Briefly, the LaserWriter IINTX emulates an HP LaserJet Plus. LaserJets use
PCL, not HPGL. A PC printing an HPGL print job cannot print to a
LaserWriter IINTX.
Hewlett-Packard uses different printer control languages, including HPGL and
PCL, for their different printers. HPGL is commonly used by CAD/CAM type
programs for outputting to plotters. PCL is used by more common, generic
programs for outputting to HP LaserJets and similar printers.
Apple's PostScript LaserWriters emulate Diablo 630s. Additionally, the
LaserWriter IINTX emulates an HP LaserJet Plus; therefore, a program that
uses PCL and is LaserJet-Plus-compatible can print to the LaserWriter IINTX
when the LaserWriter IINTX is in its LaserJet Plus emulation mode. Again,
you cannot print an HPGL print file directly (without file translation) on
the LaserWriter IINTX.
If you want to print to an Apple LaserWriter, you must use a program that
supports a Diablo 630, LaserJet Plus, or PostScript-compatible printer. If
your program and drivers do not support these types of printers, you need to
export and, possibly, translate the data before importing the data to a
program that does--whether that program runs on a PC, Macintosh, or another
system. Software that might help you includes PlotView and CADMOVER.
PlotView (formerly called MacHP) from Stevens Creek Software allows you to
open and display Macintosh HPGL files on a Macintosh, and copy and paste
them into other Macintosh programs for embellishment before printing to a
LaserWriter. If you can use Apple File Exchange or a similar program and
perform a generic text translation on the PC HPGL file, you can then open it
with PlotView. This may work, but may require a little experimentation and
manipulation with ResEdit or similar programs. Another option is to write
your own AFE translator.
Another program that may work is called CADMOVER from Kandu, which a 2-D/3-D
Macintosh-based vector graphics translation utility, with bidirectional
IGES, DXF, PICT, MacDraw, Minicad+, MacConcept, HPGL, Minicad+, Dimensions,
Hyperspace, and Space Edit.
We feel the easiest solution would have been to select a program on the PC that
also prints to a PostScript printer or, at least, use a program that can save
the file in a format (not just an HPGL print file) that can also be read by
other Macintosh or PC programs that can print to a PostScript printer. There
may be PC programs that open HPGL files and save in a more commonly used file
format.