[beardicus]

auto-upvote for anything plotter-related... they're so much fun.

be sure to check out #plottertwitter on the twitter tubes (oops, totally missed that this was called out in the very first sentence), and i've also been collecting useful plotter-related links here:

https://github.com/beardicus/awesome-plotters

(one last edit / promo: if you get the nostalgia fuzzies for plotters, be sure to check out the "Manuals and Ephemera" section of the above repo, where i've linked up a bunch of plotter-related manuals and brochures and advertisements from the internet archive)

[jonah]

Speaking of software, does anyone know of a library or scriptable tool to convert SVG to HPGL? (That supports text with custom fonts.)

Like another commenter mentioned, HPGL is still used in cutters and engravers. we have a project where we're generating custom SVG files and need an automated way to convert them into HPGL to be laser engraved.

[fred256]

No first hand experience, but perhaps vpype with this plugin: https://github.com/zxsq-cc/hpglpype

[myself248]

Oh thank you, that's a very useful collection of links!

I'm currently trying to diagnose what appears to be a stuck-bit issue on an HP 7596A Draftmaster II, which is an E-sized behemoth reputed to be quite the speed demon when it's all up and running. Really looking forward to having it around.