HPGL2 printing

[MechElement]

I have a little understanding of this printing style/language. I have changed work sites and unfortunately I have a much lower quality plotter (hp designjet 500+HPGL2) than what I'm accustomed to (hp designjet 5500ps). I am unable to print a pdf sent to me from a subcontractor. I tried a pdf I created from AutoCAD and it still won't print.

I downloaded a non-HPGL2 driver and the printing speed increased by two-folds, but now I am not going through the print server (which is a no-no).

What is the deal with this HPGL2 stuff? How can I print a pdf? Why does it print so much slower?

I thought HPGL2 was old technology and obsolete. I'm running Windows XP Pro.

-Jason

 

[borgunit]

PDF's like postscript drivers. Slower but versatile. HPGL is not obsolete and usually is very fast. When you create a plt file, it is really a HPGL file is disguise.

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." — Will Rogers

 

[MechElement]

I've only used post script plotters though. That's all we've ever had. The ps plotter was much faster too.

 

[borgunit]

A question. Are you printing a PDF you received from someone and it won't print from Acrobat? or are you creating PDF's from AutoCAD and it won't print or both? Are you saying all PDF's will not print to your printer? If so, AutoCAD may not be your problem area.

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." — Will Rogers

 

[MechElement]

I'm specifically talking about printing pdf's right now, but this also happens with pictures. AutoCAD prints well, but other files - which are used to printing post script - do not print properly. They will actually cut off >1/4 of the document, depending on the document.

I know it's not 100% related to AutoCAD, but I figured I'd start here and see if anyone knows how to make this work. IT isn't really familiar with the difference between HPGL2 & Post Script.