Talk:Plotter

Adding a citation/reference
Would someone mind citing this link relating to the term Plotter which discusses the question 'What is a plotter'. We are HP Gold Partners, HP Designjet Specialists, HP Preferred Partners (and 1 of only 6 companies across the UK who are authorised to sell the full range of Designjet printers) and I think it supports what has been already said and adds further credibility to it. However you should be aware that the website link is also my own company website so it is not appropriate for me to post it, unless others think it is also relevant and helpful. The link is: http://www.hpplotter.co.uk/what-is-a-plotter - thank you for your consideration. PlotterFairy (talk) 22:13, 8 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Your link is very commercial, and despite your company name, you don't actually sell pen plotters. I don't see any reason that this link should be added, as it's mostly a rehash of content from the hpmuseum site --scruss (talk) 02:38, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Interfaces
Како е Плотерот поврзан со сметачот


 * The 1980's method was with a parallel port cable like a dot-matrix, but it can be just about anything. 19200 baud serial was popular, and I believe IEEE-488 GPIB plotter existed. The more expensive plotters had slots for network printer server cards, so the plotter could directly plug into a network cable. Pen-based plotters are in a severe decline and I personally haven't seen a new pen plotter since at least 1992, but I would expect current models offer USB/USB-2.0 support, and possibly infrared, bluetooth and firewire connectivity for customers willing to pay enough for it.
 * DMahalko 04:47, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Vinyl Sign Cutter
The procedure for application of vinyl signs should not be given in this article regarding plotters. I will do some research to see if an article dedicated to Vinyl Signs exist to determine if the text can be removed from this article or a new one created. =&gt;t3rminatr&lt;=  ✉  21:08, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed. "Once the vinyl has been cut"... then we are no longer talking about cutter plotters, we're talking about sign-making techniques. Deleted, since there don't seem to be any objections, and it doesn't look like you're coming back... --117.53.136.79 (talk) 16:23, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Inkjet plotter
Sorry, but what is an "Inkjet plotter" како на сликата? I doubt this machine uses any ink.... --84.62.170.95 (talk) 15:56, 7 Август 2008 (UTC)


 * Некои произведители на принтери refer to the large format inkjet printers as plotters, as they are marketed to the same people who used to buy pen plotters (e.g. architects). For instance, HP refers to their DesignJet line as plotters even though they use essentially the same technology as their other inkjet printers. --James (talk) 10:51, 29 Јануар 2009 (UTC)

Contemporary uses
I added a brief section on some contemporary uses of old pen plotters. There has been an active pen plotter market on eBay and other sites as of the late 2000s, and lots of artists and hackers have worked with pen plotters in the last few years (as of 2010). This section could be expanded. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.86.225.115 (talk) 04:33, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Pen Plotters Also Had Physical Controls; Watch, Pause & Interact Physically Also Was Possible
HP Pen Plotters also had physical controls (buttons). So, for example, you could pause the action, press a button for the plotter to grab a different pen, and also switch physical pens during the pause. Thus even the HP 7470 two-pen plotter could use more than two colors "at once". Of course you had to be quick to pause the action at the right time to do your pen swapping. Also, continuing the action with no pen in place was possible. Why would you do that? One example is to overlay plots (say from an oscilloscope that had HPGL output [such as the Leader 3100A oscilloscope I have {vintage 1993}]). You could plot two waveforms atop one another, but no need to redraw the axes etc. So for a totally separate plot output from the oscilloscope, you could begin with pausing as soon as it uptakes a pen; then hit pause; take away the pen; resume and the plotter redraws the axes etc with no pen (though it would be literally going thru the motions); pause again and put a pen in with the color of your other waveform to plot atop the original. The oscilloscope had capabilities for reference waveform and so on, but this is just an example to say that you could watch and interact with the HPGL Pen Plotters using their buttons -- besides using software or other means of giving them HPGL commands via the GPIB (HPIB)(IEEE-488) interface.166.123.216.29 (talk) 22:33, 14 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Not just that, but with a digitizing sight, you could use a plotter as an accurate (if slow) way of digitizing graphs and plans. HP-GL included commands to query the pen position, so on a bidirectional serial connection, you could read numbers from the plotter. --scruss (talk) 02:45, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Zuse Z64 is not a plotter
Hello, the Graphomat Z64 is not a plotter. I just chanced this for the picture. correct translation is - The ZUSE Graphomat Z64 was a flatbed drawing machine of high precision. Source This is a website which was started by Frieder Nake. --Maxim Pouska (talk) 10:15, 10 April 2015 (UTC) PS - maybe you chance my info or wording if you have a better idea - no problem for me -- but in German is the name ″automatischer Zeichentisch″ or translated ″flatbed drawing machine″. --Maxim Pouska (talk) 10:36, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

Proposed merge of X–Y plotter into Plotter
No major edits or sources since 2009, could not find any sources with more than passing mentions. Seems like all this information could be covered in the Plotter page anyway. HappyWithWhatYouHaveToBeHappyWith (talk) 06:22, 20 February 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅ Klbrain (talk) 01:06, 24 August 2022 (UTC)