Diagram output formats

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dellis247
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:03 pm
Location: Madison, AL USA

Diagram output formats

Post by dellis247 » Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:42 pm

Hello to all, and thanks for being here! I am relatively new to Mac, and we discovered iFamily about a year ago when we finally gave up on the PC! But now I have an issue that I am afraid may take a PC to solve.

We want to use a pen plotter that uses HPGL (HP Graphics Language), which is pretty much the accepted standard for plotters as I understand it. Connecting the plotter to the Mac isn&#39t going to work out well, so are considering using an old XP-based PC to drive the plotter. The plotter was free to me, and all the supplies are readily available. We are hoping to use the rolled paper plotter to produce working diagrams, rather than taping together 8.5x11 sheets of paper, as we sort out the missing links in our charts.

As it works today, I will need to convert the iFamily generated diagrams (Ancestor/Descendant) from PDF to HPGL. This will take another program to do the conversion, and the programs we&#39ve found via web search seem to range from freeware ($29-$89), to pro packages that can cost thousands. In researching these packages, none are JUST PDF to HPGL, they provide all sorts of features for making signs, printing on vinyl, etc. I just need the PDF in HPGL format. I am hoping there is someone here who can offer some guidance.

Or, perhaps an option in iFamily to specify the format of the diagrams would be helpful? Are there others needing an output format other than PDF?

Any insight you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Dave Ellis

dellis247
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:03 pm
Location: Madison, AL USA

iFamily rocks!

Post by dellis247 » Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:46 pm

By the way, I failed to mention that we are very pleased with iFamily! What an awesome program!

Dave Ellis

dellis247
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:03 pm
Location: Madison, AL USA

Post by dellis247 » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:10 pm

Good news - This is no longer needed. Upgrading to Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), provided the printer driver needed to run some plotters. I&#39ve given up on the old pen plotter, and upgraded to an HP DesignJet 3000, an inkjet plotter, allowing me to simply "print" the charts directly from iFamily.

Dave Ellis

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