The Letterville BullBoard: Omega or Graphix Advantage6.21?

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Posted by Manuel Balderas (Member # 2113) on :

I would like to know if Omega is way different to use than GA 6.21? Is it better? I have 6.21 Select and just do vinyl cutting, Is it better If I upgrade or just try to find 6.21 for another workstation?

Posted by Carl Wood (Member # 1223) on :

Hey Manuel- I run 6.21 & have never found it wanting for anything I wanted to do - -I know some here will dis-agreee on the merits of one program or another, but it's whatever your comfortable with - -personally I like Gerber 6.21........and no, personally I'm not gonna fall for that Omega software----I've heard of too many promblems with it for me to gamble on.....Carl

Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :

Well, for me, I've had both GA 6.21 and Omega. I prefer Omega.

As for the stories about problems with Omega, they are probably all true, but that would be for the earlier releases. The latest release, 1.54, probably has about 98% of all bugs fixed.

My staff would kill me if I made them go back to GA 6.21.

Posted by Manuel Balderas (Member # 2113) on :

What are the differences between GA6.21 & Omega? I really need another workstation so I need to figure out if they are compatible because one station will run GA and the other Omega, unless I can find a copy of GA 6.21. Also If I Buy Omega can I use the new dongle to run 6.21?

Posted by Diane Crowther (Member # 120) on :

I'd forgotten how much difference there is until I used GA6.0 again recently. OMEGA is leaps and bounds better than GA6.0. Aside from the tools being much better to work with, I couldn't live without having multiple windows open, long file names and general file management. I was afraid to upgrade to OMEGA, and I waited until the initial release bugs were worked out, but I haven't regretted it for a minute.

Posted by Steve Purcell (Member # 1140) on :

I bought omega almost a year ago.

I'm waiting for the smoke to clear before I install it.

Something about being forced to burn my bridges rubs me the wrong way.

Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :

steve..heres a good way to NOT burn your bridges...and RUN THE NEW PROGRAM. install a removable hard drive bay, put in 2nd hard drive inside the computer. now with the removable drive bay installed take your present h/d and put it in the removable tray, get a 2nd tray and put another h/d in it. load the 2nd h/d with OS and the new program, and still keep your old prgram and files on your present h/d. then as you feel more at home with the new program you can transfer files to the internal h/d from the old h/d, then put in new h/d and load files to it.....best of both worlds...and you always have backup files on the internal h/d.

Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :

I know the feelings of not wanting to change!!

Joe the "bad" thing with Gerber's upgrade to Omega is that it rewrites the dongle so making it impossible to run GA 6.? and Omega side by side, this was my beef...I too had Omega sitting here for over a month before I installed it and would have liked to have had the use of 6.0 for a 30-60 day period after say before it locked me out...to help with the learning curve.

I found Omega very frustrating in the begining...as with all changes...there is a learning curve...there is lots you would recognise and lots of new good things...plus a few things I would like to see retained from GA. But on the hole as I get more used to it I am enjoying it more. I would have not upgraded had it not been for buying a new Dell Precision Workstation here, that had Win 2000 Pro in it, and Gerbers lack of interest in supporting GA after Win 98, I personally think that's a cop out for the many who enjoy the speed with which we had come to use GA. That said in a few months I will probably be eating my words! I have the 1.54 edition with service pack, and have had no bug type problems, apart from colour pallettes, I wanted to use the Avery pallettes which show more black sqaures than clours where colours should be?? My other moan is that 10 years of jobs, that I imported are all different colours that what they where in GA.

One last thing that I liked in GA was that if you had say Maín copy, with an outline or shadow, if it was ungrouped and the smart edit removed, you could always mark the main copy group it and then mark everything making the main copy unmarked and the shadow marked and then press F6 to group that...it doesn't work like that anymore. Its small things like that that make you feel your taking longer to achieve the same goals....maybe Glenn or Diane can put me right there.

I guess eventually we all have to move with the times.

You mention a 2nd design station....I did a "crossgrade" to Signlab Colormaster 5 awhile back for about a third of its market price, and have just upgraded to SignLab E6. I am still learning that...but that might be an alternative. I think the 2 programs compliment each other quite well.

Posted by Karen Souza (Member # 2453) on :

I'm with Steve, I've had my Omega over a year also - haven't installed it for the same reason as Steve's. It's really a cop-out for me but my 2 systems have been "playing nice" for almost 2 years now and I hate bottlenecks. I'm just not ready to loose efficiency....yet. I know I'm putting off the inevitable!
Karen

Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :

Hi Karen,

I remember your name, and have just found your picture in the Gerber ad from 97 in SignCraft that we were in...remember the double page..."Here's what the experts are saying!!" (My picture and comments were above yours)relating to Graphix Advantage Funny that both you and I should be so cautious in "upgrading"...I've actually done it!....jury's still out though.

