plotlbe Command

Purpose

Plots HP-GL files to a plotter device.

Syntax

/usr/lpd/plotlbe [ -fr=X ] [ -noin ] File

Description

The plotlbe command is a backend program which plots HP-GL files to a plotter attached to a serial port defined as a TTY device. To use the plotlbe command, you must define a TTY device for the serial port and define a print queue for the plotlbe backend program.

When configuring the TTY serial port, set the baud-rate, parity, and stop bits to the appropriate settings for your plotter. You must also set XON/XOFF to FALSE for your TTY port.

The plotlbe command is called by the qdaemon process. It should not be entered on the command line. Any options needed for a specific print request to a plotter should be passed to the plotlbe command with the command used to request a print job (usually the enq command). With the enq command, use the -o flag to pass options to the plotlbe backend for processing.

The plotlbe backend command supports the following plotters: 7731, 7372, 7374, 7375-1, 7375-2, 6180, 6182, 6184, 6186-1, and 6186-2.

The plotlbe command supports ENQ/ACK handshaking. Refer to your plotter programming manual for more information on handshaking.

The plotlbe backend command also generates the appropriate HP-GL commands for plotter initialization and plot scaling. This data is sent to the plotter before the user-specified HP-GL file is sent. Thus, any scaling or initialization commands included in the HP-GL file override those generated by the plotlbe backend command.

Note: The user must have read access to the file sent to the plotlbe command with the print request command.

Flags

Item Description
-fr=X Provides for plotting multi-frame drawings. This option causes X number of frames to be plotted, where X is a number in the range 1 through 9. For example, plotting a 20' drawing on E-size roll media may require 5 frames. Thus, the option -fr=5 would be passed to the plotlbe backend.
-noin Allows plotter front panel settings to remain in effect for the current plot without being reset to default values. Normally, the P1 and P2 positions which define the plot page on the plotter are set by the plotlbe command to their default locations. Use the -noin no-initialization option to override the default locations.

Examples

  1. To send the file longaxis.gl to the plt plotter queue and specify to the backend that the file requires five frames to plot, enter: 
    enq -Pplt -o -fr=5 longaxis.gl
  2. To send the file plotdata.gl to the plt plotter queue, specifying that the plot page positions are not to be reset to default for this file, enter: 
    enq -Pplt -o -noin plotdata.gl
  3. To send the file twoplot.gl to the plt plotter queue, specifying no plot page initialization and that the plotter print the drawing in two frames, enter: 
    enq -Pplt -o -noin -o fr=2 twoplot.gl

Files

Item Description
/usr/lpd/plotlbe Contains the plotlbe command.