Question How to connect a hp designjet 430 to a usb port

[wilmathx]

I am using an old version of Autocad (r14) and have a plotter I would like to use with
the program. The plotter is a designjet 430 and was manufactured about the time the
program was created. The plotter has both serial and paralell ports.

My laptop is an older eeepc from Asus and has xp on it, however it has only usb ports but
no serial or parallel ports.

I have bought several cables from ebay that would go from usb to serial but I couldn't get get any
drivers to work ( or read the instructions which were in Chinese)

Can anybody recommend a cable to use which would have the right drivers?
Or recommend a better way to do this?
Thanks
Rick

 

[Ralston18]

It goes beyond just purchasing cables.

Connectivity path options being:

1) Laptop [USB port] ====> [Serial Port]HP DesignJet 430

2) Laptop [USB port] ====> [Parallel Port]HP DesignJet 430

Just for the record what version of USB is being used by the laptop?

Setting drivers aside for the moment, both connection options require mapping the USB pins to correct Serial (RS 232) or Parallel (IEEE 1284) pins on the DesignJet.

If you google USB to Serial Pinouts and likewise USB to Parallel Pinouts you will find many schematics indicating pinout connections.

HP may not have followed standard RS232 or IEEE 1284 configurations in lieu of their own propriatary connection paths.

Meaning custom cables purc hasable via HP......

= = = =

Drivers: the Design Jet drivers need to come from HP.

You require the XP drivers - either 32 bit or 64 bit as per the OS.

I found the following link:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-designjet-400-printer-series/25253/model/12682


Again, it all depends on the cables being correctly pinned.

What cables have you tried.? Do any of those cables explicitly reference HP?

 

[dwd999]

Perhaps something like this:

Amazon.com

 

[wilmathx]

Thanks Ralston 18 for the help.
I have the manual for the Designjet 430 plotter and it says I need
a R-232-c interface for the serial connection. There is also a parallel
connection requiring a centronics interface.

When I bought the cables (from ebay) I knew to get R-232 connection but
I may have not gotten the exact cable I need. HP may have the cable, I didn't
think to find out but I will look into it even if the cable costs a fortune.

I also have the driver for the plotter, there is one with Autocad and I
downloaded the hp driver.

I went into the device manager and it said that 4 of the usb ports are universal
and one is enhanced. I guess that means they are usb 2.0.


The laptop ports are the point of confusion for me. Do I need to tell XP that
one of the usb ports is masquerading as a serial port?

Thanks
Rick

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks Ralston 18 for the help.
I have the manual for the Designjet 430 plotter and it says I need
a R-232-c interface for the serial connection. There is also a parallel
connection requiring a centronics interface.

When I bought the cables (from ebay) I knew to get R-232 connection but
I may have not gotten the exact cable I need. HP may have the cable, I didn't
think to find out but I will look into it even if the cable costs a fortune.

I also have the driver for the plotter, there is one with Autocad and I
downloaded the hp driver.

I went into the device manager and it said that 4 of the usb ports are universal
and one is enhanced. I guess that means they are usb 2.0.


The laptop ports are the point of confusion for me. Do I need to tell XP that
one of the usb ports is masquerading as a serial port?

Thanks
Rick

Win XP will be a LOT more difficult than newer OS versions. Finding a USB to serial or USB to parallel adapter than has XP drivers may be difficult.
It has been a LONG time since I had to deal with XP.

 

[wilmathx]

I was concerned that the plotter may not recognize xp operating system but
I have heard that some guys have been able to install autocad r-14 on windows 7.
Also, I have a copy of autocad 2000 which is a couple of years newer.

Can you give me info on how to re-map the port in windows 7?

I know that this whole deal is a lot of trouble but plotters are very expensive
and the one I have works great.

Thanks again for all your help

 

[kanewolf]

I was concerned that the plotter may not recognize xp operating system but
I have heard that some guys have been able to install autocad r-14 on windows 7.
Also, I have a copy of autocad 2000 which is a couple of years newer.

Can you give me info on how to re-map the port in windows 7?

I know that this whole deal is a lot of trouble but plotters are very expensive
and the one I have works great.

Thanks again for all your help

If the USB device is correctly recognized by the OS, it should show up as a standard port (serial or parallel) in the device manager.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Printer (and other serial/parallel devices) drivers of that era expect to see actual UARTS controlling the ports and will not communicate with these USB devices as they use an entirely software approach. This is especially true when dealing with something as old as XP.

 

[wilmathx]

I am starting to think a far easier and cheaper way to do this is
to get an old computer that already has serial ports and xp operating system.
Thanks everybody for the help

 

[BFG-9000]

Designjet 430 from 1997 is one of the few early plotters with drivers available via WindowsUpdate for Windows 11. I know because it royally ticks me off to have to use the Designjet 430 drivers in Windows 10 and 11, which halves the resolution of my Designjet 750. So if I want to print in full resolution, I have to reboot into Windows 7. But you actually have the 430 (which is 300dpi on 600dpi addressable grid) so you should put it on your network to be able to print to it from any computer.

The way to do this is with a parallel-to-ethernet print server such as the period-correct Jetdirect 300x J3263G. It doesn't matter then if 10 or 11 doesn't officially support parallel ports since they won't even be able to see it has one, only the IP address. And of course XP would work with this device as it always has, given it came out in the days of Windows 98.

So no worrying about OS drivers for USB adapters or parallel ports, and it just works. On every Windows computer that you have.

 

[wilmathx]

Thanks for the tip BFG, I bought one of them and as soon as it gets here I'll give
it a try. This would also help with other printing tasks. I also use revit and have
to juggle pdf's and computers to print.