(Technical Director and 44% shareholding of Microspot Ltd)