CASmate Pro vs. FlexiEXPERT

[Silverado]

Is there much difference? It appears to me that CASmate Pro does everthing that FlexiEXPERT offers, but tell me if I'am incorrect.

The reason I'm posting this question is that "EVERYBODY" seems to be using Flexi. Am I missing something?

Be kind. I know CASmate Pro is old.

... Roger

 

[Pro Image]

Other that not running on XP there is nothing wrong with Casmate Pro......I have used it since it was in version 6.5 or so and up graded to Inspire and Inspire XP Pro...........

 

[iSign]

I still have a love for Casmate Pro. I had bought Flexi Pro at a great crossgrade price right when Scanvec bought Amiable & then I left it on the shelf for 3 years & kept using Casmate.

I finally got tired of the W98 limitation & loaded Flexi when I needed the rip for my Mimaki.

I plan to get Casmate loaded again with an XP compatibility solution.

 

[Silverado]

Casmate vs. Flexi

I agree with you, CASmate works fine. I'm running it on Windows 98.

I too am running Inspire.

So I guess the moral-of-the-story is:

"IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT!"

Thanks... Roger

 

[Fred Weiss]

Other than the OS issue the only other thing that I would point out is that CasMate does not use Bezier curves. It uses straight lines and arcs like a CAD program does. It uses it's own internal routines to avoid glitches when you use it to output to a plotter but it does not produce anywhere near as clean and glitch free an EPS export as does FlexiSign.

This would only matter to you if you are concerned about exporting a job to be read and used by other applications.

 

[Techman]

I use corel draw and cocut pro.. So i guess i am not in the every one catagory.

 

[gROUND cHUCK]

It's funny. I was getting online to ask what people here think about Casmate.
The head designer at our shop swears by it, and he is out on vacation, so I'm doing his job while he's out and every other time he's on vacation.

I can't stand Casmate, there's too many glitches.

I can't stand the quick keys. (If you want to call them that) You have to click on too many things, and spend too much time to accomplish one simple task (Like zooming) that would take me seconds in Flexi.

How come when I type a single line of text, then If I want to change the text to be on two lines, I pretty much have to delete the whole thing and type it again? eg: If I type "Chuck's Car Wash" on one line, then decide, I want to put it on two lines. When I put the courser between "Chuck's" and "Car" and press enter. The courser goes to the next line and the text stays exactly the same way, on one line.

Also I can't stand to draw in Casmate (It just doesn't have the right work flow.) So I created a logo in flexi on another computer and imported it into Casmate, the lines were all flip flopped, sort of like the compound in Flexi being all messed up. (If you know Casmate, I'm talking about the red and blue lines) There all messed up and fixing them takes more hassle then it's worth.

Another problem I have is exporting, to send a layout to an older version of Flexi, you have to export as a .DXF file and when that file is brought into Fexi, the lines are all broken between each of the nodes.??? What's that?" Then if you want to save as a bitmap, Casmate saves at only 72dpi and you have to either guess or be a mathematician to get the dpi aspect ratio, just to have the image finish at the size you want it to be.

I like the color setup, how it has all the vinyl and pantone colors but applying them to the objects, just takes too much work compared to flexi's older and newer versions.

I can only get fonts to install through the installer that comes with Casmate and only the fonts that come with Casmate will install. Adding effects has too much work involved. Not to mention there's always some kind of an illegal function to shut down the program, and you can't just start it back up because Casmate never really shuts down, it's still running somewhere, where I have no idea. (It's not in the task manager.) So you have to shut down the computer completely.

Like I said, "Too many PROBLEMS."

My buck fifty.........................Chuck

PS: As Dustin mentioned, you should check out Inspire XP's demo. I like the way it works.

 

[Drip Dry]

I plan to get Casmate loaded again with an XP compatibility solution.

Please tell there's a solution.

 

[Drip Dry]

.

I can't stand Casmate, there's too many glitches.


I can't stand the quick keys. (If you want to call them that) You have to click on too many things, and spend too much time to accomplish one simple task (Like zooming) that would take me seconds in Flexi.


How come when I type a single line of text, then If I want to change the text to be on two lines, I pretty much have to delete the whole thing and type it again? eg: If I type "Chuck's Car Wash" on one line, then decide, I want to put it on two lines. When I put the courser between "Chuck's" and "Car" and press enter. The courser goes to the next line and the text stays exactly the same way, on one line.

Also I can't stand to draw in Casmate (It just doesn't have the right work flow.) So I created a logo in flexi on another computer and imported it into Casmate, the lines were all flip flopped, sort of like the compound in Flexi being all messed up. (If you know Casmate, I'm talking about the red and blue lines) There all messed up and fixing them takes more hassle then it's worth.

How come when I type a single line of text, then If I want to change the text to be on two lines, I pretty much have to delete the whole thing and type it again? eg: If I type "Chuck's Car Wash" on one line, then decide, I want to put it on two lines. When I put the courser between "Chuck's" and "Car" and press enter. The courser goes to the next line and the text stays exactly the same way, on one line.

I like the color setup, how it has all the vinyl and pantone colors but applying them to the objects, just takes too much work compared to flexi's older and newer versions.

I can only get fonts to install through the installer that comes with Casmate and only the fonts that come with Casmate will install. Adding effects has too much work involved. Not to mention there's always some kind of an illegal function to shut down the program, and you can't just start it back up because Casmate never really shuts down, it's still running somewhere, where I have no idea. (It's not in the task manager.) So you have to shut down the computer completely.

Like I said, "Too many PROBLEMS."

My buck fifty.........................Chuck

PS: As Dustin mentioned, you should check out Inspire XP's demo. I like the way it works.

"I can't stand Casmate, there's too many glitches."

Yes there is, but we still love it.



