Help a non-I.T. guy get his plotter connected

[JgS]

I recently got a Bren 525 cutter and I can't get it connected to my computer. Currently I am trying to run it on a computer running XP since that is the only tower I have that has a serial port. (the cutter only has serial and parallel connections). I also have a tower running windows 7 and a usb to serial if yo think that would work better. Currently I am using the winline drive since that is what Bern recommended. But I am open to other drivers.

Currently I have the port set to LPT1. When I try to print from Illustrator I get an "out of paper" message. The cutter does nothing.

 

[JgS]

Thought I would bump this up since I a trying again.

 

[J Hill Designs]

do you have any actual cutting software? (flexi, etc)

 

[JgS]

I have Flexi 10 and a driver from winline. Flexi doesn't have an option for Bren.

 

[J Hill Designs]

I would try both generic HPGL and generic GPGL

 

[JgS]

I would try both generic HPGL and generic GPGL

No love on either. Maybe it's a port thing?

 

[J Hill Designs]

you mention serial port in your OP, and LPT1

LPT1 is parallel. if its connected via serial it would be COM[1]

 

[JgS]

Thanks. I moved the cutter over to the com1 port but no luck.

 

[J Hill Designs]

try all the different com ports avail. I think you can go into device manager and see what ports are being used by what...

gpgl / all com ports
hpgl / all com ports

thats all I got

 

[yahhoo123]

porting problem

try both com1 AND com2...also you said you have a usb to serial cord? then install the software for it and again try the usb001 and usb002 etc....I hope your cutter is loaded and in the ready status while you are trying this?

 

[yahhoo123]

win 7

I think it has to be win7 ultimate to go that route...the nice thing there is that the usb to serial will install automatically...done it many many times...ran a 25 y.o. rolaand Camm-1 that way and a 23 yo Graphtec that way.

 

[Jackpine]

Have you called Bren about your cutter? They should help or at least point you in the right direction.

 

[JgS]

I did call Bren. They can't offer me customer service since I didn't buy it from them. But they did send me the manuals and direct me to winline for the driver.

 

[JgS]

Finlay got it working. Turns out the cutter wouldn't accept a 9pin to 25pin serial conversion. I got it running on a parallel connection. It's a nice cutter: quiet, fast, and so far pretty accurate. But I haven't tried to see how it tracks on anything over 6' yet. And, thank you J Hill. It was the generic HPGL driver.