HighWater PCI Plugins README
HighWater Multi Plugin Installer July 2005
Installation
Make sure there are no other applications running, and no MS-DOS
command windows open. Insert the HighWater PrePress Solutions CD into the
drive.
If you have an Internet Web browser:
After a short delay your default web browser should automatically open
a home page from the CD. Follow the instructions for installation. If
your default web browser does not open automatically, follow the
instructions below for installing without a web browser.
If you do not have an Internet Web browser:
Read the "INSTALLING FROM A WEB BROWSER?" section of the Readme.txt file
at the top level of the CD, and follow the instructions, to start the
HighWater Imager installer.
NOTE: Installation of these plugins on Windows 2000, XP or Server 2003
platforms requires the Windows 2000 HighWater PCI Driver. The Windows
2000 Driver is available on the HighWater Designs Pre-Press Solutions CD.
Contents
ECRM (HW970/HW770)
Linotronic/Scangraphic LI2/LI5 (HW972/HW772)
Ultre/Exxtra (HW774)
Exxtra Maxxima (HW775)
Agfa (not Phoenix) (HW976/HW776)
Agfa Phoenix (HW777)
Linotronic 630 (HW972/HW772)
Scangraphic FPI (HW773)
Scitex Dolev (HW978/HW778)
Revision History Plugins
Revision History
(Personality libraries)
Revision History ECRM (HW970/HW770)
Revision History Linotronic/Linotronic 630 (HW972/HW772)
Revision History Scangraphic FPI (HW773)
Revision History Ultre/Exxtra/Maxxima (HW774/HW775)
Revision History Agfa (not Phoenix) (HW976/HW776)
Revision History Agfa Phoenix (HW777)
Revision History Scitex Dolev (HW978/HW778)
Revision History (Low-level
Driver)
RBF files - Version Information
Configuration File Changes
Linotronic630 Configuration Program Changes
Technical Support
ECRM / Linotronic/Scangraphic/Linotronic630 / Ultre/Exxtra / Exxtra Maxxima / Agfa / Agfa Phoenix / Scitex Dolev
Version: 5.0.8
Date: June 2005
Platforms: Windows NT / 2000 / XP / Server 2003 INTEL*
*Note: The HW97X series cards are not compatible with Windows NT
Limitations
- The plugin currently supports film punching control for ECRM and
Agfa imagesetters, where appropriate, if serial comms is enabled.
For other imagesetters the User must configure the imagesetter directly
to perform this operation when required if the option is available.
- Scangraphic engines must have the LI2/LI5 interface available on the
engine in order that we may drive them using the HW772 hardware and
software. It is our understanding that this interface is optional on
the Scangraphic Largo/Othello/Tempo/Apollo engines.
- There is currently no support provided for punch or exposure control,
feed or cut features of Scangraphic engines through the LI2/LI5
interface. This is a limitation of the LI5 interface in the engine, not
the HighWater software or hardware.
- Paper feed around page is only available for devices which support host
serial control over feed and feed length. For devices such as non-serial
ECRMs this feature will have no effect.
- The HighWater plugin provides no support for exposure control or feed or
cut features of Scangraphic engines through the HW773 FPI interface card.
This is a limitation of the FPI interface in the engine, not the HighWater
software or hardware.
- The Plugin provides no support for custom resolutions or colour
separation mode features of the Ultre imagesetters.
- The HighWater plugin has no control over Scitex Dolev Type 1 devices
punching automatically if a punch is fitted in the engine. Plugin v4.1a2
and later provides support for selection of an engine-defined punch
system through the Scitex interface for Scitex Dolev Type 2 devices.
- Support for the control of job position relative to punch position (centre on punch)
has been proven on Dolev4PressV head punch only.
- There is no support for media feed or cut features on Scitex Dolev Type1 or Type 2 devices.
- It is not possible to output black margins when outputting to a Dolev 4PressV.
- Use of the Scangaphic FPI interface with other HighWater PCI interface cards in the same platform
has not been tested. Hence it is recommended that the Scangraphic FPI interface card is NOT
used with other HighWater PCI interface cards at this time.
- The plugin now supports more than one Scangraphic FPI interface card in the same system but
this has not been tested and hence is not currently recommended..
- Currently the engine must be fully booted and set to FPI interface mode,
before running the RIP.
Known Problems
ECRM imagesetters
- The Plugin will not function in serial mode with ECRM VR/Mako/Oasis/
Knockout engines with firmware revisions of 2.1.1 or earlier. This is
due to a bug in the imagesetter firmware. Users should upgrade their
ECRM firmware to 2.2.1 or later and ensure that the imagesetter is
configured in 'Serial' mode.
