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View Full Version : New Driver posted for Epilog engravers



Darryl Hazen
06-23-2008, 10:22 AM
There are new drivers available at the Epilog site. Dated 6/19/08

http://epiloglaser.com/downloads.htm

David Fairfield
06-23-2008, 10:32 AM
There are new drivers available at the Epilog site. Dated 6/19/08

http://epiloglaser.com/downloads.htm


Woah, that's interesting. But what are the improvements over the old ones? Would be nice if they said on the website!

After months of trial and error getting mine to run .ai files I'm very hesitant to change what I have.

Dave

Doug Griffith
06-23-2008, 11:13 AM
I would like to see screen shots or even a PDF adendum to the manual. Also, can the new driver run along side the previous driver (like the vector only driver) for testing purposes?

Peck Sidara
06-23-2008, 12:25 PM
Not knowing what version you guys currently have, there's been many new features and improvements to our driver that is included within the new dashboard.

You can download the literature/brochure here:

http://www.epilogfiles.com/brochures/dashboard_brochure.pdf


Features include:

New design/layout
Center/center, left/center, top/center function
New dithering patterns built in; Offering a variety of dittering patterns for various substrates and better imaging.
Ease of viewing, loading and saving new configuration data files.
Ability to save/pre-load recommended power/speed settings. Downloadable at http://www.epiloglaser.com/downloads.htm click on your corresponding model.
David: The new driver shouldn't affect your ability to run ai files. Send me a PM so we can confirm.

Doug: You can have the laser dashboard driver loaded in conjunction with the vector only driver. If you have any questions on installing, configuring for proper port, call our tech support group.

HTH,

Keith Outten
06-23-2008, 12:57 PM
Peck,

Is the new dashboard available for my Legend 24?

.

Peck Sidara
06-23-2008, 1:05 PM
Sorry Keith. The Laser Dashboard is only available for current and future products.

Doug Griffith
06-23-2008, 1:25 PM
Thanks Peck. It looks good and I'll try it out (with Illustrator).

It sure would be nice to be able to save and retrieve the z-axis setting. Maybe the next generation of hardware will support this.

Also "LEGEND" appears to be the indicator text for mirroring. This is a little deceiving since the driver doesn't support Legend machines.

The ability to identify the parameters of the settings Is a good change. It will allow me to create better setting names instead of using conventions like "P100_S40_F500_V..."

Cheers

Peck Sidara
06-23-2008, 3:05 PM
Thx for the input Doug. The term Legend is just a reference name, doesn't reference equipment that can take advantage of the feature. Dually noted however and with all suggestions, they'll be forwarded to the appropriate personel.

Kim Vellore
06-23-2008, 3:46 PM
Sorry Keith. The Laser Dashboard is only available for current and future products.

If it is just the printer driver it should work on the older machines unless there is a firmware change on the lasers to work with the new printer driver?

Kim

Peck Sidara
06-23-2008, 4:15 PM
Kim,

It's a combination of both latest driver and recent firmware revisions that makes it work.

Dave Fifield
06-23-2008, 6:33 PM
Peck,

Did they fix the problem where the Top-Center and Center-Center feature got mixed up occasionally?

Dave F.

Peck Sidara
06-23-2008, 6:36 PM
Dave, send me a PM on what you're talking about and I'll test. I haven't heard of such mix-up but am confident it's fixed if there was ever a problem.

Keith Outten
06-23-2008, 7:21 PM
....................... :(

Stephen Beckham
06-23-2008, 10:50 PM
I got the message and downloaded - it was like going from the original Star Trek computer screens to things that Jorde and Data played with... There was also a check box on there to use original UI - I'll assume it allows you to switch off the new high class and easier to read screen for the original.

I saw the saving function and was curious to download the common settings according to wattage of laser - haven't had a chance to play with it.

The installation instructions attached we copies out of the manual - it wasn't specific on how to use the new settings and it didn't give a short cut to 'update drivers' versus a complete reload. Not a complaint - just an observation. It may have been there, but I looked over it...

