Hpgl Plotter Emulator Software 12: The Ultimate Tool for HPGL Plotter Simulation and Conversion

7470.EXE is a Win32-based emulator for the HP 7470A plotter. It will acquire an HP-GL/2 plot and render itin a window. The plot can then be printed, viewed as an overlay with other plots, or saved in several different graphics file formats as well as its original HP-GL/2format.With the help of 7470.EXE, you can capture screenshots from GPIB-based test equipment such as digital oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, logic analyzers, and more. 7470.EXE caneven recognize certain instrument models and and request plots from them without user access to theirfront-panel controls.7470.EXE is part of the KE5FX GPIB Toolkit. The latest version of the Toolkit is downloadable here.Running 7470

Hpgl Plotter Emulator Software 12

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Depending on the options you selected during installation, you can run 7470.EXE from the Start menu, by clicking on its desktop shortcut, or byusing its Quick Launch icon on the taskbar. You can also run 7470.EXE from a DOS-box command line or Windows Start->Run... command, optionallyspecifying a GPIB address from which to acquire host-requested plots (see below), or the names of one or more existing HP-GL/2 data files. Use quotes around filenames that contain spaces - for example, 7470 "IMD test.plt" ... Display "IMD test.plt" by itself 7470 before.plt after.plt ... Overlay before.plt and after.plt 7470 (no command-line options) ... Display all plots in the current directoryYou can acquire your own HP-GL/2 .PLT files via the options on the Acquire menu, if your PC has a National Instruments-compatible GPIB interface or a Prologix GPIB-USB/GPIB-ETHERNET adapter. It's importantto understand that there are two ways to do this in 7470.EXE. Unlike other plotter emulators, 7470.EXE supports both host-requested and device-initiated plotting operations. Host-Requested PlotsA few instruments, currently limited to the following models, support "host-requested" plotting in 7470.EXE. Tektronix TDS 5/6/7xx-series oscilloscopesTektronix 490P/2750P-series spectrum analyzers (including 492P and 496P)Tektronix 2710-series spectrum analyzersTektronix 2782/2784 spectrum analyzersHP 3561A dynamic signal analyzersHP 3585A/B spectrum analyzers (see notes below)HP 8566A/8567A/8568A spectrum analyzers (see notes below)HP 8566B/8567B/8568B spectrum analyzersHP 8560A/B/E and 8590-series portable spectrum analyzersHP 54100- and 54200-series digital oscilloscopesTektronix 2430A, 2432/2432A, and 2440/2440A digital oscilloscopesTektronix SCD-series transient digitizers (ROM version 1.5 or later)Various SCPI-compatible spectrum analyzers (tested on Rohde & Schwarz FSP)If your instrument appears in this list, then you can use the Acquire menu to ask it to send an HP-GL/2 plot to 7470.EXE without the need for any interaction with the instrument's front-panel controls. Given a sufficiently-long GPIB cable, you don't even need to be in the same room as the instrument. This modeof operation is also handy for another reason: as 7470.EXE communicates with the instrumentto request the plot, it can also turn on graticule illumination, enable the desired display elements, select appropriate pencolors, and execute other plotter-setup tasks that the user would otherwise need to perform manually.Normally, you'll issue host-initiated plot requests by selecting one of the "Request plot from supported device at address n" optionson the Acquire menu. Instrument shortcut entries (see below) can also be selected. Note that earlier Prologix adapters, and those with their DIP switches set to Device mode, can't support host-requested plots at all.Most instruments that support host-requested plots may be addressed directly on the 7470.EXE command line, just like a .PLT filename:7470 3The above example is suitable for inclusion in a Windows desktop shortcut. When clicked, the shortcut will launch 7470.EXE, which will then immediately request a plot from the supported instrument at GPIB address 3. This feature allows you to capture screenshots with a single mouse click on the host PC.Host-Requested Plots via Instrument Menu ShortcutsBeginning with the 1.80 release of 7470.EXE, you can also add strings of the forminstrument_0 Tektronix 2430A at GPIB address 4\tF2to the 7470.INI file in the 7470.EXE program directory. The file contains several entries that illustrate howthis is done. (See below for more information on 7470.INI.) If any of these entries are present (and not commented out with a leading semicolon), the Acquire menu will include a list of the instrument