Linotronic/Scangraphic imagesetters
- Linotronic/Scangraphic imagesetters do not support host control over
feed amount, hence any feeds performed by the RIP will amount to a fixed
length feed as defined on the imagesetter.
- Error reporting (such as no take-up cassette/no input cassette/image too
big) is unreliable since the engine does not always report the current
status correctly.
Agfa / Agfa Phoenix imagesetters
- Some of the older Agfa imagesetters do not correctly report error
conditions such as no output cassette or no media until they start
imaging. This can cause jobs which should fail immediately to take a few
minutes to fail and to fail with an error which does not reflect the
true cause of the problem.
Scangraphic FPI imagesetters
- When re-outputting jobs which have a punch specified after restarting
the RIP, the plugin will only select the correct punch if the FPI device
was the currently selected device (via the 3rd pull-down menu from the
main menu bar) when the RIP was shutdown last. This will be addressed
in a later release.
- Scangraphic FPI imagesetters do not support host control over feed or
cut features, hence any feeds/cuts set on the RIP will have no effect
on the imagesetter. These options should be controlled from the
imagesetter control panel.
General
- On some imagesetters the advance amounts are not accurate. In some cases
this can be caused by other devices connected to the imagesetters, such
as Online Processors or media buffering devices.
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Revision History (Plugins)
Release 5.0.8 June 2005
- First release of v5.x.x plugins supporting the HW97X PCI interface cards.
Release 5.0 August 2001
- First official release with Agfa Phoenix support via HW777 interface
card.
- Added startup message to RIP monitor and log file to display Personality
Firmware Version (RBF file version) for HW77x series interface cards.
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Revision History (Personality libraries)
ECRM
HW970 Release 5.0.5 June 2005
- First release of HW970.dll.
HW770 Release 5.0.2 July 2005
- Fix problem causing output failure of all but first job when used with v5.x or later plugin.
HW770 Release 5.0.1 January 2002
- Fix so we don't try and interpret .BUSY as anything other than BUSY.
HW770 Release 5.0.1b6 January 2002
- Increased serial communication timeout to cope with ECRM models with
slow / unresponsive comms.
HW770 Release 5.0 November 2000
- Full support for new ECRM models (Mako 56, Stingray 52/63, Marlin 46/63).
- Corrected serial feed control for Mako series.
- Added support for separate data handling for multiple processes
accessing the same DLL.
HW770 Release 4.09 August 2000
- Removed reset of interface to non-serial mode after having been switched
into serial mode. This seemed to correct odd serial timeout problems
with Knockout 4550 imagesetters. This may also help improve serial
behaviour on other models.
HW770 Release 4.08 March 2000
- Improved serial comms resync and fixed driver error retrieval and
reporting. Previously the RIP plugin could have reported incorrect error
messages for output failures (e.g. "FIFO empty during DMA - PCI Bus
problem?").
HW770 Release 4.08b1 February 2000
- Implemented serial communications resync after command failure. This
should overcome problems on engines where serial behaviour was
previously erratic.
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Linotronic
HW972 Release 5.0.9 June 2005
- First release of HW972.dll..
HW772 Release 5.0.3 July 2005
- Fix problem causing output failure of all but first job when used with v5.x or later plugin.
HW772 Release 5.0.2 November 2002
- Improved serial communications by removing garbage characters from the
string.
HW772 Release 5.0 January 2002
- Added support for separate data handling for multiple processes
accessing the same DLL.
HW772 Release 4.20 November 2001
- Fixed bug in serial communication functions which was causing occasional
erroneous serial communication errors (reporting bad/invalid response).
- Improved handling of serial communication errors. Will now detect
erroneous replies from the imagesetter more reliably.
HW772 Release 4.19 August 2001
- Corrected SwitchRecorderMode operation affecting Linotronic 630
imagesetters.
HW772 Release 4.18 November 2000
- Corrected SwitchRecorderMode operation affecting some Scangraphic Tempo
imagesetters (bug introduced in v4.17).
- Corrected error
handling of failure to get LI2 receiver page signal from connected
engine.
HW772 Release 4.17 March 2000
- Fixed a bug where serial comms was not being handled correctly when two
plugins of different version (i.e. v3 & v4) were being used to output to
two cards of the same type in the same PC.
- Improvements to SwitchRecorderMode so that it validates the parameters
sent when enabling the engine. Tested successfully on Scangraphic Apollo
and Tempo. Scangraphic engines now report retry requests properly if
Switch does NOT work, (if li5devtype set to 3).
HW772 Release 4.16 March 2000
- Fixed driver error retrieval and reporting. Previously the RIP plugin
could have reported incorrect error messages for output failures (e.g.
"FIFO empty during DMA - PCI Bus problem?").
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Scangraphic FPI
HW773 Release 5.0.4 July 2005
- Fix problem causing output failure of all but first job when used with v5.x or later plugin.
