I just downloaded CoCut trial version, and it seems to work fine. Was a bear getting it to install. It took ten minutes on a fast computer to finish up the final stage of the process.
Anyway, the program is bare-bones basic, the one I am wanting good only if you can do everything you need using CorelDRAW, but it is backwards compatible with older Corel versions and works sweet on a 2000 machine I just had built. I am definitely considering buying this. The price is around $400. (or is it $300? I forget..)
Yes, I said 2000 computer. My old plotters only work with computers that have period correct LPT1 ports. So my computer guy dove into the junk pile and scabbed together a sweet machine that handles not only the cutting, but the layout work too. I think it cost him $25 to build. I only have to put some cheap vinyl stripes on his truck to pay for it-!!!!
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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Yeah, I'm using daily and I love it. I have the standard version with it plugged into my Corel X3 using Windows XP to plot to the Roland Camm 1. The tech at Summa,where I purchased it,helped me get it up and running. Been using it for a couple of years now. Nice program.
-------------------- Craig Shaw Shaw Signs & Designs 11028 Green Valley Rd. Sebastopol, CA 95472 Posts: 24 | From: Sebastopol,CA | Registered: Aug 1999
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I have cocut on a win98 machine using corel 9 and a summa d-60 it was $300 at the time about 8 or 9 yrs ago
-------------------- Jon Peterman 200 Summit Loop Grants Pass, OR -------------------- a.k.a. dc-62 success is in Jesus Christ Posts: 434 | From: grants pass or. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5273 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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thanx for the reviews!!! I love it because I love simple, just like my old winplot. I also like that it will go with XP or new WIN ... because i am considering a new WIN machine very soon!!!
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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Michael you should be able to buy a pci lpt io port card for under $20 that will run in a new machine running windows 7,...my older version of cocut runs just fine in win 7,so the new version should run great also,...Its so convenient for me as I have used corel since version 1.1 that came on 3 floppies and every version since,...no need for some over priced cutting program when I can do it all in corel,....
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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thanx for that tip ... we are going to try that very thing and it is good to hear from someone who has made it work ... the hope is that we'll find a card that is compatible with my old roland and the world will be a wonderful place .... ditto on doing the work in corel and using an inexpensive program to run the plotter ... for my shop this is all perfect
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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Incidently,.. Thank you, Michael,...back when I was a resident here I won your Atkinson collection in Steve & Barb's monthly draw,..made a few bucks off those fonts here since then and for that I thank you,....
edited to add,...I use the serial port on my old roland and it works just fine Michael,...you really shouldn't need an add on card with cocut as you wont need the windows printer driver because cocut uses its own driver,...just a null modem cable to run it off a serial port which is standard equipment on almost all new motherboards,....call me at 336-655-7101 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 336-655-7101 end_of_the_skype_highlighting if you need any help setting it up,....
[ May 15, 2010, 01:29 PM: Message edited by: Tim Barrow ]
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Mike, it's interesting that your Cam1 won't work on a more modern PC...as we have two old PNC1000s, which are about as ancient as they get, and both run OK via the LPT on a WinXP machine-OK, it's only a P4-2200, but it was 'modern' once.
We just use the Camm1 drivers, and go directly to the plotter-after outlining the text with a hairline outline, and using the Print Preview window.
(I should add that our router runs on a Win2K machine, but that's a P4-3300 with an old Ghosted W2K system set up, as the sellers did not have the driver disc for the router. It turns out the driver files worked fine if just copied & pasted into an XP system, then run as well, so there was no dicky 'installation' needed. Win 2K isn't a bad system, really.)
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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For what it is worth..I agree with Ian...Easiest way is to just use Camm1 drivers and cut direct from CorelDraw.
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
I have one computer set up to cut directly to a Camm-1 with the Windows drivers..... I have a second computer with CoCut that I also cut to a Camm-1 with....