name/address specification strings and allow you to select one with the mouse, or, alternatively, by pressing a function key.Important notes for users of HP 8566A-8568A, HP 3585A/B, and SCPI-compatible spectrum analyzers and HP 8510- and 87xx-series VNAsSome instruments can't be automatically identified and addressed by 7470.EXE, and many also don't support HP-GL/2 plotting at all. Fortunately, 7470.EXE can still work with certain instrument models that are incompatible with other plotters and emulators. HP 8566A, HP 8567A, and HP 8568A spectrum analyzersIn order to tell 7470.EXE to access one of these instruments, at least one instrument menu shortcut must contain the string "8566A", "8567A", or "8568A".When a shortcut key corresponding to an HP 8566A-8568A spectrum analyzer is pressed, 7470.EXE will request raw annotation, state, and trace data from the analyzer and generate its own HP-GL/2 .PLT file image based on it. This HP-GL/2 image may then be saved, rendered, and printed just likeany other .PLT file. A typical menu shortcut for an HP 8566A-8568A spectrum analyzer looks like this:instrument_0 HP 8566A / 8567A / 8568A (via HP-GL/2 emulation) at GPIB address 18\tF8The HP-GL/2 synthesis process for the HP 8566A-8568A analyzers takes place in less than a second, including the data acquisition itself. It's actually a great way to access the later HP 8566B-8568B models as well; not only are 7470.EXE's synthesized HP-GL/2 plots much faster to acquire, but certain features such as markers look much better than they do in the B-series analyzers' own plots. Note, however, that a few display features such as the 'C' trace and hardware diagnostic/error messages will not appear in a synthesized plot.HP 3585A/B spectrum analyzersIn order to tell 7470.EXE to access one of these instruments, at least one instrument menu shortcut must contain the string "3585".When a shortcut key corresponding to an HP 3585A/B spectrum analyzer is pressed, an HP-GL/2 plot will be synthesized from raw instrument data, as with the HP 8566A-8568A support process described above. A typical menu shortcut for an HP 3585A/B spectrum analyzer looks like this:instrument_0 HP 3585A/B (via HP-GL/2 emulation) at GPIB address 11\tF3HP 87xx- and 8510-series vector network analyzersIn order to tell 7470.EXE to access one of these instruments, at least one instrument menu shortcut must contain the string "8510", "8753", or "8702".When a shortcut key corresponding to one of these VNAs is pressed, a conventional HP-GL/2 plot will be fetched and rendered. A typical menu shortcut looks like this:instrument_6 HP 8510 or 8753 series at GPIB address 16\tF9SCPI-compatible spectrum analyzersSome SCPI-compatible models supported by SSM.EXE and SATRACE.EXE can be addressed by 7470.EXE by placing the string "SCPI" in aninstrument menu shortcut. The default 7470.INI file contains an instrument shortcut associating the F11 key with a SCPI instrument at address 20:instrument_7 Supported SCPI-compatible spectrum analyzer at GPIB address 20\tF11 In principle most of the SCPI instruments supported by SSM should work with this option, but currently only theRohde & Schwarz FSP has been tested.Again, the normal host- or device-initiated plot menu options will not work with these instruments. Beginning in version 1.92, a few instrument-menu shortcuts are included by default in 7470.INI. If your8566A-8568A analyzer's GPIB address is 18, you don't have to modify 7470.INI at all -- just hit F8! Likewise,F9 will acquire a plot from an 8510-series network analyzer by default.Device-Initiated PlotsIf your instrument doesn't appear in the list above, that means it isn't directly supported by 7470.EXE, and won't work with the Acquire->Request functions, instrument menu shortcuts, or the command-line GPIB address feature. However, chances are good that you can still obtain plots from it by activating its front-panel "Plot" button while 7470.EXE is in the "Wait for device-initiated plot" mode. This mode may be selected from the Acquire menu, or by pressing thelower-case 'w' key.GPIB Instrument and Interface Configuration Notes

