I have an old HP 7596A that I still use for my work. There are a few =
things that I'm curious as to whether they can be changed, but I'll ask =
one question at a time.
The plot limit on this model (E size?) is 36 inches wide x 48 inches =
long. I'm interested in doing a longer plot, say 5 or 6 feet. I have =
some manuals I bought on a CD, I've been snooping around on them.=20
The hard clip is the physical limits of the plotter, the soft clip is =
the software limits of the plot. In the pocket guide, there is a place =
where it says:
PS, page size
Use: Changes the size of the hard clip limits
Syntax: PS length(,width); or PS;
Could I hire a computer expert to change the length setting? Or even do =
it myself? Maybe a long shot, considering computers are not the subject =
I've spent much of the last 20 years studying. Any technical answers =
should be s-l-o-w-e-d down from your usual warp speed to biplane or =
maybe hang glider :)
From what you've said, it appears that the hard
clip limits can be set in
software -- that is that they can be set by the host
computer, this is
not something that's set by hardware in the plotter itself. Of course the
plotter heardware will limit the hard clip limits, at least in one
direction (if the carriage can only physically move, say, 36", you can't
have a hard clip width bigger than that). It is not clear whether or not
the plotter enforces a limit in the other (paper movement) direction. It
may well do so, either for software reasons (coordinates are limited to a
certain number of digits) or practical reasons (it can't guarantee
accuracy if it moves the paper back and forth too far, there could be
slip between the rollers and the paper, for example).
PS would seem to he the command to send to the plotter to set these
limits. In othwe words you send a series of characters to the plotter,
starting with PS, and the plotter sets the limits.
Now, how you actually do this depends -- a lot -- on the computer you're
using, what opearating system and applications you're running, and so on.
And you've told us nothign about this.
In other words, given the bare plotter I could probably connect it up to
one of my machines and send it the 'raw command' to set the hard clip
limits to any physcially-possible value. But your application program may
well not allow you to do this.
-tony