pc program projects to mac...

He really shouldn't need to do anything!! As long as his new mac has the right programs (word, photoshop, etc...) he should be able to put his projects on a zip or cd and simply use them in his mac. I do this all the time because my college uses pc's almost exclusively, and I have a mac.

-Pete

as long as you have the apps it will be fine

windows and mac

You can use most files from windows to osx without conversion of any type. I have windows 2000 and OSX working side by side, with a windows folder mounted in OSX, and pass files back and forth between Word, Excel, Photoshop, Illustrator etc without troubles. Wordperfect files are the only one that cause me grief because there isn't an equivalent OSX application.

I never used OS9 but have come to use OSX in java development and systems administration of unix servers, and now do most of my work on my Powerbook and have not had troubles with file formats. It's another OS, file formats are the same across the different OS's as long as there is software to read it, and any major file format be found on both.

If he saves the files in their NATIVE format (photoshop as a psd file) then he should be fine. As someone else pointed out earlier in the thread, he will also have to get the applications on the Mac. That can make for an expensive switch, but it will be more then worth it.

Once he starts using the Mac, and sees how easy it is, he will wonder how he ever used a peecee .

Fonts

The only problem I see is with fonts. If your photoshop file had fonts, you may not be able to view them correctly unless you have that particular font for mac.

Re: Fonts

Originally posted by macstudent
The only problem I see is with fonts. If your photoshop file had fonts, you may not be able to view them correctly unless you have that particular font for mac.

Click to expand...

Unless you convert the file to all graphic, not fonts too (forget the exact term, and it is getting late over here). I did that when I made xmas cards for my sister last year. She wanted to print them on her peecee (compaq of all things ). I created it with my Mac (superior for the task) and emailed it to her. I made the file that I sent her so that it was completely self contained (no fonts linked/imbedded). She was able to print it and loved it. I am now the person that they all come to for that kind of work (that was the second year that I did it for her). I guess it helps that I have a BFA in graphic design, and am able to keep up to date with the latest software via work.

Mac's still rule, and peecee's still drool

font support

I just dealt with the font issue last night in taking an old logo design actually done in CorelDraw and opening it in Illustrator on OSX... the font files were missing, so it loaded up alternatives which weren't what I wanted, so I went and found those font files, copied them into the Fonts folder (either in my personal Library/Fonts folder, or the system one, they both work) and it worked perfectly. I even purchased a library of fonts from Microgetics (advertised as PC only), extraced the .exe file on my windows machine and installed it, then went into the fonts folder on windows, copied them all across my mounted folder onto my OSX machine, then moved them into the Fonts folder in OSX and they were right there for immediate use. The only thing is that they have nasty DOS names instead of nice Mac full string english names in the folder, but in the applications, they come up perfect. Using FontViewer I can browse through them all just to be sure.

I was very impressed by the ability to copy TrueType fonts around completely without regard to which Operating System I was using.

As of last night I have no fears of dealing with fonts in OSX, and it didn't slow anything down by adding 150 fonts in either, which I've had older Windows machines do.

sharing files with PC's

I agree with you AlphaTech about converting the file for simplicity if all is needed is sharing the final output. Using the Print Preview/Save as PDF function is the greatest thing in the world.

Because windows sucks at handling USB when it's unplugged, I don't like unpluggin my USB printer from Windows and into my Powerbook for printing, so I save my printout as pdf to my mounted windows folder, open the pdf in windows and print perfectly. I also share output via email with pdf saved from any printable file perfectly to windows users.

OSX is the sweetest OS I've ever used, and I've got Linux, Windows, Solaris, etc....

good call

benjc

Thank you for pointing out yet ANOTHER thing that makes the Mac, and OS X superior to anything that window$ puts out.

Hey benjc, which perversion of window$ are you using and sharing the folder on?? I would be interested to know if it is win2kpro, since I have my game peecee configured with that. I would like to be able to keep my Epson connected to just one computer and print to it that way. I have been considering setting the printer up on the peecee and then sharing that out. I haven't since I don't know if OS X will be treated right that way. My other option is to get the external print server that Epson provides for the printer. I have to place a call to their pre-sales people to find out if it will work with OS X. If it won't, then I will have to keep using the USB cable. I would prefer to put it up onto my home network, but will see.

Thanks.

windows....

It's Windows2000 Professional with all the latest and greatest... or whatever Microsoft thinks they are... service packs and updates. I'm just sharing a folder (c:\public) as a normal windows share, then mount it via the finder (across a wireless network that both my Windows machine and Powerbook use -- real cool, Windows machine using my AirPort base-station )

Mounting it is easy -- just type smb://name of computer/share name

name of computer can be an ip address also, just fool around with that... depends on how you've got your computer setup.

I have yet to see any support in OSX for mounting networked or shared printers, but with as easy as it is to save a pdf file of whatever I'm printing to the networked drive, then a simple click on the windows machine, it hasn't bothered me too much, especially using VNC to control my windows machine from my Powerbook... (VNC is cool stuff, free remote computing for any platform basically.... a free implementation of Timbuktu more or less, minus all the advanced file sharing features and stuff I don't care about...)

Thanks for the 411... the win2k system I built also has the latest updates (almost a full time job keeping up with them). I will give that a shot tomorrow night when I get home. I also have a couple of new games to load onto the beastie.

If you like FPS and/or flight games, I really recommend checking out Commanche 4. You will need a good video and sound card though. I have a Radeon 8500 (64MB) and Sound Blaster Audiogy (game version, the $100 one). I was very impressed by the sound card. It is the first SB I purchased and I have been hearing sounds that I never did before in games. Like faint background noises (birds sometimes) in UT. Well, enough from that side... email me (info is in my profile) if you want to discuss such things in more detail.

Opentype?

What exatly is the difference between opentype, truetype, etc?

I have been under the impression that opentype fonts worked on macs and PC's, but truetypes were PC only.