Release 0.91 of 31-Oct-01Some formatting improvements and assorted updates, but still an alpha release!Release 0.92 of 22-Jan-02Takes multiple files or GPIB addresses to plot, overlay-styleRuns at 800x600 by defaultLets you print the current plot on any Windows-compatible printerby hitting 'p' (inkjets are great for this!) This release also includes source for my GPIBLIB wrapper for National Instruments NI488 drivers.Release 0.93 of 28-Jan-02Wildcards can now be used on the command line (e.g., 7470 ..\myfiles\*.plt)If wildcards are used, all matching files will be displayed one at a time. Use the + and - keys to navigate the file list. You may also run 7470 by itself to display all .PLT, .HPG, .HGL, and .PGL files in the current directory.Hit 's' to save the current plot as a 16-bit .TGA file. Manyphoto editors, including Microsoft's, will allow you to manipulate these files and convert them to other common formatssuch as .GIF, .BMP, or .JPG.Release 0.94 of 03-Feb-03Made some improvements to the GPIBLIB wrapper tosupport instruments like the HP5345 and HP5370 counters that useterminator characters to delimit transmitted strings. Added example"get current frequency" programs for these counters in their respectivesubdirectories.Sending a GPIB device-clear message is now optional behavior forGPIB_startup(), and disabled by default. This change was needed to avoid resetting the HP5370B counter during GPIB handshaking. It doesn't seem to have affected any other instruments.Release 1.00 of 15-Apr-03Beta release of the new and improved 7470.EXE: near-complete rewrite. All commands accessible via Windows menuSaves .GIF, .BMP, and .PCX files directly from programNew "wait for plot" feature should (theoretically) support any instrument in talk-only modeMany UI improvements including resolution switching and overlay/browse modesRelease 1.50 of 19-Jul-04Many improvements, including more supported instruments, better HP-GL rendering fidelity, 7470.INI setup options, and moreRelease 1.60 of 9-Oct-04Added response options for several plotter output-status queries,necessary to support HP 8752C VNA and many other instrumentsAdded auto_save_filename, other options to 7470.INIDefault suffix for saved files is now .PLT, not .GIFRevised handling of UC (User Character) opcodesRelease 1.70 of 22-Mar-05Reduced buffer size used by GPIB_read() from 64K to 4K. Thisfunction can no longer be used to acquire a large block of datasuch as an entire plot.Release 1.80 of 13-Dec-057470.EXE is now installed with the larger KE5FX GPIB Toolkit packageImproved character-positioning code in rendererAdded support for host-requested plotting from Tektronix 2710-series spectrum analyzersSignificant GPIBLIB rework to add support for Prologix GPIB-USB adapterAdded instrument name/address/function-key feature to 7470.INIAdded user-configurable RGB pen colors to 7470.INIFixed a bug that could cause blank pages to be printed on a LaserJetAdded HTML user guideRelease 1.81 of 28-Dec-05Windows desktop no longer used as the working directory when running from a desktop iconRenderer now supports device-initiated plots from HP 3562A dynamic signal analyzerHP-GL/2 OF and OO commands supportedSC command supports parameter-free formRelease 1.82 of 3-Jan-06HP 8566A/8567A/8568A spectrum analyzers supported (via NI GPIB interfaces only)Host-based HP-GL/2 synthesis used to create .PLT image from raw analyzer dataGPIBLIB updated to inhibit EOI assertion at end of host-transmitted stringsRenderer now supports device-initiated plots from Advantest R3361A spectrum analyzerSelected pen restored to its equivalent physical position after an SC commandParameter-free SC command uses reasonable (nonzero) defaultsRelease 1.83 of 10-Mar-06Tektronix SCD-series transient digitizers supportedRelease 1.84 of 25-Mar-06HP 5372A time-interval analyzer supportedRelease 1.85 of 18-Apr-06Extensive changes made to simplify the code that handles generating and refreshing temporary .PLT files. (Most users will not notice any operational differences.)Added support for software-based GPIB address-selection feature in new Prologix adapter firmware Moved controller_mode, device_addressable, and host_addressable fields from 7470.INI to CONNECT.INI. These options now apply to all applications in the GPIB Toolkit, not just 7470.EXE. If you want to keep your existing 7470.INI file when upgrading, you'll need to move these three options to CONNECT.INI yourself.Added reset_to_local field to CONNECT.INI. This affects Prologix adapters only; see CONNECT.INI for more informationHP 8568A rev-B spectrum analyzer successfully tested with new software-addressable Prologix adapterRelease 1.86 of 19-May-06HP 3588A spectrum analyzer supportedASCII 128 character (C-cedilla) rendered as spaceRohde & Schwarz FSA spectrum analyzer supportedRelease 1.87 of 26-May-06Fix potential bug with device-initiated plots on the HP 8566B-8568B analyzers using Prologix adapters GPIB library ignores device_addressable and reset_to_local fields in CONNECT.INI if controller_mode is 0Release 1.88 of 25-Jun-06Don't check iberr after ibrd() or ibwrt() unless ibsta has ERR bit set (attempt to improve compatibility with NI GPIB-232CT-A)Release 