HP 7475A Plotter

From: Stan Pietkiewicz <stanp_at_storm.ca>
Date: Wed Mar 10 21:54:20 1999

Frank McConnell wrote:

> Allen Rose, writing as "Mindy Fuchs" <tomeditf_at_worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> > Last year you sent out a request for info about HP7475A Plotter
> > pens. Like you, I am now trying to get one working. DId you find a
> > source for pens? Also, do you have any idea where I can get a
> > plotter manual? Even xerox copies of the important pages would
> > help. ALso, any idea what cable is required. Thanks.

If you haven't found a manual yet, send me private email with your address;
I'll find my manual and photocopy it for you...

Stan


>
>
> As other folks have written, the pens come up on ebay sometimes.
> They might be OK -- HP sold them with expiration dates and I don't
> really know how well they keep, although (a) back in the 1980s we
> didn't pay much mind to the expiration date on the package and had
> no cause to regret it and (b) a friend who has purchased pens via
> ebay has said that at least some of them were OK.
>
> The pens do dry out if left in the plotter though, even if they are
> capped by the plotter or the pen carousel. I would not expect pens to
> work unless they are in sealed packages.
>
> HP no longer sells pens. Last time I looked their web site referred
> users to Koh-i-noor for pens and ink, and I think I managed to work out
> that Koh-i-noor had refillable ink pens as well as new felt-tip pens.
>
> The 7475A is tricky and you may need more than pinouts for its port,
> because if it's an RS-232 flavor, the DIP switches let you tell it
> whether to behave like a terminal device or as an eavesdropper on an
> existing terminal device's connection. To use it from a PC based
> application you probably want the former; the latter is useful for
> host-based graphics applications that are accessed from a terminal
> but know of the existence of the eavesdropping plotter.
>
> -Frank McConnell
Received on Wed Mar 10 1999 - 21:54:20 GMT