Technical bulletin #1012
You can use the RoboCAD 20 "Configure System" menu to install input, plotter, and printer drivers. However, this menu gives you no way of removing them. This is not usually a problem. However, for those who wish to do this, please read on...
Caution!
To do this, you must be familiar with editing text files using a text editor. If you are not sure about this, we suggest you don't try changing the RoboCAD files. If you make mistakes, you may not be able to use RoboCAD without re-installing it. You should also know how to copy a file, how to delete a file, and how to rename a file. It does not matter whether you use DOS or Windows to do these things as long as you are sure that you know how to do them correctly.
The following is somewhat technical. If you do not understand it, please leave the RoboCAD files unchanged.
The procedure
Locate the file RZ_USER.IO, usually in the RoboCAD System directory. Make a backup of this file, just in case. Open this file in a text editor (RoboCAD RED, DOS EDIT) or a word processor in text mode (MS Word). It will look something like this:
* input devices * control
line (input)
Microsoft: Mouse
mouse.com
* output devices * control
line (plotters)
Hewlett-Packard: LaserJet 3 (MP)
hplj3mp.plt
Hewlett-Packard: PCL5 (A & B)
hp_pcl5.plt
Roland: GRX300AR
grx300ar.plt
* printers * control
line (printers)
Canon: BJ-600e (Full size 8x10in)
bjc600s.prt
Hewlett-Packard: DeskJet 500C
hp500c.prt
Hewlett-Packard: LaserJet III
hplaser1.prt
* end of data * control
line (file end)
The comments (control line...) are not in the file - I've included them here as part of the explanation of the file format.
The first thing to notice is that the file is split into three sections by control lines. The first section describes any installed input device drivers, the second section any installed plotters, and the third section any installed printers. An "End" control line marks the end of the file in case of errors. Any (or even all) of these sections may be blank.
Within each section, every entry is in two parts:
Hewlett-Packard: LaserJet 3 (MP) Description
hplj3mp.plt File
name
The first line of the pair is the description. This is the text that describes the device, and is what appears on the configuration screens1. The second line of the pair gives the file name of that driver. So in the above example the text "Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 3" appears in the configuration screens, and the associated driver file is called HPLJ3MP.PLT.
So, to remove an unwanted device from the list, simply locate the pair of lines which describe it and its associated driver file, and delete them both.
Take care to delete the pair; don't delete one description and a different driver file - the results will be confusing! Once you have done this, save the (edited) file. If you are using a word processor, be sure to save the file as a text file or RoboCAD won't understand it.
Once you have done this, you may also wish to delete the driver file itself (in this case, the file HPLJ3MP.PLT). Since these files are quite small, there is usually little to be gained from doing this. If you do delete the driver it's probably a good idea to keep a backup copy somewhere in case you ever need it again.
1 For the curious: the colon (:) is used as a tab character. Also, text to the left of the colon which is identical on successive lines, is not repeated.
This content:
Canon: BJ-600e (Full size 8x10in)
bjc600s.prt
Hewlett-Packard: DeskJet 500C
hp500c.prt
Hewlett-Packard: LaserJet III
hplaser1.prt
gives this screen display:
A Canon BJ-600e
(Full size 8x10in)
B Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 500C
C LaserJet
III
Return to Index of Technical Bulletins
© Copyright 1996-8 Robo Systems International Inc.