I did like the way they put a graphic next to the center-center function. It puts a red dot where the reference point will start - I've blown that a couple times not know which I was set at... Now you just look for the little red dot.

Another change was that clicks in the drag bar jumped 10 per click (old) and now it is more like windows. If you click far right, it jumps far right. If you click center, it jumps to center. You can still click one at a time on the arrow.

That's just some of the changes I noticed. I'm looking forward to figuring out the laser pre-settings according to wattage.

Stephen Beckham
06-24-2008, 9:51 AM
Well - hey there.... Those silly engineers put a bat file in the extract files that copies all the settings to the right directory - nothing to figure out...

Must have missed that in the directions....

Steve

David Fairfield
06-24-2008, 9:56 AM
Oh yeah, this new driver is good stuff! Right-on Epilog! :D

Dave

Peck Sidara
06-24-2008, 10:59 AM
Another change was that clicks in the drag bar jumped 10 per click (old) and now it is more like windows. If you click far right, it jumps far right. If you click center, it jumps to center. You can still click one at a time on the arrow.

Stephen, I thought the same when I first came across the new dashboard. You can still adjust power/speed in 10% increments, just click near and closer to the slider bar.

R. A. Mitchell
06-24-2008, 11:55 AM
Peck,

Any word as to whether Epilog is working on a Mac driver?

Rob

Peck Sidara
06-24-2008, 12:27 PM
Any word as to whether Epilog is working on a Mac driver?


No Mac driver yet...For Mac users, you'll have to use Parallels or something similar.

mike wallis
06-24-2008, 1:19 PM
Hi Peck, thanks for your time to answer questions. Since Windows XP is nearly fazed out will this driver work in Vista?

Thanks, Mike

Peck Sidara
06-24-2008, 1:31 PM
Since Windows XP is nearly fazed out will this driver work in Vista?

Hi Mike, new Laser Dashboard is compatible with all 32bit OS's, Vista, 2000 & XP.

Larry Bratton
06-24-2008, 7:44 PM
Downloaded the driver and it looks great EXCEPT..how do I make my old .dat files work with this driver. I had them all stored in a folder on my Windows network and when I open the browse window, my Network Places does not appear as a place to browse. I copied the files to the local C drive to the folder where the others were places and they don't appear.

Larry Bratton
06-24-2008, 8:35 PM
Downloaded the driver and it looks great EXCEPT..how do I make my old .dat files work with this driver. I had them all stored in a folder on my Windows network and when I open the browse window, my Network Places does not appear as a place to browse. I copied the files to the local C drive to the folder where the others were places and they don't appear.
I figured it out. Disregard above post! Thanks.

Chuck Esh
06-26-2008, 6:19 PM
Hi,

Been trying out the new driver and having a problem with it.

We have our laser on a network and have 2 PC's that use it. Our laser setting files are on a shared folder on a server.

When I click on the browse button to load a file, I can not find anyway to change over to the server, it seems we are now stuck in the local "My Documents" folder for the laser settings.

Please tell me I am not brain dead and there is a way to change to a different drive and that it will stay on that drive the next time I print to the laser.

Thanks!

Larry Bratton
06-26-2008, 6:31 PM
Hi,

Been trying out the new driver and having a problem with it.

We have our laser on a network and have 2 PC's that use it. Our laser setting files are on a shared folder on a server.

When I click on the browse button to load a file, I can not find anyway to change over to the server, it seems we are now stuck in the local "My Documents" folder for the laser settings.

Please tell me I am not brain dead and there is a way to change to a different drive and that it will stay on that drive the next time I print to the laser.

Thanks!
Chuck:
Your not brain dead. There does not appear to be a way to see anything other than the local hard drive via the driver. What I did, was to download configmerge3 from Epilogs website. I then copied all my old configuration files to the folder that Epilog created when loading the pre-configured settings. It is located (Windows XP) in My Documents/epilog/epilog_settings. When you run configmerge3 it will see the old configuration files and as you add them and perform the function, it converts them so they work with the new driver. Maybe Epilog had a reason for doing what they did, but anyhow, that's the work around for it. Good luck. (and by the way, the old configuration files won't work with this new driver anyhow)

mike wallis
06-26-2008, 6:33 PM
Hi Mike, new Laser Dashboard is compatible with all 32bit OS's, Vista, 2000 & XP.