I much prefer using the system with CoCut. No messing around adding or changing outlines, placement on the page, etc. Also, the cut optimizing is handy when you have a job where the cutter is wanting to run the vinyl in and out 20 times....
Cutting directly out of Windows is an option, but as far as being 'easier', my opinion is that CoCut is easier to set up and use.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote: Cutting directly out of Windows is an option, but as far as being 'easier', my opinion is that CoCut is easier to set up and use.
I agree 110%.
Plenty of users wear the ability to cut direct from corel as a badge of honor. That is fine.
However, the occasional screw up because of a forgotten setting will cost more in time and aggravation in the long term.
What really matters is when you got just enuf material for a job and mess it up. Then ya gotta wait for more to get the job done.
Cocut has built in settings to just about remove all those chances of mistakes. If the file is bad it wont even start to cut. It brings up a preview window to give you one last chance to see a mistake. This in itself has saved me more than a few times.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5273 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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Tim: just send me my cut of the profits on those fonts!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!
you guys are giving me tons of good advice ... I haven't tried the optimization cutting yet, Jon, but it sounds like it works as advertised.
I have cut directly from corel in the past, but I hate that. As tight as I am, I'd rather just use software to do it.
I have a Roland 1050, an old tractor feed. for some dumb reason, it has always refused to operate from a serial port. This is the first time, however, I'll have have software new enough to give it a whirl on new computers and their serial ports. I will definitely try. I've nothing to lose if it doesn't work!!! With old cut software on old computers, serial ports were simply out of the question.
When it does work on LPT1, I believe the port has to be bi-directional???, whatever that is. All I know is if the computer has the wrong kind of port, it simply didn't work. But that was with old software. Again, who knows what new software means?
bottom line??? new software will offer lots more options ... and while the old computers keep everything running, the experiments can run rampant on the new ones without shutting the business down... we shall see what happens!!!!
I am mostly glad to hear that no one is complaining about CoCut. It is super simple to use so far and I like it just fine. Esp. the price. A real bargain.
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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Michael I would but they are long gone(the profits) hahahahaha,.... as for cutting from a serial port,...most plotters before the rolands were designed to cut from serial ports,..One of the rolands selling promo's back then WAS that they could run off a printer port(lpt),..I think maybe roland was the first to use that kind of promo,...if you can find a null modem cable (it is necessary for the bi directional handshake needed for communication between the plotter and pc) the roland should work just fine,...the idea of using a printer port dates back to the factor that print drivers in windows didn't allow for the use of serial ports in their setup options. cocut uses its own drivers which work great by the way with serial ports as long as you have the right kind of cable.They are commonly available at many stores sometimes they are labeled "HP" cables,...the point is be sure,...a normal serial cable may not work,....I think I got one at best buy for about $15 last time I bought one for a buddy.
[ May 16, 2010, 12:39 PM: Message edited by: Tim Barrow ]
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I have no idea how I made a decent living by using drivers that Roland provided for free.
Nice thing is, though...they worked for me...
Never had a problem with screwing up a cut...
Happy as a clam to be out of work!!!
Wearing the "Badge of honour" proudly!!!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5273 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I'm sure there have been people who dug trenches all their life with a shovel and retired at some point too. Doesn't mean that a Ditch Witch wouldn't have made that job easier.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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why's everybody picking on dave? I used to cut from Corel for about two years from a colorcamm. Wasn't real crazy about it, so I prefer cut software. Dave prefers cutting from Corel. What's the big deal-???
And yes, I'll being buying CoCut. And yes, Dave will continue cutting from Corel. And everyone will be happy.
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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We said CoCut was great. Dave said it was unnecessary. We said cutting using direct drivers works but CoCut has benefits. Dave responded sarcastically that he had no idea how he ever managed without it. I responded that just because you do something without a tool, doesn't mean there's not an easier way to do it....
The way I see it, he was picking on me.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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Jon...I apologise...I will never pick on you again!!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
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