HW773 Release 5.0.3 September 2002
- Improved support for multiple (same) cards in a machine being used by
the same process. Bug fix for intermittent failure to see interface in
some machines.
HW773 Release 4.06 March 2000
- Fixed driver error retrieval and reporting. Previously the RIP plugin
could have reported incorrect error messages for output failures (e.g.
"FIFO empty during DMA - PCI Bus problem?").
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Ultre/Exxtra/Maxxima
HW774 Release 5.0.1 July 2005
- Fix problem causing output failure of all but first job when used with v5.x or later plugin.
HW774 Release 5.0 January 2002
- Fixed so that extended machine information is only read for suitable
machines.
- Added support for separate data handling for multiple processes
accessing the same DLL.
HW774 Release 4.08 April 2001
- Modified so that the improved detection of engine type is only
implemented for Ultre 3000/4000 device types.
HW774 Release 4.07 March 2000
- Fixed driver error retrieval and reporting. Previously the RIP plugin
could have reported incorrect error messages for output failures (e.g.
"FIFO empty during DMA - PCI Bus problem?").
HW775 Release 5.0.1 July 2005
- Fix problem causing output failure of all but first job when used with v5.x or later plugin.
HW775 Release 5.0 November 2002
- Fixed so that extended machine information is only read for suitable
machines.
- Added support for separate data handling for multiple processes
accessing the same DLL.
HW775 Release 4.09 April 2002
- Fixed problem with unsupported commands.
HW775 Release 4.08 April 2001
- Modified so that the improved detection of engine type is only
implemented for Ultre 3000/4000 device types.
HW775 Release 4.07 March 2000
- Fixed driver error retrieval and reporting. Previously the RIP plugin
could have reported incorrect error messages for output failures (e.g.
"FIFO empty during DMA - PCI Bus problem?").
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Agfa (not Phoenix)
HW976 Release 5.7 June 2005
- First release of HW976.dll.
HW776 Release 5.3.1 July 2005
HW776 Release 5.3 November 2002
- Modified to prevent zero value feeds being attempted.
HW776 Release 5.2 October 2002
- Modified so that PrePageFeed and PostPageFeed are executed regardless of
how small the user-requested feeds are. The minimum distance fed is 1cm,
which is a restriction of all Agfa engines.
- Added support for separate data handling for multiple processes
accessing the same DLL.
HW776 Release 4.11 March 2000
- Fixed driver error retrieval and reporting. Previously the RIP plugin
could have reported incorrect error messages for output failures (e.g.
"FIFO empty during DMA - PCI Bus problem?").
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Agfa Phoenix
HW777 Release 5.3.1 July 2005
- Fix problem causing output failure of all but first job when used with v5.x or later plugin.
HW777 Release 5.3 November 2002
- Modified to prevent zero value feeds being attempted.
HW777 Release 5.2 October 2002
- Modified so that PrePageFeed and PostPageFeed are executed regardless of
how small the user-requested feeds are. The minimum distance fed is 1cm,
which is a restriction of all Agfa engines.
HW777 Release 5.1 July 2001
- First official release with Phoenix support.
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Scitex Dolev
HW978 Release 5.04 June 2005
- First release of HW978.dll.
- Support more than one interface card in same PC.
- Add support for centering image on head/side punch on 4PressV/4Press*.
HW778 Release 5.0.4 July 2005
- First release of HW778.dll supporting multiple cards in the same PC.
- Support image centering on punch for 4PressV/4Press*.
*Tested to 4PressV only.
HW778 Release 1.8 July 2005
- Fix problem causing output failure of all but first job when used with v5.x or later plugin.
HW778 Release 1.7 March 2005
- Fix to failure to output image data to Type 1 engine.
HW778 Release 1.6 November 2004
- Fix to 4PressV support - not setting margins correctly.
- Fix FIFO empty error outputting to Dolev800V.
- Various fixes to obtaining and displaying punch system information for type 2 devices.
- Add ability to control engine spinner speed.
HW778 Release 1.3.6 March 2003
- Fix buffer overrun encoding to type 2 serial commands.
- Fix double increment of sequence number.
HW778 Release 1.3.5 October 2002
- Fix to output of second job to Dolev 4press.
HW778 Release 1.3b4 September 2002
HW778 Release 1.35b3 August 2002
- Allow exposure values up to 4095 to be set for type 1 devices to fit
with updated engine firmware - Microversion 10, CID=5; subversion='g'.
- Increase serial timeout on type 1 cancel command waiting for reply.
- Reset serial timeout to default when starting a new job (reconnecting
to engine).
HW778 Release 1.35b1 June 2002
- Allow exposure values up to 3000 to be set (instead of 1023) for Type 1
devices.
