HP 7475 and Y2K

[maracot]

I have a flatbed plotter - an IBM 7374 which is actually a badged HP 7475. It runs fine attached to a W98 machine and is shared with the other W98 machines here.

I have just started to upgrade some systems to W2K, and checked for W2K drivers for the plotter. Neither HP nor Microsoft do them - their view is 'buy some newer hardware or a $200 commercial driver'. Fine - I don't have to upgrade the W98 machine, so I can leave it hosting the 7475.

But now I find that the new W2k machines will not connect to the plotter shared on the W98 machine. When I try to 'Install a Network Printer', the W2K wizard says that 'the printer driver is not properly installed' (though it runs fine!) and refuses to go further.

Why is this? And is there anything I can do about it?

[TripleRLtd]

Welcome to WD maracot.
By run fine, I assume you mean on the 98 machine. Right?
At any point does 2K ask for a driver?
You may be able to get away with NT drivers, have you tried them?

[Cobra X]

Have you tried using just the HP-GL/2 plotter driver included with Win 2000? The 7475 uses hewlett packard graphic language to plot, and is compatible with that driver. We just retired a 7475 at my plant late last year, and were plotting from a couple XP Pro machines using the HP-GL/2 driver.

[TripleRLtd]

Have you tried using just the HP-GL/2 plotter driver included with Win 2000? The 7475 uses hewlett packard graphic language to plot, and is compatible with that driver. We just retired a 7475 at my plant late last year, and were plotting from a couple XP Pro machines using the HP-GL/2 driver.

Indeed, good idea.
Now: tell how to do that.

[Cobra X]

Simple enough - just run the add printer wizard, and select HP for the manufacturer, and the HP-GL/2 driver should be at the top of the list.

[maracot]

Thanks for the rapid advice!

Yes, the plotter was running for years on the 98 systems with no trouble. I knew that HP wants to see the back of them - their web site sneeringly refers to the 7475 as 'a DOS machine which was never designed for networking' - but I was surprised to find that Microsoft felt the same.

I had seen the GL2 driver in the W2K list, of course, when I looked for the driver for the 7475. I didn't use it, because the 7475 is HPGL, not HPGL/2 compatible. I assumed that would matter; and am suprised to hear that Cobra X was running a 7475 under GL/2. Thanks for the tip!

I have some NT workstation disks here, so I can look for the NT drivers as well.

When I tried to 'Install a Printer' on a new W2K machine, 2K went through the process of asking 'Network or Local', and when I specified 'Network' (on one of the W98 machines) it found it, then replied that 'the driver was not properly installed' (though it obviously was, having worked there for ages). 2K then asked 'Do you want to set up a driver locally?', and gave me a list of W2K drivers including the HPGL/2. I reloaded the W98 driver on two other W98 systems to confirm that it was 'properly loaded' and that the problem was with the new W2K system.

I will now go and try loading the GL/2 driver on the W2K system and see what that does.

[Cobra X]

Yeah, the reason it said the driver wasn't properly installed was because the drivers on the 98 machine were written for 98. 2K would still need some type of driver written for it.

If I remember right - and it's possible I'm a little hazy on it, because this plotter was a workhorse and rarely required any type of work on it, so I didn't deal with it first hand very often - what we had was a 7475A, and it was in fact using the HP/GL-2 driver included with XP. I wouldn't imagine it wouldn't be much difference between the one in 2K.

[maracot]

Hmm.

I have just loaded the W2K HPGL/2 driver onto the W2K machine on my network, and tried to pass a print to the W98 machine with the W98 HPGL driver and the HP 7475 attached. It didn't work.

Do all the machines have to be running the same O/S? Or just the same driver? If it's the same O/S it will take me a little time to change the W98 machine into a W2K system.

Should I try loading the HPGL/2 driver onto the W98 system? I assume this won't work because the HPGL/2 driver is written for W2K.