OK, I found the problem. It's necessary to first save the drawing as .svg, and then save it as .hpgl. Don't know why this should make any difference though.

Anyway, now I see the output I expect.

Just for clarification, my machine is a plotter, not a cutting machine. It uses the same hpgl language that cutting machines use. It has pens, and it draws lines on paper, instead of cutting vinyl. But it works exactly the same way.

When I do Save As, I expect Inkscape to create a .hpgl file that contains the image. Then If I send that file to my plotter, I expect it to plot the image. If I create a .hpgl file by hand, (i.e., without using Inkscape) and send it to the plotter, it works correctly. So I know that I can plot an im...

I'm trying to create files for a HP Plotter that wants HPGL. Generally, when I make a drawing and choose File --> Save As and then select HPGL as the file format. I get a file that contains only the following: IN;SP1; This just means initialize the plotter and select pen 1. Doesn't seem to matter wh...