Thanks Peck, the new driver seems to work good, tell the "Driver" team there doing a great job.

Mike W.

Chuck Esh
06-26-2008, 9:08 PM
Larry,

That is what I did for now. (copy to my local drive)

It does make one an unhappy camper in that I can no longer share the setting files on a server. To me it seems to be a major step backwards in a networked world.

or is this the new "Vista" way of doing things?

Oh well, another entry in my synchronize program....

Oh and if you change over to the "classic" UI, you can change drives, unfortunately, the driver won't stay on classic......

Later!

Dave Fifield
06-26-2008, 10:58 PM
....................... :(

It may be time to buy a new laser Keith!? You can use the driver issue as your "reason" to purchase it..... :)

Cheers,

Keith Outten
06-27-2008, 6:38 AM
Dave,

It would be a lot cheaper if Epilog would continue to provide driver support for my Legend 24 rather than me having to replace a laser engraver that is still working fine :( Oh well at least my Legend is still working with the existing drivers. My laser is only five years old, I haven't considered it an antique yet.

My track record with drivers lately isn't favorable if you read about the problems I have been having with the Xenetech drivers at work.
I should have taken Mike Null's advice.

Peck Sidara
06-27-2008, 12:17 PM
Larry,

That is what I did for now. (copy to my local drive)

It does make one an unhappy camper in that I can no longer share the setting files on a server. To me it seems to be a major step backwards in a networked world.

or is this the new "Vista" way of doing things?

Oh well, another entry in my synchronize program....

Oh and if you change over to the "classic" UI, you can change drives, unfortunately, the driver won't stay on classic......

Thanks for the feedback gang, keep it coming.

Default folder for data files in the new Dashboard is mydocs/epilog.

To accommodate those who store their data files in a/specific/folder/for/easy/access or on a server, I have suggested that the classic UI defaults to classic if selected. This would allow you to view in Classic mode and save/pull data files from where ever you please.


the new driver seems to work good, tell the "Driver" team there doing a great job.


Thx Mike, will do.

Bill Cunningham
06-28-2008, 9:07 PM
Dave,

It would be a lot cheaper if Epilog would continue to provide driver support for my Legend 24 rather than me having to replace a laser engraver that is still working fine :( Oh well at least my Legend is still working with the existing drivers. My laser is only five years old, I haven't considered it an antique yet.

There must be a large number of 24's out there, even if Epilog provided a new driver with some of the current bells and whistles, 'for a price' I'm sure they would sell enough to cover what ever development cost there might be, and show the market place that they 'can' provide relevant software as a machine gets older.. I can see if the machine is 10+ years old new software will never cure all it's i'lls , but for the price of these things, 5 years is NOT old for any industrial machine... I know they want to sell new machines, but how many people can afford to dump a perfectly good machine just for the want of a few bells and whistles.. One good question to ask a salesman, is "how long do you plan on supporting the firmware/software for this machine" I love my machine and have been extremely satisfied with Epilog hardware support, but in all seriousness, if I had known they were going to discontinue software improvements for my machine with-in months of me buying it, I would have shopped around a bit more before writing that cheque..

Kim Vellore
06-28-2008, 11:46 PM
One desperate feature I was looking for is being able to disable the x-y motors, manually move the red dot pointer to your object then start to laser. I requested this feature many times to Epilog, got the same answer. The top left corner is the most used in my laser and it takes multiple steps to align non square objects.

Kim

Keith Outten
06-29-2008, 6:02 AM
Bill, I agree that it would be nice to see continued support for drivers and firmware for at least 8 to 10 years.

Kim, have you considered vector cutting an outline of your project on a piece of plywood or acrylic first then you can place your project on the outline for engraving. I do this often so I keep plenty of scrap ply in my office. My door signs have a unique shape so I vector cut an acrylic female template for them that provides perfect alignment but for the onesy twosy's I just vector cut a line that I can eyeball placement of odd shapes.