HW778 Release 1.34 June 2002
- Fix to punch support logic.
- Fix to handling comms from Type 2 device. Missing first character of
asynchronous status messages with STATUS_UNKNOWN when more than one
status message arrives.
HW778 Release 1.34a0 May 2002
- Fixes to support for punching for 4Press.
HW778 Release 1.3.3b3 February 2002
- Some calls to HWDBprintf have level and msg type parameters mixed up
causing Mac build to crash.
HW778 Release 1.3.3b2 January 2002
- If exposure value passed to dll for Type2 device is <=0 send
USE_DEFAULT value to engine.
HW778 Release 1.3.3b1 September 2001
- Revert SetPunchInfo logic to pre 1.3.2a2.
- Fix crash when getting T2 plotter info from engine (buffer too small).
HW778 Release 1.3.2 August 2001
- Fix inability to output maximum size jobs to 200, 250, 400, 450 and
800/ 800V.
- Add ability to read media remaining for type 1 devices.
HW778 Release 1.09 October 2000
- Implement data negation.
- Fix failure to output to type 1 device when dll is used with Imager.
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Revision History Linotronic 630 Configuration Tool - Config630
Release 1.0 November 2001
- First release of the Linotronic630 configuration tool.
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Revision History (Low-level Driver)
For Windows2000, XP and Server2003 this installer does not install the low-level driver. A new plug-and-play
driver v5.x.x is installed using the Install New Hardware wizard that runs when the PC is booted after first installing
the interface card(s) or on reboot after moving at least one card to a different slot from which it was originally installed.
Release 5.2.1 1st January 2005
- First release of HighWater HwPlot PnP driver.
Release 4.11 July 2002
- Fixed bug which incorrectly allowed a process to queue further data
buffers for output after a DMA timeout error.
- Corrected PLX DMA abort sequence (no known problems in the field).
- Corrected 26C91 UART timings (no known problems in the field).
Release 4.09 June 2001
- Added support for HW777 and HW779 interface cards.
Release 4.08 November 2000
- Removed Line Overrun error handling, this firmware feature was never
actually released to production interface cards.
Release 4.07 May 2000
- Corrected problem causing Blue Screen of Death crash, due to slow
serial handling for fast baud rates (19200/38400 baud). NOTE: Currently
the only imagesetter which supports >9600 baud serial, is the
Linotronic 630.
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RBF files - Version Information
This installer installs the following RBF files
| RBF file name | Version number | Checksum
| HW970_10_0001.rbf | 1 | 145733
| HW972_10_0003.rbf | 1 | 127B35
| HW976_20_0001.rbf | 1 | 12AFEE
| HW978_10_0003.rbf | 1 | 11C7DF
| |
HW770.rbf | 9 | E4D34
| HW770_40_0001.rbf | 9 | E4D34
| HW770_80_0001.rbf | C | 15789A
| |
HW772_20_0001.rbf | 9 | 14A256
| HW772_20_0002.rbf | 9 | 14F7F8
| HW772_30_0001.rbf | 9 | 14A256
| HW772_30_0002.rbf | 9 | 14F7F8
| HW772_40_0001.rbf | 9 | 14A256
| HW772_40_0002.rbf | 9 | 14F7F8
| |
HW773.rbf | 3 | 15F811
| HW773_20_0001.rbf | 3 | 15F811
| HW773_30_0001.rbf | 3 | 15F811
| HW773_40_0001.rbf | 3 | 15F811
| |
HW774_20_0003.rbf | A | 171CEF
| HW774_30_0003.rbf | A | 171CEF
| |
HW775_10_0001.rbf | 9 | 17EE2F
| HW775_20_0001.rbf | 9 | 17EE2F
| |
HW776.rbf | 4 | D65DB
| HW776_20_0001.rbf | 4 | D65DB
| HW776_30_0001.rbf | 4 | D65DB
| |
HW777_30_0003.rbf | A | 187D7A
| |
HW778.rbf | No ver | DD398
| HW778_20_0001.rbf | 2 | D75D1
| HW778_20_0003.rbf | 4 | D30D6
| HW778_30_0003.rbf | 4 | D30D6
| HW778_40_0003.rbf | 4 | D30D6
|
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Configuration File Changes
- For all Dolev....4x8 configuration files remove unrequired byteorder entry.
- For Dolev type 1 devices added control for setting spinner speed.
- Added new configuration file Dolev4PressV_WHP.4x8 (reduced imageable area for 4PressV fitted with head punch).
- For all Dolev engines and 978 cards add entry to control amount of data preloaded onto card before starting engine output.
- For all Dolev engines and 978 cards add entry to control bit order.
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Technical Support
For technical support please contact your support representative.
This page last updated: 4th July 2005
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