NEW Frontpanel Designer 4.0 ALSO FOR MAC !!!!

[johnnyscotch]

I just tried to download FPD for Mac from http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/en/download/front-panel-designer-40.html, and it doesn't work. Won't even open on my Mac Pro Dual Core Xeon, 10.4.11.

cheers

 

[kazper]

It works fine for me on a Macbook from Y2008 running 10.6.3

 

[pucho812]

I just tried to download FPD for Mac from http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/en/download/front-panel-designer-40.html, and it doesn't work. Won't even open on my Mac Pro Dual Core Xeon, 10.4.11.

cheers

I had/have a similar issue., I think it's rated for os 10.5 and above but they don't say that do they?

 

[kazper]

It says os 10.4-6


Mac OS X:
10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.5 (Leopard), 10.4 (Tiger), PowerPC/ Intel

they have a PPC and a intel version, which one did you use?

 

[johnnyscotch]

yeah, all I read was 10.4......

it works fine on my other leopard partition.

 

[mikefatom]

Whoa! This software seems to have major amount of bugs. 

I really want this to work on my mac. I can't get the order program to pop up. When I click on "Start ordering program" nothing happens!  :-[

A fix is coming I hope soon.

 

[tommypiper]

Whoa! This software seems to have major amount of bugs. 

I really want this to work on my mac. I can't get the order program to pop up. When I click on "Start ordering program" nothing happens!  :-[

A fix is coming I hope soon.

Send them feedback.  Tell them what system and PPC or Intel.  It's the only way we can be sure they'll find/fix problems.

 

[kazper]

On my family computer (Intel Mac mini/OSX 10.6.3) I haven't ran into any bugs yet and I did a Par-metal rear panel for a couple projects I have. It could be more of a issue in them not testing the older OS and PPC equipment and thats where the most problems are at?

Kevin

 

[Holger]

They have a German forum, it seems that most bugs are reported already.
I can't order a panel, I can't create macros, the print out is not in the correct scale...
I'm on 10.6.3, happend also on 10.5.8.

 

[mushy]

The US version doesn't seem to offer powder coating.

 

[mikefatom]

Whoa! This software seems to have major amount of bugs. 

I really want this to work on my mac. I can't get the order program to pop up. When I click on "Start ordering program" nothing happens!  :-[

A fix is coming I hope soon.

Send them feedback.  Tell them what system and PPC or Intel.  It's the only way we can be sure they'll find/fix problems.

Will do!

 

[AK79]

Hi Folks,
had the same problem running it with Mac OS 10.4.11  - just won´t open.

However the PPC version works on my Intel, at least it opens. I did not test it 100% yet and its a bit slow but seems usable...

Strange but better than nothing

 

[Kamel]

a new version 4.01 is downloadable, it seems less buggy on mac 10.4.11, the only version i tested

http://www.schaeffer-ag.de/index.php?id=183&L=1

 

[bobkatz]

Has anybody actually had the DXF export work?

When you say "export" that's an extra cost option from FPD. If you mean import, not successfully. I've spent hours trying permutations and gotten nerve-rackingly close, but no cigar. I'm having extreme troubles getting illustrator DXF exports to come into FPD on the Mac. If I shrink the incoming DXF to the size I want it, the outlines just don't appear in FPD, they disappear. I'm sure if FPD could read EPS (Illustrator's native format) it would not be a problem, but DXF is a very cludgey format at this point, it's ancient. Everyone except FPD understands postscript!

The command in FPD for import I'm using is "Insert/Free Contour". Is there any other?

If the drawing is about 2-3 times the intended size (hundreds to thousands of mm. large) then it will show up as outlines in FPD. I've tried all kinds of options in Illustrator, stroke, fill, you name it, to no avail. FPD does seem to want an outlined object (for example, a rectangle( that's at least a few points wide. The fill in Illustrator doesn't seem to matter, only the outline. The size of the stroke doesn't seem to matter, only the size of the object. But no matter what size I start with and no matter what scaling I choose to use on the export or import side, as  soon as it comes close to the intended size in FPD---the outlines disappear. When I get close (300% though I want about 100%) and if I set the FPD chisel to 1 mm., I can still see the outlines in FPD's preview, but if I shrink it further in the preview window or in the FPD main window, the outlines disappear! This is for a simple volume control hashing. The text outlines in Illustrator aren't importing at all, FPD doesn't accept them but I'll live with the hash marks and insert my own numbers. If anyone has any success with this, please report.

It seems that Corel Draw (PC only) may be the only way to get legit DXF into FPD.

Thanks,

BK

 

[bobkatz]

I've had some progress! Let's review: I'm really fluent in Macdraft. I can produce a vector-based drawing in MacDraft in seconds. It's much easier to use and adheres to most Mac drawing conventions. As with all Mac Programs you can export to PDF easily. This can be brought into Illustrator (which is much harder to use unless you've really studied it) and there the chain stops, because I think Illustrator's DXF export, or FPD's DXF import still needs a lot of work.

So I started looking for an HPGL solution as FPD's HPGL import is much more mature. I found a $30 (shareware) program called CADintosh, which is in the dark ages of "GUI". It's as bad as Autocad or worse in terms of a totally esoteric and non-user friendly interface. BUT, it talks HPGL and PICT and so as of this moment I tried taking my drawing in Macdraft, exporting as PICT (which is simple), bringing it into Cadintosh, converting to HPGL and then importing into FPD. This actually works! Hooray. For me it is much faster. I've seen Autocad experts who are whizzes, but let's face it, it's a totally different interface paradigm and you'd have to be a masochist to learn it.

I learned enough to deal with it. Draw your pict in MacDraft. Save as PICT. Import the Pict into CADIntosh. Do an HPGL selection by clicking two points to create a rectangle around the PICT (this selection method is totally non-intuitive and non-MacIntosh or even non-Illustrator. It took me an hour to figure out how to make a selection in CADIntosh. But then you can save as HPGL and this imports very comfortably into FPD. FPD, however, is very stubborn on its import interface and you have to coddle it during the import. Make sure you see the preview in the screen.

And presto! Then you're in like Flint.

 

[bitman]

Oh happy days are here again!

 

[Hank Dussen]

I have some extra SHX-fonts I used in my Windows version of FPD.
Any one has a clue if I can also use this on the OSX version?
Or an idea where the fonts of FPD are located?

Pieter

 

[kazper]

I have some extra SHX-fonts I used in my Windows version of FPD.
Any one has a clue if I can also use this on the OSX version?
Or an idea where the fonts of FPD are located?

Pieter

Right click on the application and navigate till you find fonts...

Kaz

 

[guavatone]

No problem here so far on 10.5.8.  The export to Autocad 2010 seems fine as far as I can tell, but I am not doing
anything fancy.

 

[Hank Dussen]

I have some extra SHX-fonts I used in my Windows version of FPD.
Any one has a clue if I can also use this on the OSX version?
Or an idea where the fonts of FPD are located?

Pieter

Right click on the application and navigate till you find fonts...

Kaz

I found these, but these seem not to be the fonts FPD uses...