# Chapter 6. Printing and Plotting

You can produce print-outs of your spider-graph data on either the LaserWriter or the Colour Plotter, which are attached to the system network. These hard copies can only be of the colour screen.

As the LaserWriter can only print in black its main use is to provide print-outs of the aircraft trips data set out in the form of a spider graph. The eight pen colour plotter is used to provide colour copies of the crewing patterns that have been developed.

## 6.1. Black and White Printing

On the LaserWriter you print, in black and white, whatever you can display on the colour screen. The most common use is to produce hard copies of the aircraft trips data spider graphs (without any of the colour patterns displayed) .

Left-click on the Plot button In the Control Panel. The Plotting of Patterns and Schedules window appears (see Figure 6.1, "Plotting of Patterns and Schedules").

Figure 6.1. Plotting of Patterns and Schedules

By left-clicking on Plotter Type you can select the printer used -- if you select a LaserJet printer, then the printing will be in black & white. Other parameters are set by clicking on the selection buttons underneath the Plot label: select Grid and Labels, Flights and Service/Aircraft. You can also specify a title of up to 20 characters for the print-out typing in the Title field.

To plot your choices from the colour screen, left-click on the Plot button on the top row of this panel. This button will be shaded, and then clear.

(You do not need to wait for each plot to be produced by the Laser Writer before you send off your next plot. XBO-Edit allows users to spool plots to the LaserWriter). The Replot button causes all the plots you have sent off during this session to be plotted again. Finally, to leave this window, left-click on the Donebutton.

## 6.2. Colour Printing

You can also obtain a colour print-out of the screen. Colour plotting code has been developed using the Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language (HP-GL).

To produce a colour plot of your colour screen, left-click on the Plot button in the Control Panel. The Plotting of Patterns and Schedules window will appear (see Figure 6.1, "Plotting of Patterns and Schedules").

You need to alter Plotter Type. Left-click on the Plotter Type option menu, and select the colour plotter.

The page size is set to A4. To select A3 left-click on Page size. You may have to feed non-standard paper sizes into the plotter by hand. The eight colour pens are labelled P1 to PS, and in this window the default is that the Grid, Text and Flights are all set to the same colour: P1. To alter these, press the right mouse button on the P character. The list of pen names pops up and you move the cursor to the one you want and release the right mouse button.

| Note
It is best to keep the various colour pens in a fixed order in the plotter.

The right hand column allows you to plot Grid & Labels, Flights, Service/Aircraft, Horizontal Pattern Names, Ports on Both Sizes or any combination of these. You can also enter a title, of up to 20 characters for each plot.

To plot your choice from the colour screen left-click on the Plot button on the top row of this window. The Plot button will be shaded, and then clear. (You do not need to wait for each plot to be produced before you send off your next plot. XBO-Edit allows users to spool plots). The Replot button causes all the plots you sent off during this session to be plotted again. Finally, to leave this window, left-click on the Done button.