can anyone tell me why i keep getting mulitple characters?

[Rod Young]

quote Adam McGuire:

After chatting to you all at Sign UK on Wednesday, I’ve started up Signlab on my laptop. Now, when I try to type any text….I get 18 of each character! so the word “test” appears “tttttttttttttttttteeee……” etc….

Any ideas? lol haven’t got a clue!

Adam

Yes, that is pretty crazy to see repeating characters. There is a Tech Note in the CADlink Knowledge Base that summarizes this issue and provides the fix.

1. Go to the CADlink web site.
2. Along the top, locate the Support menu and choose Knowledge Base.
3. Do a search for "repeat" and you should pull up Tech Note #2098 at the top of your list of results.

Cheers,

Rod

[Adam McGuire]

Ok, been to Cadlink Website, registered myself, read the knowledgebase article. Went to Start – Programs etc and can’t find an update signlab link. Downloaded the 72kb patcher file from the website, ran it from the program directory, absolutely nothing….still no update wizard…Think I’ll just give up and use Flexi, all I know about Signlab is that it came on my PC when I bought all the equipment….Can’t afford to buy a new copy.

Cheers

Adam

[David Rowland]

i would have thought it would be "repeat rate" and "repeat delay" in control panel / Keyboard. But I guess your using the same computer to post messages here with and that seems fine.

[Adam McGuire]

Actually, I’m on my work desktop here. My Sign PC is at home 🙂 BUT it works in Flexi so I wouldn’t have thought it would be that. Maybe I need to go back to win 98? lol Prefer the nice features of XP though 🙁 Although I don’t really like XP as a whole, but it’s growing on me….just too many flaws.

Dunno what to do about Signlab really….want to try using it, but won’t be able to do text….unless I do the text in Flexi and export to EPS and re-import!

Adam

[Rod Young]

quote Dave Rowland:

i would have thought it would be “repeat rate” and “repeat delay” in control panel / Keyboard. But I guess your using the same computer to post messages here with and that seems fine.

Yes, keyboard control panel settings would be my first thought when encountering something like this. Part of this issue appears to be related to the following Microsoft issue (referenced in the CADlink Knowledge Base article):

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-045
Buffer Overrun in the ListBox and in the ComboBox Control Could Allow Code Execution (824141)

quote Adam McGuire:

Ok, been to Cadlink Website, registered myself, read the knowledgebase article. Went to Start – Programs etc and can’t find an update signlab link. Downloaded the 72kb patcher file from the website, ran it from the program directory, absolutely nothing….still no update wizard…Think I’ll just give up and use Flexi, all I know about Signlab is that it came on my PC when I bought all the equipment….Can’t afford to buy a new copy.

• This would not be a case where an upgrade of SignLab would be required.
• From your description, it sounds like the options are a tad overwhelming.
• I am surprised that you cannot find an "Update SignLab" link by going Start menu >> Programs >> SignLab.
• What is the tech support that you obtained along with your equipment?
• If you are in doubt about the tech support that is available to you, then would you please contact CADlink Integrated Solutions in our U.K. office to help you with support? Here is a quick way to access the information:

1. Go to the CADlink web site.
2. Along the top, locate the "International Sales" menu and choose "CADlink UK"
3. Along the top of the UK site is a "Support" menu with various options to help you.

Please understand that I am attempting to guide you towards quick help, so that you are not being frustrated by minor setup issues.

Regards,

Rod

[Adam McGuire]

Many thanks for your reply Rod!

I have NO support as I bought the equipment second hand from a Sign Writer who shut his business due to ill health. I don’t think I even have manuals or install disks…I’ll need to have a look. I’ll have a play and see what I can come up with. I’ll also look into the UK support thingy.

Many thanks

Adam

[Rod Young]

quote Adam McGuire:

Many thanks for your reply Rod!

I have NO support as I bought the equipment second hand from a Sign Writer who shut his business due to ill health. I don’t think I even have manuals or install disks…I’ll need to have a look. I’ll have a play and see what I can come up with. I’ll also look into the UK support thingy.

Many thanks

Adam

Blessings to the fellow and I affirm a strong, vibrant recovery. My desire is that he find satisfaction in his new creative endeavors. May he look upon his previous work with joy and a sense of accomplishment.

Adam, just so you know, all of the manuals are available to you in electronic form.

1. In SignLab, go the the Help menu and choose Index.
2. This will open the context sensitive help, which is an electronic form of the user guide.
3. Note that pressing [F1] will open the context help relative to the current feature that you are using.
4. In more recent versions of SignLab, the electronic help has become the main reference guide, and the printed user guide has become more of an overview of the relationship between SignLab features.