.

Scott Shepherd
06-29-2008, 8:48 AM
Here's the point Laser Manufacturers don't get, in my opinion. In the old days before the internet, if a customer wasn't happy then they told about 8 people. I think most Laser companies still work off that number. If they have one unhappy customer, they will tell less than 8 people who matter because most people who have lasers don't talk to other laser owners/buyers.

That all falls apart when the internet comes along. Now you're not telling 8 of your family and friends, you're telling 100's if not 1000's of potential laser buyers and it's found through search engines.

What they fail to realize is that for taking a small loss on some situtations is marketing money well spent. Take my case for example. Had they resolved my matter to my satisfaction, it might have cost them something, but I can assure you, they wouldn't have lost any money. But, they made a decision not to do that, and it went on and on and on. So, I post my experience online, people read it, they PM me, I PM people, people call me, and I tell them my experience. I can say without question, I have influenced people's buying decision (as have so many on this forum).

I know of about 10 people that have contacted me directly and I have influenced their decision enough to where they changed their minds on brands.

So what's that worth? The lost sale of 10 machines? Probably more than 10 from people reading reviews, but 10 that I know of. What's the loss there? Enormous. Could it all have been settled easily and all of that not happened? Yes, but they wouldn't do it. And it cost them and continues to cost them, and I'm just one person.

Manufacturers need to wake up and start supporting their products through the life of the product line. I've been in manufacturing for over 20 years and I've worked at companies who had product lines that were developed and sold in the 1920's. When a customer called, we supported it 100%.

As Bill and Keith mentioned, there are a lot of Legend owners and when they see their drivers not being updated, who's machines do you think they are going to look at when the do need a replacement? One that abandons their drivers after 1 year? 3 years? I seriously doubt it. Keith's already said "I Should have listened to Mike Null". You think that means he's going to buy another Epilog?

This isn't a slam on any one manufacturer, because it's several of them out there who do this and we need to use our voices to force them to support their equipment or we'll stop buying from them, and we'll tell our stories to everyone in the business we can find. There is no excuse for it, other than greed, and they are too blind to see that their quest for the easy dollar is costing them future sales.

Just my opinion.

Doug Griffith
06-29-2008, 10:17 AM
I agree,
It's a different world now. Customer and product support is very important in this digital age. Most people research products online and the results can weigh heavilly in purchasing decisions. This forum is a great example.

One more programmer dedicated to drivers can get quite a bit done. The 100k or so salary would be money well spent if it keeps just a few digital "voices" happy.

Quenching negative feedback shoudn't be the reason for great support but if that's what it takes...

Cheers

Keith Outten
06-29-2008, 12:42 PM
When I started this Forum it was called "Laser Woodworking". It was just after I purchased my laser engraver and I had very little luck finding any information concerning using laser engravers, all I could find on the Internet was sales information. Many people here didn't understand how this Forum fit a woodworking venue but I felt that woodworkers could be a major market for laser engravers using them to enhance their projects.

Several years later we now have a very active Forum, and although it isn't limited to woodworkers the information here is certainly valuable to a large group. This thread has already had over one thousand views, once it is picked up by Google the information here will be viewed by more people than we will ever know.

SawMill Creek is a primary source for the Google Bots simply because of the huge amount of traffic we receive daily. Google crawls our Forums at least once per month so information here is spread across the globe and is easily accessible to everyone who has an interest. This has to affect every companies marketing and sales strategies, the wise ones adjust quickly, the unwise lose business very quick.

Personally I have little interest in anything a salesman has to say. I certainly enjoy the opportunity to communicate with end users who have direct knowledge concerning any product that I am researching for my home or business. This Forum and others like it are valuable to me these days and I consider them to be my primary source for purchasing information.

I receive phone calls almost every day from people who are searching for or who have already made up their mind about which machine they want to purchase. Often I end up changing their minds, sending them in a different direction to look at another manufacturers products based on the information I read in this Forum.

.