1.89 of 6-Jul-06Always reset devices to local control at shutdown time when using NI-compatible GPIB interfacesRelease 1.90 of 1-Oct-06Serial ports beyond COM9 are now supported. Thanks to Bill Tracey, KD5TFD, for this patch!Release 1.91 of 9-Nov-06Added min_plot_bytes field to 7470.INI to allow small (preamble) data blocks from instruments such as the HP 8756A network analyzer to be disregardedIncreased X and Y screenspace margins from 4 to 8 pixels to reduce text-clipping problems on some instruments (e.g., HP 54502A)Fixed a bug that caused occasional failures to accept device-initiated plots from HP 8566B-8568B analyzers via Prologix GPIB adaptersRelease 1.92 of 15-Jan-07Saved .PLT files are now zero-terminated to prevent a possible buffer-overflow condition in the rendererSome tweaks for HP 54110D DSO supportF2, F4, and F8 instrument shortcuts enabled by default in 7470.INI, for demonstration purposesRelease 1.93 of 22-Jan-07Fixed a bug introduced in 1.92 that could cause text-rendering problems on certain HP 8566B-8568B plotsImproved color fidelity in .GIF and .PCX files, particularly when saved at higher display resolutionsRelease 1.94 of 5-Feb-07Enabled EOS termination in device-initiated plot mode on NI cards. This shouldn't cause problems for anyone butif it does, please let me know.Release 1.95 of 6-Feb-07Changed 7470.INI file entry async_GPIB_timeout to async_GPIB_timeout_ms. All applications that call GPIB_connect() now specify their timeout parameters directly in milliseconds, rather than using the GPTIMEOUT type. As with the 1.94update above, this change should not affect most users of the GPIB ToolkitRelease 1.96 of 8-Feb-077470.exe no longer enables board-level EOS termination during device-initiated plots, due to problems reported with certain instruments (e.g., Wiltron 562). (Board-level EOS checks were originally added for the benefit of the listen.exe command-line utility, but they're not useful in 7470.exe.)Release 1.97 of 4-Mar-07The use of instrument-menu shortcuts in the 7470.INI file no longer disables the "Request plot from supported device at address xx" options in the Acquire menuRelease 1.98 of 20-Mar-07Added basic support for host-requested plots from the Tektronix 2782/2784 spectrum analyzers (see notes above)Display-line support added in synthesized HP-GL/2 plots for the HP 8566A-8568A analyzersRelease 1.990 of 28-May-07Added support for host-requested plots from HP 54200-series DSOs (tested with HP 54201A)Release 1.991 of 04-Nov-07Added support for host-requested plots from HP 8510-series vector network analyzers (see notes above)Added support for host-requested plots from HP 3585A/B spectrum analyzers (see notes above)Added x_margin and y_margin entries to 7470.INI to allow the default plot margins to be changedNew code to center file dialogs within the main windowPrompt before overwriting existing files with the Save commandRelease 1.992 of 06-Nov-07Added Caption menu to allow user labels to be added to plotsViewing a plot from a Tektronix 278x analyzer no longer toggles the alternate-color state for all other loaded plotsRelease 1.993 of 07-Nov-07Added workaround for a firmware bug in certain HP 8590-series spectrum analyzers that could cause vertically-compressed rendering in 7470.exe and PrintCaptureRelease 1.994 of 16-Jan-08Added support for host-requested plots from HP 3561A dynamic signal analyzerRelease 1.995 of 05-Apr-08Extensive revisions to HP-GL renderer made to accommodate Advantest R9211E and other devices that usemultiple plotting windowsImproved rendering of HP 54502A plotsWhen rendering .PLT files acquired from earlier versions of 7470.EXE, it may be necessary to increase the x_margin and y_marginvalues in 7470.INI to avoid clipping problemsRemoved Display->Aspect correction menu options, which are no longer neededThe last version of the GPIB Toolkit with the original HP-GL renderer can be downloaded at The Acquire and GPIB menus now work exactly the same way with Prologix and National Instruments adaptersRemoved controller_mode, device_addressable, and host_addressable fields from CONNECT.INI, replacing them with is_PrologixIf is_Prologix is nonzero, the Prologix adapter is assumed to be capable of software-based mode and address configurationUsers of other interfaces, as well as early Prologix adapters that don't support programmable addressing, will need to edit CONNECT.INI manually to set is_Prologix to 0Captions from all loaded files are visible in Overlay modeRelease 1.996 of 7-May-08Added Acquire->Beep when plot received option (and corresponding 7470.INI field)Waiting for device-initiated plots is now interruptable with left click