posted
I have an old win 98 system in my office that blew out during a power outage. So the current homework before me is deciding on a new system to replace it.
Honestly? For all those that smirk at my yellowed computers with the 98 tunefest when I fire things up, the system has been (knock on yellowed plastic) flawless. Nothing like the horror stories of crashing or corrupt files of today. Nettie, you have me down right freaked out from your story!
I do have a new Mac system for personal use that I adore. ADORE! I really do. But I personally haven't been successful at making the win 7 platform sing on it for various reasons. It hates me.
So, here's this insurance company waiting for me to purchase something already and I'm totally at a standstill in utter fright on which way to turn.
I haven't heard anything good about new pc/windows systems. I haven't had a crash in YEARS and with all these fancy upgrades of all the latest greatest, I fear treading in that direction. I LIKE my old crap just fine! I just want new old crap so it continues to run until the end of time. Ok, and improved performance and graphics. Yes, I want it all.
I'm sorry. But I'm not convinced Mac is the way to go for what I need either, because of my need for windows.
Should I swap it all out and go just mac? Good grief... 20 years of signlab and corel files... this is not what I wish to do at all. I really don't. I think I could get over the corel thing but Signlab? I can't even go there.
I don't like any of the options. I quit.
Dream scenario so you know where I'm at with this: mac makes corel and signlab mac compatible = End of debate! I'd be purchasing in a heartbeat.
This is not to be confused with a ridiculous mac vs pc debate. This is a 'what the heck will do the job for me without major heartache?!? issue.
So friends, if you were to start over all brand new from scratch, what software/versions/system combo would you get for my needs?
I currently use daily:
signlab 5 corel 8 and 9 MYOB accounting My beloved ancient Pagemaker from floppies for my scheduling
Please and thank-you. Eventually I have to jump off this dreaded cliff but I may as well go over well educated.
[ March 30, 2011, 02:42 PM: Message edited by: Donna in BC ]
It is a bit of a jump from Win 98 to Win 7 or even Win XP (which you can still find on new machines if you search)
I was resisting the switch from XP to Win 7 but it was worth it for the added features which took a bit of time to get used to.
As someone mentioned in another post, CorelDraw 8 or 9 might not perform well in XP or Win 7. So that would require an upgrade to the newest version. Not to worry, though, Corel X5 will be backward compatible to open older files.
Signlab 5 will also probably require an upgrade too.
MYOB is something you have to upgrade each year isn't? To keep up with the latest tax structure.
Pagemaker will require a floppy drive and very few new computers come with a floppy drive as a standard feature. You would have to add one. And I have no idea if that program would be compatible.
All in all I think your biggest challenge will be adapting to all the new features on later versions of CorelDraw. It has changed a LOT since ver 9.
Best of Luck
-------------------- 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
what I'm in the middle of doing, as I also have a win98 system, is that I bought an older refurbished dell with win xp (similar to what was talked about a couple of weeks ago). (It's a Dell GX280)
I have corel 9 and a summa plotter running off serial and a dongle on cocut that needs a parallel port, quickbooks 2000 and a bunch of old software and plugins that should work with xp but most likely wont work with newer sytems, and you cant even buy a printer anymore that is compatible with win98.
I will probably network them together working on the 98 until it goes and storing everything on the xp, while slowly getting all the programs installed and upgraded where possible. thats how I hope it works.
-------------------- 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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posted
I have a Dell GX240 that I bought way back in 2002 and it has been a real workhorse! I have moved to Macs for everything else, but I still use the Dell to run CorelDRAW X3, large format HP5000 laser printer and Roland Camm-1 plotter (as it uses printer ports that my Macs don't have) It runs XP and is networked in with my 4 Macs- it is basically a network print server for my HP5000
You might look at an older system to run the specific stuff like Signlab and MYOB- then just network it together with your existing Mac
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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i STILL have a win 95 running, donna!!! no one is laughing at you here!!!
I cried when my 98 died!!!
have 2 2000 machines, an xp, 2 vistas and a WIN 7 ...
don't swap to mac "just because"
also get some sort of backup hard-drive (portable or docker works) ... it will install flawlessly and give you a place to keep yer files safe ...
one good thing about win 7 crashes (yes they happen) they are easy to get out of. usually it is the software crashing and not the computer
win 7 is a little convoluted on its file manager (my only complaint) but you will do just fine ... got mine for less than 500 with no monitor ... still haven't bought up to date software for it, however
-------------------- 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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Want one of my old computers from my boneyard? Probably comes with a whack of clipart and drawn files. (Now before anyone gets down on me I'm just joking aboput the clipart part.) Th emore you upgrade your software the more you have to upgrade your system - it's a vicious circle. BUT - with your new camera you likely should upgrade your system - photography is a memory hog, especially if you spend more time taking and editing pictures than organizing!
