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Thread: Computer shopping question

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Rochester NY
    Posts
    147
    Thanks guys, iooks like it will be Parallels for me too. Just got my 500GB Crucial SSD from Amazon last nite (first time they sent 250GB), going into my new-to-me 2011 Macbook Pro tonite.

    I was planning to find Adobe CS6 on ebay or craigslist, but after reading horror stories about Adobe de-activating CS6 6-12 months after people bought what turned out to be illegitimate copies, I'm thinking of giving up on Illustrator and trying Affinity Designer. Anyone out there familiar with it? I just can't afford $400 a year for an educational subscription to CC that I hardly ever use, even if it is a relative bargain. Just need to draw up inlay designs every now and then for CAD, nothing very sophisticated.

    Bill - Are you using a SmoothStepper or just a parallel port on your laptop? I've got an ESS waiting to get wired up to use with a craigslist HP laptop the next time I need to use my Mach 3 cnc.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Iowa USA
    Posts
    4,438
    ESS to Mach3 and a special BoB from CNCRP, I can not give you the details as I have very little info on the controller only it works fine.

    Did you download Carbon Copy to your Mac (trial version) to do your new SSD? Remember in Apple its Erase not Format that caused me to think for a bit. I did it all on my USB to SSD cable so it was formatted and all was transferred before I took a screw out of the Mac. Then you do need those little nubs re-installed on your new drive from the old one, you will see what I mean.

    Frankly I would use Corel Draw thats what most of the folks on here use.
    Retired Guy- Central Iowa.HVAC/R , Cloudray Galvo Fiber , -Windows 10

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Near Pike’s Peak, at 8800’
    Posts
    130
    Quote Originally Posted by richard newman View Post
    I'm thinking of giving up on Illustrator and trying Affinity Designer. Anyone out there familiar with it? I just can't afford $400 a year for an educational subscription to CC that I hardly ever use, even if it is a relative bargain. Just need to draw up inlay designs every now and then for CAD, nothing very sophisticated.
    I bought it (both Mac and iPad versions) for much the same reasons. Has many many functions, but I have not had time to learn it to any extent. One function that I wanted (image tracing into vectors) does NOT seem to be present, probably the main thing I wanted. I have some familiarity with illustrator (older cs4 and cs6 versions) and my brother in law is an expert who has helped me on occasion.

    Try inkscape (free, open source). For many drawings it is effective. Does handle Bézier curves, and has a bitmap tracing function. Works on PC or Mac, lots of import/export options (including DXF). There is a g-code creation add-in available, but no experience with it.
    Colorado Woodworkers Guild
    Colorado CNC User Group

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,638
    Richard, VCarvePro and Aspire support image tracing with both Bezier curves and Arcs. I've been using the latter more and more for less nodes and (supposedly) more efficient cutting.

    BTW, Mac users, there is a rumor that Vectric may move to support MacOS natively at some point...timeframe isn't clear to me, however, if this is true.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  5. #20
    I've had high hopes for Serif's Affinity Designer and have been using the Windows version for a while now --- I wish they'd make it more Freehand-like than it already is, but aside from the missing features (no auto-trace yet) it's a great program.

    I will note that Creative Cloud licensing includes 2 activations --- the idea is to allow desktop/portable, but many folks use it for Mac/Windows and that they've added CS6 to CC.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Iowa USA
    Posts
    4,438
    Richard, did you git ur done??
    Retired Guy- Central Iowa.HVAC/R , Cloudray Galvo Fiber , -Windows 10

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Rochester NY
    Posts
    147
    Yes I did, both 2011 and 2009 macbooks have new SSD's, what a difference! I want to keep the 2009 home, and the 2011 at work, trying to figure out the easiest and best way to sync the files and folders on the two machines. I'm thinking maybe iCloud, any suggestions or caveats?

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,638
    iCloud is one option. There is also Google, Amazon and Microsoft as well as DropBox. I personally use Microsoft (strangely enough) because the storage comes with my Office 365 subscription anyway. Almost all of the services have a storage limit that's easy to exceed unless you pay for better service so I'm using what I'm already paying for. It's easy to move files between my MBPr13 in my office in the house to my CNC Windows machine in the shop, for example.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

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