This is a fun article but the author really should update it to include the AxiDraw[1] which is a modern, off the shelf, pen plotter. It makes EPIC plots because you can use what ever pen you want in it (as opposed to old HP plotters that needed HP pens). Check out #plottertwitter on Twitter for some really amazing things folks have done.
+1 for the AxiDraw. The author does link to this page: https://github.com/beardicus/awesome-plotters which has some good AxiDraw resources.
I became much happier with my setup when I switched to running the AxiDraw from a Raspberry Pi using Saxi: https://github.com/nornagon/saxi