Advice/direction needed Epilog

I purchased an Epilog, Legend 32, 50 watt engraver about 3 yrs ago. It had been included with equipment from a business that the local Amish community had bought and sitting for about 5 yrs. Needless to say having come from an Amish community there was no knowledge about it and no training to go with it, they didn't even know if it worked. I bought it along with a job of engraving the logo on handles of axes they make and sell, about 3,000 a year.
I have learned how to do what I have needed to with it but I'm wondering if newer software might be easier to use and I feel like I should be thinking about upgrading the computer as well but know nothing about these things. It has an old Dell computer with windows 2000 pro and uses Corel Draw version 11.
My questions are should I be upgrading the computer and software? What is involved in doing this? Is the laser compatible with a newer system? Would a newer operating program be easier for me to learn?
Thanks,
Jack

Epilog has been pretty good about updating their older drivers to work on 64-bit. Buying a new computer (preferably one with a solid state hard drive and at least 8gb of ram, installing the driver and a new version of CorelDraw (maybe 2018 newer) will get you up to date

Do you know the actual age of the laser? The laser tube is probably near end of life. Sealed tubed need to be replaced around every 6-8 years regardless of use. You may need a recharge/replacement

I've been buying and using lasers since 2001. In all that time I've only done a firmware update 3 times- the first I wish I'd never done as the new print driver sucks (the Universal), one that I didn't notice any change at all, and the third update corrupted the laser's controller, which is still messed up to this day.

--if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

As to Corel, I learned using version 10. I'm currently using 13 and 14. I could go back to 10 just as easily. A few of the upgrades between the versions make things more convenient, but for my purposes most actual upgrades go unnoticed. The onlyl upgrades I've really noticed over 10 and 13 is 14's file menu's are better, and the ability to draw 'tables'. I realize there's many more upgrades, but oh well...

-- 14 is probably the best upgrade from the 11 you're using, and can be had much cheaper than the newer versions, if you're inclined to move up-

As to your computer- over the years I've collected a ton of engraving machinery, and more machines require more computers. The big lesson I've learned, and only recently, is that computers are more or less built for a specific purpose, and if you're needing a computer to handle and display several pages of graphics and drawings, the worlds best office computer won't be worth a squat. To wit- I bought a Dell T5400 Precision computer not long ago, 3.2 gig 8 core Intel Xeon processor, 32gigs of ram, Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit, fully expecting it to be the answer to all my prayers. But funny thing, I have a Dell Optiplex 760 running an Intel 2-core 2.66gig processor, a whopping 4 gigs of ram and 32 bit XP Pro, and in daily use where I'm running the same programs and doing the same functions, the XP runs circles around the T5400. With the exception of how fast programs load, the XP is faster and more reliable, period. But I've come to find out, my hot rod was purpose-built for office use, great for number crunching and other such stuff, but basically has all the wrong parts to be a good graphics computer, and the more wrong work I throw at it, the more those wrong parts bottleneck the entire system. To fix it would require a different motherboard, better memory cards, MUCH better graphics cards... I'm debating on doing this, but then I could likely just buy a good used "graphics" computer for less money-- and that all said, that's my advice to you :) --I've been wondering if a 'gaming' computer would work well? I'm assuming so, especially considering the $$$ some of them cost!

And my experience with Win10: http://www.engraver1.com/gifs/nilly.gifhttp://www.engraver1.com/gifs/banghead.gif http://www.engraver1.com/gifs/pullinghair.gif

Good luck!

Contact Epilog and ask, but last time I checked there was no update to run more than Windows XP on my Epilog Legend EXT (same vintage). You could upgrade but would have to go with used, and that can be risky with licensing issues. In my experience Corel upgrades over the years have improved such functions as tracing but if 11 works for what you are doing there may not be any advantage to upgrade. I use X3 still, and with Windows XP could go up a few versions, but with your 2000 X3 is the highest that’s compatible.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Jack,

I started out with CorelDraw 4 in 1995, made the progressions to CD5, CD 8, CD 10,--I have been running CD 11 for the last umpteen years and see absolutely no reason to further upgrade!!


Bruce

yes. only 32 bit programs for the EXT machines. I run my new Mini's on XP as never have been able to get the 64bit drivers to work.
Do drawing in Corel 17 or 19 but save in 15 for the lasers.
rich