To help you understand SignLab features quickly, there are online training videos available.

1. Go to the CADlink web site
2. Along the top menu locate InfoSource, and then click on Tutorials
3. On the Tutorials page, the categories are listed along the left-hand side.

Cheers,

Rod

[Anthony Keating]

quote Adam McGuire:

Many thanks for your reply Rod!

I have NO support as I bought the equipment second hand from a Sign Writer who shut his business due to ill health. I don’t think I even have manuals or install disks…I’ll need to have a look. I’ll have a play and see what I can come up with. I’ll also look into the UK support thingy.

Many thanks

Adam

I too have this problem with Signlab 6.1 ES revision 6. You need to try and get updated to revision 13-16 to work properly on Win XP with SP2. I have tries patches from Microsoft, and nothing, I have tried also to use the patcher program and it does nothing too. As I have also bought my computer with software I don’t think I can get revision updates, and don’t know where to get them.

[Rod Young]

quote Anthony Keating:

I too have this problem with Signlab 6.1 ES revision 6. You need to try and get updated to revision 13-16 to work properly on Win XP with SP2. I have tries patches from Microsoft, and nothing, I have tried also to use the patcher program and it does nothing too. As I have also bought my computer with software I don’t think I can get revision updates, and don’t know where to get them.

Thanks for the information. Please let me raise the issue with Tech Support concerning the patcher program.

With respect to revision updates, that should not be a problem and you are encouraged to patch your software. To begin with, make sure your product, dongle and contact information are all registered with our U.K. office, as follows:

1. Go to the CADlink web site.
2. Along the top, locate the "International Sales" menu and choose "CADlink UK"
3. Along the top of the UK site, locate the "Support" menu and choose Software Registration.
4. Once you have done that, this enables us to understand your setup, and who needs to be directed towards you in terms of support.
5. Whilst you are at the UK site, please consult the support options and consider what is appropriate for your shop.
6. At a bare minimum, use the Technical Support contact information and ask them to elaborate on the available services, and get them to confirm the latest patches that are available for you.

And while I’m talking about support, please let me say that there CADlink InfoSource online tutorials and forum discussion available from the CADlink site. If your contact information is out-of-date, then you likely missed the announcements for this service. I would strongly recommend visiting the InfoSource forums and asking about SignLab issues there.

Regards,

Rod

[Adam McGuire]

I’ve found a temporary workaround, I can paste text fine, so I just typed my text in notepad and copied it into Signlab then altered to suit. Easy enough until I can get the patches.

Quick question, could someone post the "target" for the update shortcut? If you go to the shortcut on the start menu and right click followed by properties, there’ll be a load of text in the target box. (right click on start menu item only works with Windows 2000 and XP, possibly Windows 98 SE)

That way I’ll re-create the shortcut and see what happens then.

Regards,

Adam

[Brian Hays]

quote Anthony Keating:

I too have this problem with Signlab 6.1 ES revision 6. You need to try and get updated to revision 13-16 to work properly on Win XP with SP2. I have tries patches from Microsoft, and nothing, I have tried also to use the patcher program and it does nothing too. As I have also bought my computer with software I don’t think I can get revision updates, and don’t know where to get them.

If you call Cadlink direct with your details & dongle number they will send you the last revision of 6.1. This will solve the problem.

[vsigns]

the problem is using win xp with sp2 update. If you use win xp and only update to sp1. signlab 6.1 will work ok. you can still get win updates but do not install the sp2 package just use custom and select what you need.

My sigb works ok this way

[David Rowland]

hm, prob is Microsoft are now pushing hard the windows updates and forcing us to SP2 if your not careful.

[John Harding]

Apologies for going off topic here 😳 – can i just ask vsigns (welcome by the way as i see its your first post) if you could use a different name. I know Rob is keen for proper names on here and V Signs is my registered trading name and may cause confusion for those that know me personally on here, thanks in advance.

John

[David Rogers]

Rod, I notice that there are no updates or patches for 7.0 which I use.

Is this because A)…it’s perfect :lol1: or B)….I ‘need’ to shell out for 7.1?

ps. There doesn’t seem to be anything in place to verify whether I paid £1500 for it or £15 on Ebay when i register on the Cadlink site. Hell, I paid full whack for my version so I could have the priveledge of being legitimate and receive any technical help / updates that might come my way…or not as the case may be.

