Mac User

[Dianne Mitchell]

Hi everyone...I log on every day and am so grateful for your experience and knowledge.

I have had an Epilog 40 for several months now, but my I do not use a PC computer…thus my dilemma.

On the advice of Epilog I purchased Parallels so that I can operate both the PC and Mac environments on my system. It's slow, it has bugs and the worst part is that that only way I can forward artwork (from Mac Illustrator/Photoshop/InDesign) is a pdf which I have to convert to a PC pdf. You can see how this does not bode well for efficiency.

If anyone can provide some direction to streamline my operation, I would be forever indebted.

Thanks

Dianne

[Robert Walters]

Dianne,

You never mentioned what you have running on the PC side.
Do you have adobe on there as well?
If not, what software are you using on the PC side?

What version of windows are you running inside of Parallels?

What Mac do you have? Mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro, G4? G5? iMac?

How much ram do you have?

How much available hard drive space do you have?

What are you trying to accomplish?

[Dee Gallo]

Dianne,

I run a Mac but I got rid of Parallels as it caused me too many headaches. Use Bootcamp - it is native to Mac OS and works smoothly. I installed CorelDraw on the Windows side and everything is smooth sailing, I also use wireless ethernet to send jobs to my lasers from another room, which is really handy. It's also easy to put a document on a flash drive or email it to myself to transfer from my Mac to my Viao if I want to.

Although I've been a MacUser since 1984, I had to use windows in order to use CorelDraw's newer versions and it makes life with my laser so much easier. Since Epilog likes CD, it only makes sense to use that program regardless of your real preferences. CD is easy to learn if you already know Illustrator or Freehand, just a few adjustments to make.

Good luck, dee

[Dianne Mitchell]

Hi Robert...sorry I didn't provide more info.

I have an iMac running OS 10.5.8 with 4 GB memory (with 298 GB used). I also have two external hard drives.

I purchased Windows 7 as the PC operating system. I did not want to buy Corel when I had Illustrator so I use my previously aforementioned software for all design work. As I stated I create an Adobe pdf (Mac) file in order to be the common denominator between the two systems. I'm sure this is logical but it seems to me that there has to be a better, more efficient way.

I do have Adobe Acrobat 9 on the PC side.

[Dianne Mitchell]

Thanks Dee…I googled Bootcamp but went with Parallels and I have been having major problems with speed, power settings. I cannot even perform tests because the only way the laser will operate is with the standard settings that come with the laser software. I so appreciate your feedback and I will definitely give Bootcamp a whirl!

By the way, congrats...and love all your insights. I've been intrigued by the Plaster of Paris/Mother's Brass Polish (cermark alternative) post and just wanted to mention that I tried pottery stains (not glazes) with no success, so the science experiment will continue....

[Doug Griffith]

I use Illustrator on the Mac side and use sneakernet to move the file to a cheap PC also running Illustrator that is connected to the laser via ethernet. Very easy and there is never a need to convert to a PDF. It sounds like you are outputting from Acrobat on the PC side. I wouldn't take this approach.

Also, I'm a Bootcamp supporter. Virtual machines are just too resource heavy to run many graphics programs.

[Joe De Medeiros]

Hi Robert...sorry I didn't provide more info.

I have an iMac running OS 10.5.8 with 4 GB memory (with 298 GB used). I also have two external hard drives.

I purchased Windows 7 as the PC operating system. I did not want to buy Corel when I had Illustrator so I use my previously aforementioned software for all design work. As I stated I create an Adobe pdf (Mac) file in order to be the common denominator between the two systems. I'm sure this is logical but it seems to me that there has to be a better, more efficient way.

I do have Adobe Acrobat 9 on the PC side.

Windows 7 under boot-camp needs Snow Leopard for all the proper system drivers.

[David Fairfield]

I use adobe illustrator on a PC. A decent PC is so cheap these days, you can just get one to hook up to the laser and that will solve your Mac issues.

Oh and also, I work from files generated on a Mac, I use a zip drive to transer them from one to the other, or they are emailed to me by myself or other artists. I open them in the laser PC, no problems at all.

Dave

[Robert Walters]

On my MBP I have 4gb ram, run VMWare Fusion with XP and Corel Draw 14 without any issues or lag at all.
Have the M-300 on a parallel-to-ethernet adapter, so I can print to it directly.

The REAL benefit of having XP as a virtual machine is that when I run Time Machine (backup software) on the Mac, the virtual machine is backed up too. If I ever have a hardware fialure or virus (on windows), I just restore from backup and I'm good to go in under 40 minutes with all my applications, drivers, and data too.

You can't even install windows in 40 minutes, much less all the updates, service packs, drivers, and applications.

Dianne,

If your laser supports it, you might try borrowing and installing XP instead of Win7.
If it works, you can buy your own copy of XP off of ebay.

You don't even have to mess with your Parallel's Win7 install, just create a new virtual machine (if you have the hard drive space for it that is) to install XP to.

Once installed, do all the updates and service packs, then COPY the XP virtual machine file(s) to some place safe (burn to DVD?).

If you ever need a "new and fresh" XP install - maybe to test some software with, you can COPY your safe XP virtual machine and create ANOTHER XP virtual machine. I have 3 XP virtual machines I use: One for production, one for personal stuff, and one to test with. I just don't run them all at the same time.

[Dianne Mitchell]

Thanks for all the input...I've got a lot of work to do now!!!