FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

1. HOW DO I GET STARTED RUNNING VERSACAD & NEW TRANSLATOR?

2. HOW DO I GET HARDCOPY OUTPUT FROM VERSACAD MAC

PRINTING

PLOTTING FROM VERSACAD FOR MACINTOSH

INTRODUCTION

PLOTTING TO CHOOSER DEVICE

IF YOU HAVE AN HP DESIGNJET PLOTTER (MAC COMPATIBLE)

YOU HAVE A MAC WITH A BUILT-IN SERIAL PORT AND SERIAL PLOTTER

CABLE FOR SERIAL PLOTTERS

PLOTTING TO A SERIAL PLOTTER FROM NEWER MACS WITH NO SERIAL PORT(G3,G4, iMac…)

RUNNING VERSACAD MAC 2001 ON OS X

1. HOW DO I GET STARTED RUNNING VERSACAD & NEW TRANSLATOR?

Either Version 4.01 or 2001:

After installation, you can follow the user manual to get started using VersaCAD.Note page 1-7 entitled Getting Started and then Section 10 Learning VersaCAD Tutorial.  If you work those six exercises you will know VersaCAD.

Version 2001 New Translator

2. HOW DO I GET HARDCOPY OUTPUT FROM VERSACAD MAC

In VersaCAD, File>Print will give you a fairly nice print of the current drawing on the screen to any Apple Macinstosh Chooser level printer. It is almost always better to use File>Plot since it gives you control of the scale at which drawings are plotted.

PLOTTING FROM VERSACAD FOR MACINTOSH

INTRODUCTION

To prepare your plot, you need to make the drawing in VersaCAD or open a file, then setup your plot specs (ie portion of file to be plotted, size of paper, scale to use when plotting), then go to Plot Select, Plot Setup and Plot in that order. To set up plot specs, see the VersaCAD Mac manual, page 4-18

Previously, VersaCAD could Print to some Chooser printers, although not-to-scale. Now, VersaCAD can make a scaled plot on any Chooser device using the File>Plot command. The best way to create a to-scale drawing depends on your particular printer and the way it is connected to your Macintosh:

1. If you have any Chooser compatible print/plot device for which you have installed the Chooser driver, that is always the best way to plot.  Skip the next two and read  PLOTTING TO CHOOSER DEVICE.
2. If you have a large format HP Designjet printer (such as HP 455CA, HP500CA, etc) which is made for the Mac, you must save a plot file in Postscript format and then use the HP RIP software that came with the printer to plot.
3. If you have an older, serial plotter, see special instructions below

1. PLOTTING TO CHOOSER DEVICE

Beginning with VersaCAD Mac 2001 October 2001 release, VersaCAD can plot to-scale drawings to any chooser level printer.  First, install the driver on your Mac following instructions that came with your printer.  When ready to plot to that device, click on the Apple symbol at upper left of screen, slide down to Chooser.   Then, select the Symbol on the left (may have to just select the HP Laser symbol to get the full list on the right).  On the right panel, select the icon for your new device.

Then, load a file or do your drawing in VersaCAD.  When done, go to File>Plot Select and select “Printer Selected in Chooser” and click OK.  (the first item in the list).  Then, Choose File>Plot Setup   to set the way you want your file plotted.  The first dialog you see will be the same dialog you would see had you chosen Print Setup.  It is standard Mac and will allow you to set page size and landscape or portrait.  Click OK.  The next dialog box is the standard VersaCAD plot setup dialog.  Here you adjust the window surrounding the information on the screen about your drawing, or adjust the scale you want to plot or the size and location of the image on paper.  See VersaCAD users manual for more information on this dialog box.  Click OK and you are ready to plot your drawing on the Chooser device.  Then, Choose File>Plot  and click on Print and the drawing will be sent to your Chooser device, plotted at the scale you chose and located on the paper as you setup.

When you are ready to plot again during the same session, you need only go to File>Plot as all settings will remain as you left them.

2. IF YOU HAVE AN HP DESIGNJET PLOTTER (MAC COMPATIBLE)

The HP Designjet, inkjet plotters are the most popular new plotters on the market today.   They come in monochrome or color and from A thru D size or A thru E size.  Other options include legs or no legs (sits on a tabletop), automatic cutter and Mac compatibility.  

You can actually use a regular(non Mac) Designjet with your VersaCAD Mac.  Just use it as a serial plotter as described below. 

If you purchase a Designjet 455CA or newer plotter, but, one that is specifically for the Macintosh, it will come with a Jet Direct network box and software called RIP that runs on your Mac.  You connect the JetDirect to the plotter with a parallel cable and the Jet Direct to your Mac with a network cable. The RIP software is a plot or print manager that can pick up image files such as Encapsulated Postscript and will direct the plot file to the plotter.  The RIP software works very nicely with VersaCAD Mac.  Just select Encapsulated Postscript in File>PlotSelect.   Then when you plot with that driver selected, i.e. File>Plot, VersaCAD will create a file of plot codes.  Then, run RIP (you can have it running at the same time as VersaCAD).   Instructions come with RIP, but essentially you get one dialog box.  Click on the plus sign(+) to add files to the list to be plotted.  Then, Click on the smiley-face icon to plot and all the files in the list will be plotted one by one.  This software works very nicely on a network and gives the advantages of offline batch plotting.