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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I use old pc's loaded with flexi to output to the large format printer, plotter and router. All design work for last 18 months is illustrator/photoshop on the mac. Worried at first about years of flexi files but whenever needed, convert them to illustrator and save to mac. It's worked absolutely flawlessly for me anyway
-------------------- Kevin Gaffney Artistik Signs Kinnegad County Westmeath Ireland 044-75187 kevingaffney@eircom.net Posts: 628 | From: Ireland | Registered: Oct 2003
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when I work on machines here for customers and it looks like the repair costs are going to be more than the machine is worth I tell them to go to Dell's online store and check out the refurbs and the scratched and dented boxes. From a very reliable source here(employee on the assembly line at the local dell plant) these boxes go thru the quality control dept twice and get double checked for reliability.You can often as not get the equivalent of a brand new box(mid tower) for about half of the cost with the same warranty. a new win 7 box will run your programs in compatibilty mode but you may have to upgrade your dongle for signlab. the only other option to upgrading your dongle is to buy a used xp box(there are tons of them out there right now and cheap too) and load your stuff on it. One of my sources here has just bought 90 govt. dell optiplex machines and I can get you two identical boxes built for about $80 apiece,..this should solve your problems about refusing to upgrade for quite some time.(save one for when the other finally dies and or for spare parts)
edited to add the xp boxes should make it possible to upgrade some of your programs in a manner that is not so sudden as the move to win7 would and give you a little wiggle room for the learning curve ahead of you.
[ March 30, 2011, 06:14 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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Donna, I think you're better off going ahead and get the the most up-to-date computer you can and upgrade what you have to.
The longer you wait, the worse the headache is going to be. Whether you go Mac or PC, there is still going to be some growing pain no matter how hard you try to minimize it.
posted
From what I've seen of Donna's dilemma with switching to the Mac system with parallels and Windows 7 is the age (and non compatibility) of her older programs and the seemingly overwhelming issue of learning new programs. Donna has done well with her old Windows98 system - very well! And she has missed all the (expensive) upgrades along the way. But you pay or you pay it seems, either nickel and dimes along the way with continual upgrades or in a whole new system complete with programs and hardware eventually.
Trying to go half way upgraded (where she is currently) will drive anyone crazy with non-compatibility issues. Being too far ahead of the curve and you will be dealing with bugs and glitches of new software not yet fully worked out.
The issues Donna faces with her older programs are in my opinion not a Mac issue but rather a backwards compatibility issue with older software and the newer Windows OS. Bite the bullet and end the pain and anguish.
Then there is Donna's old... make that ancient plotter...
May the force be with you.
-grampa dan
[ March 30, 2011, 10:44 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Lets see here. I would like to spend a minute to allay the rumors that upgrading a PC is an expensive proposition. And I would like to mention that the overall yearly cost is actually very low cost when one uses a little discretion when upgrading.
Upgrade costs? What is expensive? I just replaced an XP machine that cost just $400 bux 7 years ago with a new one last month was so cheap that it was easier to get a new one over spending a couple hours tuning up the old one..
$400 bux divided by 7 years is about $57 bux a year. WOW that was an expensive run. (sarcasm off)
I just got a new PC with all the latest goodies for my honey. I spent about a half hour setting it up for her. She runs it without a single problem. She runs all the same software as before including her work software and access to her work website. She used XP before and walked right into running the new machine with Win 7 and never missed a beat. I paid a whopping $330.00 US for it.
Of course she also obtained the latest wireless keyboard/ mouse deal. And then a Wide Screen monitor for just $160.00. And then of course she got a new laser printer for just $69.00 with rebates and discounts.
I took her 7 yr old XP machine to the office and now use that one as a server the network. How much cheaper and easier can one get than this?
-------------------- 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: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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I agree Curtis...As long as you do it gradually.
We currently run 2 laptops on Win 7 and a desktop on Win 7 plus another desktop on XP. All run fine. But I have kept up to upgrades as the years went by.
For Donna, this would be a huge leap in both operating systems and software programs for her. I currently use CorelDraw X3 since I no longer need to import the newest AI files. I use it for pleasure and to help out Mexican friends and to create PDF files and a simple website related to driving to and through Mexico and living in Mexico. It does everything I need at this point in time.
Some of Donna's "beloved" software is so outdated that she would be well advised to upgrade it too,
As Dan noted, her cutter is ancient and will need to be replaced one day. I started with the same unit but that was a long time ago. Replaced when required.
I don't envy Donna her dilemna now though. And since I don't know her financial situation, all I can do is make suggestions and wish her the best.
-------------------- 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
I can see why you are at odds with your situation. As you know I have pretty much the same computer that you do......the 27" LED iMac. I love the monitor on this computer, nothing I have seen matches it. And for the first time in my computing life, projects come out of any printer looking just like they did on the monitor. I no longer like using LCD monitors at all!
It sounds like you need both a software upgrade and a hardware upgrade. That means spending a lot of time learning software and perhaps a bit of money on new hardware.
I am curious how long Windows will go on supporting XP? I just went through SolidWorks essentials training and they were mentioning not supporting XP in the not too distant future? So it seems like a constant battle of upgrades!
Seems like you have been given some good advice on this thread. If you could find a painless way to upgrade your older files into a newer graphics program that would solve one problem....then what?
