READ BEFORE BUYING HP LARGE FORMAT PLOTTER

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WARNING: Before buying any Large Format Plotter to work with ICED, make sure it supports HP RTL (HP Raster Transfer Language).

OUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE HP500: We purchased an HP500 to test our plot software. The HP500 requires the HP GL/2-RTL option card (part number C7772A) and extra memory to work with ICED. The HP GL/2-RTL card comes with 16 MB of RAM. This was not sufficient but the card will accept an additional 64 MB or 128 MB RAM module. We bought the 128 MB module. At the time, HP's price for the module was very high. To HP's credit, the module type was mentioned in their documentation. We bought a generic ValueRAM KVR100x64SC2/128 module. It worked. I have no idea if this information is relevant today.

We are very happy with the plotter's 42 inch plot width, relatively low price, and ease of use. Its plot quality and plot speed don't seem to be quite as good as those of the more expensive HP1050C. Nevertheless, it is probably the best HP plotter for use with ICED. -- updated 9/02.