[time-nuts] Prologix GPiB LAN & 7470 printing problem

[John Miles]

> Hi group,
> just got a Prologix LAN interface and tried to get some
> printouts from my Anritsu MS6804A but it didnt works.
> Phase Noise & Spectrum Surveillance prgs works fine
> but 7470.exe allways tells me "communication error 0x02"
> when I request a plot.
> Communication to the Anritsu works cause it beeps
> like I would press the "copy" (print) key on the device but there
> didnt came any data to the 7470 emulator.
> The Anritsu offers the following devices for printing
> in its setup:
> 
> HP2225
> UA455A
> MC8104A
> ESC/P
> 
> I tried all but none of them works.
> Any idea?

 I'm not familiar with any of those, actually.   In general if the 7470.htm
help file doesn't mention that you can request plots from a specific
instrument model, then host-requested plots will not work with that
instrument.  You'll need to use "Acquire->Wait for device-initiated plot"
and hit the PLOT button on the instrument's front panel... and that, in
turn, will require you to configure the instrument for HPGL output to an HP
7470A/7475A or similar plotter.  

A quick Google suggests that the units you mention are either printers or
non-HPGL plotters.  7470.exe will either do nothing or possibly crash
outright if you try to send anything but HPGL traffic to it, so your best
bet may be to try the evaluation version from http://www.printcapture.com
and see if their Epson support works with the ESC/P output option.  (It
should work with the Prologix USB adapter but I'm not sure about the LAN
adapter.)

-- john, KE5FX