Like Dan said may the force be with you.....Good luck!!!
posted
Donna's plotter is not an issue I use basically the same plotter here in windows 7 the only issue I see is her copy of signlab,first the dongle will not be supported and secondly the software in win 7. I still use corel 9 daily here in win 7 with no glitches whatsoever.
edited to add this is a 32 bit version of win 7 the 64 bit version is another whole can of worms,...on another note the 32 bit version of window 7 doesn't really do much more than windows xp does except have support from mickeysoft
[ March 31, 2011, 06:19 AM: 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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Your post tickled me, about wanting new old crap, that was exactly my thoughts when I had to upgrade. I was running and old gateway with a damn zip drive! and it rocked!...till it got old. Right now I am running 2 of these....
Don’t laugh these things are beasts. The only prob I have had is the occasional hard drive failure. As we know that is not the comp’s fault. I like to compare these comps to large dump trucks. they are large and seem to move slow but they rock and they are stable. Do not confuse slow with slow performance though. Today’s comps are all about being advertised as Ferrraris...who cares?! When Im designing I don’t need speed I need stability.
If these should decide to blow up I will go to this unit next
They are a little behind the times but not too bad. I’m running 2 harddrives in both and once again they rock. I don’t run alot of crap on my comps. flexi, illy cs3, photoshop elements, nero burn, and thats about it. I run firefox instead of IE and I keep my comps clean and backed up.
that’s my 2 cents!
-------------------- You ever notice how easily accessible people are when they are requiring your services but once they get invoice you can't reach them anymore
Before I buy gadgets I like to see what Cnet has to say about them. They haven't let me down. Take a look at the systems they recommend. If price is an issue you can browse by price, If you want a specific brand you can do that. If you want to compare systems you can do that too.
Then do a search for coupons on google. You will find a lot of sites like this: http://www.onlinecomputercoupons.com/dell-desktop.htm Search for stackable coupons. A couple years back me and a few of the groomsmen at my brothers wedding chipped in on a new computer for a wedding president. I used 3 different stackable coupons and found my brother and his wife a $1300 Dell that we only paid $700 on.
If you are getting a PC, get windows 7. It is very nice and I have found it much more stable than vista, and in my opinion even XP.
The money you saved with the coupons you could spend upgrading some of your software. I have found win7 is pretty decent at running older software, but you shouldn't fall to far behind. Upgrade every once-in-a-while. If you don't you could end up paying for it in the long run. In other words, it would be harder to make the jump from windows 98 to windows 7, than it would have been to make the jump from xp or vista to windows 7.
-------------------- Joe Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, IL 61764 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 538 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Aug 2005
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Joe's advice is dead on. The only thing I would add is to check on the quality and ease of getting support.
A couple years ago I purchased a Gateway from Best Buy. It was the only thing that fit my budget at the time. I figured that if anything did go wrong, Best Buy support was just a couple miles away.
Wrong.
Two days before the warranty ran out, the computer died. Literally died.
I took it back to Best Buy. They kept it for a week. I picked it up. Took it home and plugged it in. It worked for about 30 seconds and died again.
When I took it back to Best Buy, the first thing they told me was that the warranty had expired. After arguing and getting the store manager involved, they agreed to take it in under warranty.
But this time they sent it to Gateway to have them fix it. The computer went back and forth to Gateway via Best Buy 3 times over a 4 month period.
Each time the computer came back from Gateway, I had the Geek Squad guys at Best Buy plug it in to make sure it was working properly before I would agree to accept it. Each time it failed.
Finally, the store manager told me to go pick another computer. I just needed to pay the difference if the one I picked out was more expensive.
I was never able to recover the data on the hard drive. I lost everything on it.
Moral of the story: Price is great. Brands are great. But whatever you choose, make sure there is someone willing to stand behind it.
Not really knowing what would work with what, I've been slowly purchasing bits and pieces to see what worked before committing. Funds are indeed an issue so this has been a slow progression.
First up, I think I need to test the waters to their fullest potential on the current mac. (I hear you smile DAN!) Should my testing fail, then I'll know to go with PC for the work station.
I'll just make sure everything I purchase for the Mac will be compatible with a new windows 7 PC station. Then I can't go wrong either way, correct?
BTW... I have already done some testing on the mac. I was able to get the old plotter to run out of parallels/windows 7 via usb to serial cable. Signlab 9 trial. Ran with one glitch... I had to punch in the length of the decal or the machine would run to the end of the ROLL. Didn't call signlab on it in time... trial ran out. I'll send in my dongle today to get my code and get that rolling again.
Thanks for the kick! I think I'm on my way. I'll let you know what transpires as I go along.
posted
On a side note, working on a mac with pc stuff is risky, warranty wise.
Signlab admitted not knowing much about the mac platform so alot of my trials will be at my own risk, due to not knowing what to blame if something goes haywire.
Mac admitted they don't tamper with pc programs.
I've found a guru in town that at least knows how to play with Signlab, and knows macs so hopefully if I need help, it's avail. You are kinda on your own with this game... and for non tech types, it's a little scary.
[ March 31, 2011, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: Donna in BC ]
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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