CAD Managers

[#1]

Hi all...sadly this is a crosspost from the ADT forum so I apologize for any confusion, but it was suggested I'd get better responses here.

My dilemma is that we're moving the whole office to another building and as always I'd like to hear the wisdom of others who have done something similar.

I expect our IT guy to rename all the printers as he's wanted to do this for awhile, so all of our pagesetups will need to be modified. I think I can customize a lisp that will run on startup and will load new pagesetups overriding the old.

All of our .PC3 files will be kaput too as we're getting new plotters and printers.

The network is going to look and function the same (supposedly) so software deployment should be unchanged.
The standards and palette content should be fine too I guess.
We may need to tinker with the FlexLM setup, but that shouldn't be too big a deal....

I bet I'm missing something though....what else should I worry about?

Bear in mind, I'm not the IT guy and hardly speak the language, so any tips regarding IT issues outside of ADT are welcome, but might not be completely understood.

Thanks in advance everyone...

[#2]

Download tools from http://www.noliturbare.com/ to edit PC3 files.

Allen

wrote in message news:5342847@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all...sadly this is a crosspost from the ADT forum so I apologize for any
confusion, but it was suggested I'd get better responses here.

My dilemma is that we're moving the whole office to another building and as
always I'd like to hear the wisdom of others who have done something
similar.

I expect our IT guy to rename all the printers as he's wanted to do this for
awhile, so all of our pagesetups will need to be modified. I think I can
customize a lisp that will run on startup and will load new pagesetups
overriding the old.

All of our .PC3 files will be kaput too as we're getting new plotters and
printers.

The network is going to look and function the same (supposedly) so software
deployment should be unchanged.
The standards and palette content should be fine too I guess.
We may need to tinker with the FlexLM setup, but that shouldn't be too big a
deal....

I bet I'm missing something though....what else should I worry about?

Bear in mind, I'm not the IT guy and hardly speak the language, so any tips
regarding IT issues outside of ADT are welcome, but might not be completely
understood.

Thanks in advance everyone...

[#3]

Don't let him rename the printers.
everytime you open an old dwg autocad will pop up telling you it cant find
the printer, maybe ask you to locate it, and them you have to change to the
new name. this involves 5 to 30 seconds per plot. multiple that times the
no of plots your company makes a month and it creates a huge time waster.

--
BIGGEORGE

Where are we going and
what am I doing in this handbasket?

wrote in message news:5342847@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all...sadly this is a crosspost from the ADT forum so I apologize for any
confusion, but it was suggested I'd get better responses here.

My dilemma is that we're moving the whole office to another building and as
always I'd like to hear the wisdom of others who have done something
similar.

I expect our IT guy to rename all the printers as he's wanted to do this for
awhile, so all of our pagesetups will need to be modified. I think I can
customize a lisp that will run on startup and will load new pagesetups
overriding the old.

All of our .PC3 files will be kaput too as we're getting new plotters and
printers.

The network is going to look and function the same (supposedly) so software
deployment should be unchanged.
The standards and palette content should be fine too I guess.
We may need to tinker with the FlexLM setup, but that shouldn't be too big a
deal....

I bet I'm missing something though....what else should I worry about?

Bear in mind, I'm not the IT guy and hardly speak the language, so any tips
regarding IT issues outside of ADT are welcome, but might not be completely
understood.

Thanks in advance everyone...

[#4]

Oh, I agree....in some ways I hate the idea, but that doesn't mean he won't do it anyway.

I think though, that I can get a lisp working that will replace the pagesetups in a job with a correct pagesetup when opening the drawing.

I did this once before for a project....I think.

Archived jobs will suffer though.

I dunno BIGGEORGE....I think this is gonna be a little rough....

[#5]

IMHO it's not something to loose sleep over. The page setups can be automatically fixed on startup as you said.

The idea that a missing plotter is a crisis would seem pretty silly to anyone who routinely deals with other people's drawing files, as many consultants do. That's what ALWAYS happens when you get any outside file created in A2K or later. And it will always happen at some point in the future, if you ever deal with past jobs, if you ever change printing technologies.

I'd consider it a chance to learn about ways to handle compatibility/interoperability issues over time. Unless you plan to use the same old printers forever, or never change Acad versions, you're eventually going to be forced to deal with it.

[#6]

I agree, but the printer/pc3 thing is not the part I'm losing sleep over....I'm more worried about what I'm missing, or forgetting.

[#7]

How are your PC3 file named? If you keep the names generic like "Big Plotter
1.pc3" you can just redirect the port the PC3 prints to. No need to rename,
no need to recreate. If you are using windows system printers in your page
setups, you might think about not doing that. Create PC3's for these devices
and paper sizes. Then when a printer changes, just change the properties of
the PC3...

What ever you do, don't let them change the server names or drive letters.
Your IT should have a "plan" for the move. You need to get with him/them and
have them walk you through it. Even if you don't know the language, talking
to them will probably raise a few flags - both for you and them.


wrote in message news:5344132@discussion.autodesk.com...
I agree, but the printer/pc3 thing is not the part I'm losing sleep
over....I'm more worried about what I'm missing, or forgetting.

[#8]

On Mon, 2 Oct 2006 12:39:18 +0000, pkirill wrote:

>Then when a printer changes, just change the properties of
>the PC3...
>

And how do you change an exising .PC3 to point to a different physical printer?

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[#9]

I have had to rebuild pc3 files after just updating a driver for the same
printer. PK's warning of what NOT to do, is what we do with a twist. We
use generic network names for our printer shares. When we replace a
printer, the server updates the drivers and AutoCAD is none the wiser that
anything has changed. Actually, even the pc3 files that we do use seem to
be less particular about drivers in this environment configuration.

--
Larry Bettes
ADT, C3D & LDT/CD
(all 2007 with all SPs installed)
P4 - Dual Core 3.0 GHz, 3.00 GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 6800 GS AGP - 256 MB
Windows XP Pro, SP 2


"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:5347483@discussion.autodesk.com...
On Mon, 2 Oct 2006 12:39:18 +0000, pkirill
wrote:

>Then when a printer changes, just change the properties of
>the PC3...
>

And how do you change an exising .PC3 to point to a different physical
printer?

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[#10]

Open the plot dialog, select the PC3, click properties, select the Ports
tab, select the new "port"...

Granted - after reading Larry's post I'm reminded that this will only work
when relocating a device. It is no help when replacing a device with another
because of driver issues. That's when the generic naming is handy - but you
still need to recreate the pc3...


"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:5347483@discussion.autodesk.com...
On Mon, 2 Oct 2006 12:39:18 +0000, pkirill
wrote:

>Then when a printer changes, just change the properties of
>the PC3...
>

And how do you change an exising .PC3 to point to a different physical
printer?

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com