
Plotty Bird: flappy bird on the HP7440A pen plotter - luu
https://twitter.com/WAptekar/status/1133558364213063680
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chx
The most insane device in this vein IMO is the Panasonic Penwriter. It's a
four color typewriter (!) and plotter. Yes. It was using pens to write
whatever you typed. And this was in 1985! If it'd been more reliable
(surprise: it wasn't) it would've taken the world by storm. (I think Brother
had one too.)

Lately someone worked it out how to connect it to a modern PC.
[https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/a/7936/3722](https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/a/7936/3722)

~~~
jgrahamc
PC Magazine review from 1985:
[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Dwvc24nC0IQC&pg=PA67&lpg...](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Dwvc24nC0IQC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=Panasonic+Penwriter&source=bl&ots=zwMAdAutij&sig=ACfU3U00J_H-
mCdiCSGak3-t3BaN5jyoYA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdvPGxt9fiAhVgURUIHVk7CVQ4ChDoATAAegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=Panasonic%20Penwriter&f=false)

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neilv
This is really neat. If you got a large-format X-Y pen plotter, you could get
it to play D&D, exploring a large dungeon map, having skirmishes, etc. This
would be even better with a flatbed plotter, rather than a rolling one.

I love these devices, though they're expensive to run. We used the large-
format HP pen plotters for various large software analysis&design diagrams,
and for keeping huge project management charts posted. On the side, I wrote an
optimizer that would take an HP-GL file and optimize for pen travel (shorten
time spent between pen-up and pen-down positions for various graphics
operations) and for pen changes.

~~~
chrisseaton
> though they're expensive to run

The pens are expensive? Or they use some special paper? Or they wear through
some component like belts? What's the expensive bit?

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neilv
The TCO of the large X-Y pen plotters seemed subjectively expensive, for hobby
purposes, which I suspect is most of the reason to still use a pen plotter.
Large paper (maybe you can use the current inkjet ones), expensive pens that
you go through quickly (I don't know whether they're made anymore, or whether
there's a viable DIY way to keep them refilled and working, or to adapt
current off-the-shelf non-plotter pens), and keeping the mechanics of old
machines working (and perhaps stockpiling backup/parts units, when you can
find them).

~~~
myself248
But you can throw a pen into any gantry mechanism, whether that's a cheap
laser like the k40 or a hobby router like the xcarve, or a kit-built machine
like cncrouterparts sells.

These are cheap and ubiquitous. Most of them speak gcode not hpgl, but that's
just a firmware tweak or a postprocessor change.

~~~
neilv
What you say sounds promising, and maybe better than trying to keep a large HP
pen plotter running.

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isoprophlex
That hashtag (plottertwitter) is one of the few exciting, non-hateful things
left on Twitter. Great stuff.

~~~
paulgb
There’s a friendly in-person community too, in SF and NYC (next NYC meetup is
in a few weeks:
[https://plotterpeople.github.io/nyc.html](https://plotterpeople.github.io/nyc.html))

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iscrewyou
The memories of the game and the subsequent rise and then the fall (if you
want to call it that) of it. Does anybody have any updates on the developer
and the game?

~~~
ducttape12
Looks like Dong Nguyen's company has been making some games since:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DotGears](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DotGears)

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aidos
I love this so much. Reminds me of that old Radiohead remix.

Actually, it’s Friday, let’s post it!

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20123805](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20123805)

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ibrault
This, and everything else in the #plottertwitter hashtag, seems super cool.
Are there any good resources for exploring this space and getting into it?

~~~
nxcho
If you're interested in algorithmic drawing,
[https://turtletoy.net](https://turtletoy.net) is a nice little toy to play
around in and it uses the same primitive operations as most plotters (pen up
and down, move to coordinate). One popular plotter is AxiDraw which can be
controlled in a multitude of ways including an Inkscape plugin and a REST-API.

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panpanna
I just realized such plotters can be useful in many cool applications (eg diy
pcb).

Where can I get hold of one for cheap?

~~~
dbalan
Ebay has a tonne of them.
[https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m...](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313.TR6.TRC1.A0.H0.Xhp+7475.TRS0&_nkw=hp+7475a&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=hp+plotter)

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roland35
Yet another fun reason to get a pen plotter!! It seems that there are plenty
of examples on eBay, maybe even if it doesn't work a retrofit would be a fun
project?

~~~
jrockway
A pen plotter is just a 3D printer with a very short Z axis and a pen instead
of a hotend. Should be pretty easy to build one cheaply.

The toolchanger in the video is very nifty, though. Not an essential feature
in my opinion, and no doubt the most difficult and expensive part.

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Bitter_Function
That was actually was cooler than I thought it would be.

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ngoldbaum
This was really cool in person!

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saagarjha
Can you "play" this in real-time?

~~~
dschooh
[https://github.com/WesleyAC/plotty-bird](https://github.com/WesleyAC/plotty-
bird)

> It works by streaming HP-GL commands to the plotter in real time - the game
> gets around 20 "frames" per second.

According to the GitHub page, yes.

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leoc
Someone activate the Brett Victor alarm.