Posted by Chuck Peterson (Member # 70) on :

I wouldn't want to go back to GA. Omega has so many improved features, but it takes some getting used to. It was a big leap over GA. I did have some crashing problems, but haven't in quite a while now.

Posted by Steve Purcell (Member # 1140) on :

Henry,

I too, have a Dell 620, with Win2k pro.

Are you running Omega in that machine? Any problems?

I still run 6.21 from a Dell P133.

Steve

Posted by Steve Nuttle (Member # 2645) on :

We just bought a new Edge II and with it upgraded to Omega. Proir to that were running GA 6.21. Not wanting to loss productivity while we ride the learning curve, we keep GA 6.21 on the computer that originally had and bought a new computer with Omega installed. We now run both side by side. All of our machines are networked and we have no problems sharing files. The only thing is that you have to make sure in Omega that when you save a file you save it as a PLT 6.21 file. That way both programs can read it and have access. Being new in the biz, I did not have much experience with GA 6.21 so I have work with the Omega since for me the learning curve is about the same. So Misty, the shop owner, and I sit side by side. Her on GA 6.21 which she is used to and very productive in and me with my Omega. The best of both worlds. At some point we will probably go with Omega in all our machines but for now this is a good solution. I love the new Omega!

Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :

Steve....Steve Purcell, no no problems as regards Omega and Win 2KPro, and I am getting the hang of the program more and more

I bought my Dell with a dual monitor card so I have a 21" design Trinitron as the main screen and a 19" next to it, I have all the gsp plot window open there, and am free to design on the main monitor, its fun like that...the only thing I have noticed is that you are restricted in composer to the one frame ....if you open another or multiple composer windows you can't move them out to the other monitor....you must pysically open a new Omega, and have each Omega on each monitor abit like opening several old GA's at one time.

Other Steve I like the idea of using both at the same time for the "learning curve" I had 6.0 and think as it rewrites the dongle on upgrading to Omega you lose the chance to continue with GA. Maybe with heinsight the learning curve goes faster!!

Posted by Bob Gilliland (Member # 28) on :

Manuel,

The most dramatic difference from a “behind the scenes” standpoint is that it is based on 32-bit code. From the interface standpoint, it is starting to resemble other currently released object/illustration based programs.

I can understand and appreciate the cautious approach many have taken, but many of the past issues are issues no more, particularly with new systems or systems with updated components. Some of the remaining issues are few and far between and won’t be experienced by a high percentage of users. Learning curve is there and will always be there on most major upgrade no matter what software.

As Steve Nuttle pointed out already, networking the different versions is not an issue. At my previous place of employment, we had five stations on a peer-to-peer network based on Win98SE. One station was a dedicated OMEGA machine, three dedicated GA 6.2 stations, and the last one was a “floater” (could go either way). They interacted without fail between them. I will disclose that the EDGE and one plotter ran thru one of the GA stations while the router was attached to a different GA station. A second plotter was attached to the lone OMEGA station. This was all done at the initial release of OMEGA. If you understand and feel comfortable configuring computer networks, follow Gerber’s networking documentation and you shouldn’t have any problems.

Remembering to save OMEGA files back to 6.2 plt format is mandatory for GA to open them, while limiting the file name to eight characters eliminated the OS from modifying file names. (i.e. Business Card.plt becomes buscar~1.plt)

As for a new USB OMEGA dongle being able to run GA; NO! If, and that’s a big if, you want to go back to GA, your supplier would have to become involved and may or may not be able to satisfy your request. There is a way of taking an upgraded parallel security block back to GA, but I don’t know if Gerber still supports that and desires for that method to be publicly mentioned.

You state that you currently have select and do only vinyl cutting. I’m a fan of Gerber’s, but IMHO, you may be better served by looking at other software packages offered. If you had an EDGE or set files up for EDGE production, I wouldn’t offer the same opinion.

By the way, Welcome to Letterville!

Posted by fontking1a (Member # 763) on :

Manny,

6.21 mostly works, Omega mostly doesn't.....but pay no attention to me...what the hell do I know? Think of Omega as a low-riders dream. Lots of bells and whistles and fancy paint, but when the rubber meets the road....and the work just has to get out....6.21 will get you there....every single time you use it. I wish I could say that about Omega!

Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :

What I particularly like about GA: nothing.
Way too many mouse clicks for me. I now have a constant clicking in my ear that won't go away. And my click-finger twitches involuntarily all the time. It's so embarrassing.
And shrt fil nms? Good grf, how prhstrc! (prehistoric).

Brd

Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :

Coming from a Signlab background for many years and now also running GA, I can tell you that I hope Signlab will become much more compatible with the Edge. I cannot stand the way you have to select and reselect icons to move, resize etc. in GA. Is Omega like this?
I am used to and like the way the Signlab program is more intuitive and windows like, just wish I could use it with the Edge. For now my GA is the only printing solution.

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