So what’s the story here? Did I waste my money….is a trip to our favourite auction site for signlab, corel, flexi, etc in order? 😉

OK, a bit tongue in cheek – I have no regrets paying for my software, but it would be nice to see some sort of inclusive update / upgrade, or ‘extras’ for verified users….c’mon, even Microshaft put out free updates to ‘Genuinely Advantaged’ users!!

[Rod Young]

quote David Rogers:

Rod, I notice that there are no updates or patches for 7.0 which I use.

Is this because A)…it’s perfect or B)….I ‘need’ to shell out for 7.1?

ps. There doesn’t seem to be anything in place to verify whether I paid £1500 for it or £15 on Ebay when i register on the Cadlink site. Hell, I paid full whack for my version so I could have the priveledge of being legitimate and receive any technical help / updates that might come my way…or not as the case may be.

So what’s the story here? Did I waste my money….is a trip to our favourite auction site for signlab, corel, flexi, etc in order?

Hi David,

Sorry for slow response. I was out of office for a couple days after cutting my hand. Should be okay, though my fingers are a little tender. Had to stay away from physical activity, typing on keyboards, etc.

Long story short, SignLab 7.1 is a major release over that of the 7.0 product. This was a marketing decision at the time, which I suspect has confused people wrt upgrades and what not.

To make certain your SignLab 7.0 has been fully patched, go Start menu >> Programs >> SignLab >> Update SignLab Print & Cut.

I’m not familiar with your shop, so I am unable to comment about SignLab 7.1 features that would be of specific benefit to you. Did you want to PM me with details and an e-mail that I can respond to?

When registering on the CADlink web site, the main points are the InfoSource materials (training videos, procedures, etc.) for your reference and the InfoSource forums for your feedback. On an aside, the Knowledge Base has been available considerably longer than InfoSource, which did not even require a login. My point being that these online materials are for you as a paid SignLab user.

quote David Rogers:

OK, a bit tongue in cheek – I have no regrets paying for my software, but it would be nice to see some sort of inclusive update / upgrade, or ‘extras’ for verified users….c’mon, even Microshaft put out free updates to ‘Genuinely Advantaged’ users!!

Somewhat of an outrageous comparison, but I hear what you are saying. Microsoft has an unusual market position that allows them to make money hand-over-fist. Even though they appear to be struggling with developing a new operating system release, they are still "earning" billions each year through their sales of operating systems and generic office software.

With respect to SignLab, development is ongoing. That is what you are paying for. The marketing, engineering and tech support teams are steadily improving the product and service that is specialized towards the sign making industry. For illegitimate users that seek the £15 on Ebay (or such), there is obviously some manner of perception that the person uses to justify not supporting the product. I suspect that in these people’s minds that software is merely compiled binary data, yet there is real work and expertise involved in developing that software.

Someone remarked to me recently about how we changed our policy about asking payment for Tech Support. The reason for this was that other companies were similarly changing their support to either a) charge a fee for support, or b) outsource their support to another country (where perhaps there would be problems understanding the English – no kidding). CADlink chose to maintain in-house Tech Support and charge a fee, so that quality support could be provided to SignLab users. Based on my interactions with our Tech Support staff, I believe it was the correct decision to maintain this service.

Regards,

Rod at CADlink

[David Rogers]

Thanks for the lengthy reply – probably not easy with a sore hand!

I guess some confusion arose with me (and undoubtedly others) that although we could recognise that e6 was a major departure from v5.7, and then v7.0 the next in the chain, we were fairly stumped at a v7.1 being a major release over v7.0, simply believing it to be in the same ‘family’, just a newer, tweaked version – so reasonably expecting (as I get from some other software suppliers/developers) that the cash I hand over will fund development…and I’ll see at least one upgrade included during the version life or first year.

I’m not annoyed at a lack of included upgrade in the slightest – just wondered why!!

The online help & training tutorials are all very well and good for the newer users of the software – but those of us that have been using it day in and day out for years will rarely (if ever) spend production time online searching for a tutorial.

OK, so my comparison with Microsoft was a little O.T.T. 😛 but it was very much tongue in cheek as I knew there wasn’t the slightest chance of ‘getting something for nothing’…would be nice though 😛

In the end I suppose CADlink are trying to do their best balancing act between price, customer service & trying to make a profit – just like the rest of us…

Again – thanks for taking the time to type it up.

Regards

Dave

[Brian Little]

gee you must be well "minted" Adam …if signlab doesnt work …then move on to flexi 😀 😀