what spec of pc should i get built to run sign software?

[Bill Preston]

Hi, Becky,

I don’t know about the “Ideal” setup, for what you want to do, but let me run off the specs for the computer I had built last November. Keep in mind that this is also used for Flight Simulator gaming, so it may be a bit of overkill. Also, I use Signlab5 and e6–both at “Assistant” level.

Specs– 1.44.floppy drive, Add in card retention device, S478 P4 i845 DDR 533 FSB, 1 Gb PC2100 DDR memory, 7 bay tower with 300 watt power supply, 60 Gb 7200 rpm hard drive, G Foce4 Ti4200 128 Mb DDR graphics card, integrated audio, CDRW-DVD, integrated LAN, on WinXP Home OS.

There was a problem with that much RAM and Signlab5 you may want to know about. I lost the “undo” function at one point. It turned out that computers with over 512 of RAM have to have the minimum setting in virtual memory lowered to 100. Leave the maximum setting alone. Apparently, Signlab5 was somehow mis-reading the virtual memory low setting as a negative number, and losing the “undo.”

Hope all of this is some help. BTW, having a computer locally put together does not come cheap—- but, you do have someone nearby who knows the unit and can service it should the need arise.

[Simon Clayton]

Hi Becky,
Not sure about the spec’, but have a look at this computer site have high spec machines at low prices…see what you think!
My sis-in-law got one, been great so far.
Simon.

http://www.crystech.co.uk

[Bob Gilliland]

Kevin,

I’m not a SignLab “tech”, but I’ll toss out a few things for consideration. 😉 First, although not written in stone, plan on running your Edge through the parallel port that is “built in” or “on board” to the motherboard. If this box only has one “LPT” port, use an expansion I/O card to get other parallel devices connected (printers, scanner, etc.). Along that some logic, make sure the bios is accessible. More then likely a new box will have the port set to “ECP” mode, which is great if you have an Edge2 unit but not such a good setting with original Edge devices. Inside the BIOS, you’ll want to set the port type to “SPP” (or any other non Bi-Directional setting) for older Edge devices.

Somewhat related, here in North America, SignLab’s default dongle is still Parallel based. If you haven’t received your SL package yet, request a USB dongle. Should make life a lot easier for now and down the road. USB allows for “daisy chaining” of devices, either direct if so equipped or via a “hub” like device. Since more and more devices are going to USB connectivity, having two, three, four or more ports already installed with the box makes life a little easier from the start. Especially nice if some are located in the front and back of the case. Installing a SL USB dongle in the front makes in very convenient to remove and take home or elsewhere if you desire to operate the program elsewhere.

When we spoke on the phone, I was left with the impression that you don’t currently do much “raster” or “bitmap” manipulation and output. Just in case you start to migrate doing more of this work, since it is a bit more faster then your previous equipment and you can do it to a wider substrate selection, think about having a fair amount of system RAM installed. A safe bet would be 512MB. Anything more would be a bonus, just beware; not all Operating Systems (OS) are created equal and therefore may utilize system RAM differently.

Same thing with your video card; a robust chip set with as much on board video memory that you can afford. I’m not aware of any specific cards giving SL issues, but you could browse their website (www.cadlink.com) under the “tech” section just to verify. If you can justify the additional cost and have the room, consider a dual monitor setup as well. I’m sure those that currently have dual monitor are quite happy and probably wondered how the “computed” before that setup. It’s rare (but there are some) to find those that have had dual monitors and gone back to a single display. And goes as large as the wallet and desktop will allow for the monitor(s).

Not hardware related, but if you are getting a system with Windoze XP (Pro or Home), drop a reply in this post or start another one. There are a few things (OK, a lot of things) that one can shut down or remove from a “background” standpoint that consume system resources and are not necessary for successful OS operation. I can provide two or three sites that review these items and will walk you through the disabling or removable process. Perhaps d-ArkAngel even has a few tricks up his sleeve he could share (Those Unix guys always seam to know M$ stuff so well?? 😮 ).