Arlo Kalon 2.0
New Member
I remember all too well many years ago tryna get a Roland PNC950 plotter to work with my Gerber Omega software. The venerated elder of Signs101, Old Paint, patiently walked me through the steps and got me up and running. In the process he made a believer out of me in friction fed plotters which I had previously eschewed in favor of ridiculously expensive Gerber sprocket fed machines. Well the 20+ year old PNC950 finally breathed its last after providing me many years of trouble free, effortless pattern making for my hand lettered interior decor signs I sell at craft fairs. It's a fabulous way of continuing my sign painting career of nearly 40 years without having to take orders from customers.
I tracked down a Roland Camm1 PNC1000 on eBay from someone asking $400 for it. They accepted my $280 offer! A few days ago it arrived and I swear it looks totally brand new, which of course it can't be. Unlike the PNC950, this one has a liquid crystal menu panel that's driving me crazy. It also came with a 1 inch thick manual full of what I believe are ancient DOS command lines. While it is supposedly a better model machine than the 950 it is proving to be infinitely harder to figure out. I need to get it online for patterns for a couple mahogany speedboats the grandson of Hallmark cards founder restored for his big collection of vintage boats.
The 950 was connected to the parallel port of an old PC with a null modem. I realize that sentence right there leaves out the vast majority of readers of this post. It is what it is. I'm hoping to strike gold a second time on Signs101 with someone who is possibly running an old Roland plotter with Gerber Omega who can help me get this going. I don't know if the null modem is necessary for this PNC1000, I've tried it both ways with no luck. I have the plotter setup as a printer in my Control Panel with the correct driver, just as I did the 950 but no communication so far! I also set it up as the plotter through Gerber Die Works but still can't output a pen plot through the Gerber system. As I recall, when Old Paint helped me before there was a pointedly simple step I had missed he ridiculed me mercilessly for. Wish he was still around! Any takers?
I tracked down a Roland Camm1 PNC1000 on eBay from someone asking $400 for it. They accepted my $280 offer! A few days ago it arrived and I swear it looks totally brand new, which of course it can't be. Unlike the PNC950, this one has a liquid crystal menu panel that's driving me crazy. It also came with a 1 inch thick manual full of what I believe are ancient DOS command lines. While it is supposedly a better model machine than the 950 it is proving to be infinitely harder to figure out. I need to get it online for patterns for a couple mahogany speedboats the grandson of Hallmark cards founder restored for his big collection of vintage boats.
The 950 was connected to the parallel port of an old PC with a null modem. I realize that sentence right there leaves out the vast majority of readers of this post. It is what it is. I'm hoping to strike gold a second time on Signs101 with someone who is possibly running an old Roland plotter with Gerber Omega who can help me get this going. I don't know if the null modem is necessary for this PNC1000, I've tried it both ways with no luck. I have the plotter setup as a printer in my Control Panel with the correct driver, just as I did the 950 but no communication so far! I also set it up as the plotter through Gerber Die Works but still can't output a pen plot through the Gerber system. As I recall, when Old Paint helped me before there was a pointedly simple step I had missed he ridiculed me mercilessly for. Wish he was still around! Any takers?
