HP-GL Viewer

Frequently Asked Questions

Index of Questions

• On which platforms can I use the viewer ?
• How can I access the viewer ?
• I want to save viewer window and lens window sizes and positions on the screen. How can I do it ?
• How I can print from the viewer on Unix platforms ?
• I want just convert my file from HP-GL to another format. What should I do ?
• What are the differences between the various versions of the viewer ?
• I've understood that CERN HP-GL viewer is sold commercially, right ?
• A correctly licensed viewer version giving error "File is too big for demo version!" or "This copy of Designer viewer is licensed to X" (where X is typically your organisation). What's up ?
• On Windows, the viewer starts but the window is minimized and cannot be made to appear.

Answers

How can I access the viewer ?

• For CERN NICE PC users the viewer can be installed via CMF.
• For CERN AFS users the viewer is placed in the path, typically in /usr/bin, or if you install it yourself, wherever you want (/usr/local/bin is a popular choice).
• There are downloadable binaries for external users.

I want to save viewer window and lens window sizes and positions on the screen. How can I do it ?

Save options in the Options menu allow you to save the sizes and positions of the current viewer window and the lens window in addition to the current option settings.

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How can I print from the viewer on Unix platforms ?

By using the Printer setup submenu on UNIX platforms you can set the command line for printing and select the format for the output. The viewer currently supports three formats: HP-GL, HP-GL/2, and PostScript. The viewer allows you to execute up to 5 system commands. You only need to activate the corresponding item in this submenu. If you want to save your definitions you should say Save options in Options menu.

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I want just convert my file from HP-GL to another format. What should I do ?

It is possible to start the viewer in batch mode for converting drawings to other formats or for clipping part of them. See online help under heading Command line options or on command line type: hpglview -help

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What are the differences between the various versions of the viewer ?

See the feature comparison page.

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I've understood that CERN HP-GL viewer is sold commercially, right ?

It used to be. Nowadays you can download it for free from our download page.

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A correctly licensed viewer version giving error "File is too big for demo version!" or "This copy of Designer viewer is licensed to X" (where X is typically your organisation). What's up ?

For one possible explanation Click Here.

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On Windows, the viewer starts but the window is minimized and cannot be made to appear.

If you try to run the program and the icon appears in the taskbar but not on desktop, it may be that Windows has opened the viewer window on an off-screen desktop. This can happen in particular if you were using multiple screens and have switched back to one. In this case, activate the taskbar icon by clicking on it and press ALT+spacebar. You should get a menu that allows you to move the program back to the desktop.

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