anywhere onscreenUser captions in Overlay mode are now keyed to the assigned pen color for that traceRelease 1.997 of 14-Jul-08Renamed SERIAL.INI to CONNECT.INI, and added TCP/IP supportFixed a bug that could cause failures with GPIB addresses specified on the 7470.exe command lineAdded File->Close all visible plots option (keyboard shortcut: Home)Added support for host-requested plots from HP 8753-series network analyzersAdded two instrument shortcuts to 7470.INI (HP 8753 series at address 16, and HP 54201A at address 5)Acquisition from HP 54201A no longer selects the alternate pen color set automaticallyPlots requested from 8510-series analyzers are resized to occupy the entire pageAcquired .PLT files are no longer saved in the Program Files subtreeRelease 1.998 of 25-Jul-08HP 8753 series analyzers no longer report "Addressed to talk with nothing to say" when transmitting host-requested plotsRelease 1.9981 of 5-Nov-08Added traffic_diag_filename field to 7470.INI to help troubleshoot device-initiated plottingIncreased size of temporary memory buffer used to receive incoming plots to 4 MBText-layout improvements in 3585A/8566A/8568A plotsRelease 1.9982 of 23-Dec-08Host-requested plots are now supported for Tektronix 492P and 496P analyzers. Displays in zero-span mode and LIN mode are not plottedHost-requested plots are now supported for HP 70000-series analyzers (logarithmic display modes only, markers unsupported)Release 1.9983 of 8-Apr-09Added support for host-requested plots from HP 54100-series DSOs (tested with HP 54111D)Added a workaround for truncated PA commands from the Tektronix 370 curve tracerCaptions may now be created and erased in the currently-selected plot in Overlay modeText from erased captions becomes the default text for subsequent captions, making it easy to reposition captions with the e key and left mouse buttonRelease 1.9984 of 5-Oct-10Fixed bug affecting XT and YT tick mark placement (Tek 2430A/2432A/2440 graticules)Release 1.9985 of 9-Jun-11Plots from HP 8753 series analyzers should now be requested with the F9 shortcut (Acquire->HP 8510 or 8753 series). The previous shortcut, F11, was yielding incomplete or misaligned plots on some instruments.HP-GL label text in Browse mode is now rendered in the selected pen color, rather than black. As before, user captions are rendered in black in Browse mode, and all text drawn in Overlay mode is based on the order in which each plot was loaded or acquired. Bumped the default x_margin and y_margin values in 7470.INI from 16 to 24 pixels to avoid excessive clipping on some plotsRelease 1.9986 of 28-May-12Added use_default_printer field to 7470.INIRelease 2.00 of 8-Dec-13All-new HP-GL/2 renderer greatly improves compliance with HP standard plotter commands, as well as PCL data files. The previous version of 7470.exe is available in case of difficulty with the new version. Please report any problems.Added Display->Background (k), Display->Antialiasing (a), and Display->Rotate (r) menu optionsAdded Display->1280x960 (9) menu optionIncreased default window size from 640x480 to 800x600 for better legibility with new renderer. (You can change this by editing 7470.INI as described above.)Release 2.002 of 13-Jan-15Improved compatibility with certain Wiltron instrumentsRelease 2.003 of 18-Nov-15Added support for host-requested plotting from Tektronix TDS 5/6/7xx-series oscilloscopes (tested with TDS 694C)Release 2.01 of 30-Dec-15Window size, antialiasing, color scheme selections, and browse/overlay status are now retained between runsThe most recent set of displayed files is now reloaded at startup time (if no filenames are explicitly specified on the command line)Release 2.02 of 22-Dec-16Added support for host-requested plots from certain SCPI-compatible spectrum analyzers, specifically those supported by SSM and SATRACE with the SCPI acquisition optionRelease 2.03 of 2-Oct-18Added short delay to address a potential timing issue on HP 8510 VNAs Release 2.04 of 10-Jan-20Added host-requested plotting support for HP 3577BRelease 2.05 of 19-Mar-20Listen-only mode supported under Prologix adapters with firmware version 6.102 or laterRelease 2.06 of 23-Jan-21Added support for nonstandard negative ASCII charactersPARSE.EXE now displays floating-point parameters for CP opcodes, rather than rounding them to integersFixed bug that caused radical signs to be omitted from HP 3562A/3563A plotsRelease 2.07 of 29-Jul-21Added workarounds for invalid characters and missing scale factors in plots from Rohde & Schwarz FSMRelease 2.08 of 6-Jan-23Added workaround for incorrect plot scaling on HP 4145BAcknowledgements and Additional Notes 2ff7e9595c