3. YOU HAVE A MAC WITH A BUILT-IN SERIAL PORT AND SERIAL PLOTTER

If you have a Mac, which is older than a G3 or iMac, it likely has a built-in serial port.  You will find it on the back of the computer.  It is a round, female connector with 9 pinholes arranged in 3 rows.  Three pins in the top row, four in the middle row and 2 on the bottom. (only 3 of the middle row will be used).   It will have an icon on the back of the Mac near the port that looks like a telephone handset with some short dashes.

CABLE FOR SERIAL PLOTTERS

There is only one type of cable that will work between a Macintosh that has a built-in serial port with VersaCAD and a serial plotter.  The proper cable has a round, male connector on one end that matches the Mac’s female serial port (except it only has 3 pins in the middle row, but that is OK).   On the other end, it will have a 25 pin, standard serial male connector that matches the female, serial port on your plotter.  The wires, or pins, inside the cable are connected as follows:

Mac side                                  Plotter side

(Circular 8 male pins)                (DB-25 male)

1                                              -

2                                              20

3                                              3

4                                              1

5                                              2

6                                              -

7                                              -

8                                              7

We are looking into sources for this standard cable.  You can test any cable that looks like above with a multimeter.  Just check the continuity between the pins to be sure they are connected as above.  Often, a cable will look like above, but, will be ‘straight through’.   In that case, a “null modem” adapter will switch the pins to match above.  A local computer store will often be able to make a special cable for you.

If you have a Mac with a serial port and if you have a cable as described above, you are all set.  Go through these steps to do your plotting:

Connect the plotter to the Macintosh with the cable described above.

Turn the plotter on

Startup your computer

Launch VersaCAD

Go to File>Plot Select

Scroll through and choose the plotter that you have.  If you have a newer plotter that isn’t on the list, it is likely compatible with HPGL/2, the graphic language invented by HP.  Check the manual that came with your plotter..   Choose HPGL/2 with pens for widths to try that driver.

Open up any test file

Then, go to File>Plot Setup and choose Default plot specs.  Then, go to File>Plot and follow the dialogs.

Wait a few moments and your plotter should be going.

Now, follow the manual to learn how to setup plot specs and make your plots come out perfectly.

PLOTTING TO A SERIAL PLOTTER FROM NEWER MACS WITH NO SERIAL PORT(G3,G4, iMac…)

Unfortunately, Apple decided not to include a serial port on newer computers.  But, there are solutions.  You will need to purchase a serial port from a third party.  We are researching a number of devices, but, as of this writing we can only recommend either of two:

1.  Probably the easiest and least intrusive is the Keyspan USB Twin Serial Adapter part number  USA-28X.  The Adapter costs about $50 and is available from local computer stores or from Keyspan online  www.keyspan.com   It takes less than 15 minutes to install.  The Keyspan uses one of the USB ports on the back of your Mac (the little flat ones, like where your keyboard is installed). 

Here is how you install and use it:

Purchase the Keyspan USB Twin Serial Adapter part USA-28X

Go to www.keyspan.com to get the latest driver.  You will find under Downloads.

Install the driver on your Mac by doubleclicking the Keyspan install icon.

Then, Click the Apple symbol and open Control Panel

Click Keyspan

In the dialog box, select Advanced Settings (see bottom of dialog)

Change port number to 2

Click Emulate Modem

When you receive the product from Keyspan, ignore the CD-ROM

Connect the Keyspan to one of the USB ports on back of your computer

Connect your plotter cable 8 pin DNB to Keyspan port #2

Connect the other end to your VersaCAD supported serial plotter

Now, use the plotter as described in the manual, ie first Plot Select, then Plot Setup then Plot.

2. The gport from

Griffin Technology

www.griffintechnology.com

The gport costs in the neighborhood of $50 and takes 15 minutes to install.  The only drawbacks are that you have to open the computer and that the gport is installed in place of your built-in modem port.  You can’t have both a modem and gport serial port operating at the same time. (Doesn’t affect networking, you can still have Appleshare active.)

Here is what you do to get the serial port installed:

Go to the Griffin web page listed above.

Purchase a gport right off the web page

Have it shipped to you

When you receive it, install it in your G3, G4…. Per their instructions

Then, on your Mac, go to the Apple symbol and select Control Panels

Select and open the AppleTalk control panel

If the dialog has an Edit menu, choose User Mode under Edit.  If no Edit menu, type in Command-U

Select Advanced User Mode and click OK

Click Options button

Select Inactive.  Make sure AppleTalk is directed to Ethernet and not Modem, even when it is inactive!  *  This is very important.  If AppleTalk is inactive, but, left pointing to Modem, the gport may not function

Close AppleTalk control panel and save settings

Now connect the plotter to your gport as described above for Mac with serial port.  You will notice that the gport has a round connector with 8 pins just like the original Apple serial port.  The gport acts just like the original serial port which is why the cable described above works with the gport.

RUNNING VERSACAD MAC 2001 ON OS X

VersaCAD runs nicely in the “Classic Mode” under OS X.  Here are the comments from the tester:

OS X seems to just "boot" OS 9.1 once. For my test I started OS X, then clicked on the VCAD icon. When you do that an OS 9 icon appears in the OS X icon tray and just sits there for a while. This appears to be the period when OS 9 is booting. Then the VCAD icon appears and the OS 9 icon disappears. This is the last that I see the OS 9 icon. From this point VCAD just initializes as usual. Then I quit VCAD. It's icon disappeared and there was no OS 9 icon. But when I clicked on either VLINK or VCAD after that they came up normally, without any delay. It makes sense that it works that way. There may be some kind of switch to tell it to unload OS 9 each time or maybe it depends on available RAM. In any case, in my situation (with 320MB RAM), OS 9 appears to only be loaded once