I can't stand the quick keys. (If you want to call them that) You have to click on too many things, and spend too much time to accomplish one simple task (Like zooming) that would take me seconds in Flexi.

The quick keys I remember are (Control)F1 through F12. How easy is that, and btw you can assign functions that you want to those keys.





How come when I type a single line of text, then If I want to change the text to be on two lines, I pretty much have to delete the whole thing and type it again? eg: If I type "Chuck's Car Wash" on one line, then decide, I want to put it on two lines. When I put the courser between "Chuck's" and "Car" and press enter. The courser goes to the next line and the text stays exactly the same way, on one line.

YEP, Cant help you there


Also I can't stand to draw in Casmate (It just doesn't have the right work flow.) So I created a logo in flexi on another computer and imported it into Casmate, the lines were all flip flopped, sort of like the compound in Flexi being all messed up. (If you know Casmate, I'm talking about the red and blue lines) There all messed up and fixing them takes more hassle then it's worth.

Remember, Casmate wasn't designed to work with flexi.
But try the sort function... Little doughnut looking thing on the toolbar.




Not to mention there's always some kind of an illegal function to shut down the program, and you can't just start it back up because Casmate never really shuts down, it's still running somewhere, where I have no idea. (It's not in the task manager.) So you have to shut down the computer completely.

Oh Yeah, I remember that BUT
It wasn't designed to work with windows...hence all the crashes.


I can only get fonts to install through the installer that comes with Casmate and only the fonts that come with Casmate will install.

Casmate runs any true type font. Can't remember exactly but I think you put a line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file that says something like "SET CASFONTS = ???" Like I said I can't remember.(But thats for another disscussion) If you need it, I'll dig it out of my book.


Ahh yes, Casmate. The program we loved to hate.

Jim

 

[gROUND cHUCK]

If anyone else uses Casmate, I'd like to hear what you have to say about it.

 

[jayhawksigns]

I used to, but have moved on long since then. Now I don't think that I would want to go back. Forget about the little nuances with Casmate, having to deal with Windows 98 again, gives me the shivers.

 

[iSign]

Please tell there's a solution.

The "solution" that I've heard about could be called a "crack" & I am as vocal as the next guy about respecting intellectual property & speaking out against abuses here & elsewhere... but in addition to shelling out well over $3k on Adobe products & another $6k or more on Omega, Signlab & Flexi... I also bought Casmate & later paid for subsequent upgrades to it. When they abandoned us... my feelings about "cracks" to be able to continue using it are different then with currently available software.

A guy who saw posts of mine about casmate sent me an email offering a crack for $35. I bought it, but haven't taken the time to try using it. He says it will be able to get loaded on my XP machine, & he provided instructions & encouragement to contact him if I had further questions.

At that price, I believe that it is more of a desire to help other sign guys out of a bind resulting from product abandonment then any huge capitalistic profit motive. Someday I'll try it out & report back.

Regarding the use of casmate & the flaws in the program... all software has strengths & weakness's, but imagine us guys who used that program 4 or 5 hours a day for 6 or 7 years... I had all those weakness's wired... workarounds for each of them were like second nature... I even knew when it was going to crash & I'd save right before certain commands... than when it would crash... I'd do something else for a while untill I was ready to close all my other programs so I could restart & get Casmate running again.

Later I figured out that I could have one old W98 computer dedicated to Casmate & operating on a KVM switch from the same keyboard monitor & mouse as the new XP system I had loaded my Adobe software, internet access & Quickbooks on. This made Casmate run so well it almost never crashed... plus I didn't have anything else to close & reopen when that heppened AND it felt like it was on XP, because it was just 2 keystrokes to switch from the XP CPU to the W98 one.... right there on the same monitor.

 

[thomchar]

Ther is a company in Canada with has figured out a way to get casmate into Windows XP. They will do this if give them your dongle number. I have been working with Casmate in XP for a long time now.

 

[Techman]

NEver buy cracks. NEver..

 

[Chuck Osborne]

I have used casmate 6.03 since 97. I would like to use it with
XP.

 

[iSign]

NEver buy cracks. NEver..

I knew someone would have to say that... that's why I wrote:
"The "solution" that I've heard about could be called a crack", but even though it could be called that, it's really not if the term "crack" is to be intrepreted as an illegal copy. It is merely a method of circumventing the dongle in an attempt to continue using my own legal copy.

Check out this excerpt from the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) a law to protect us as both the authors of materials we may choose to copyright & the legal holders of licenses for copyright materials.
I had posted this in a similar discussion years ago. This "copy" is now out of date & I'm not going to hunt down the current version, but pay special attention to the sections I've highlighted in BOLD type:

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Part 201
[Docket No. RM 99-7D]

Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies

AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Final Rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This rule designates the classes of copyrighted works that the Librarian of Congress has determined shall be subject to exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under title 17 of the U.S. Code. In title I of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Congress established that this prohibition against circumvention will become effective October 28, 2000. The same legislation directed the Register of Copyrights to conduct a rulemaking procedure and to make recommendations to the Librarian as to whether any classes of works should be subject to exemptions from the prohibition against circumvention. The exemptions set forth in this rule will be in effect until October 28, 2003.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 28, 2000.

2. Literary Works, Including Computer Programs and Databases, Protected by Access Control Mechanisms That Fail to Permit Access Because of Malfunction, Damage or Obsoleteness
"This designation of class of works is intended to exempt users of software, databases and other literary works in digital formats who are prevented from accessing such works because the access control protections are not functioning in the way that they were intended. In the course of this rulemaking proceeding, a number of users, and in particular consumers of software and users of compilations, expressed concerns about works which they could not access even though they were authorized users, due to the failure of access control mechanisms to function properly.

Substantial evidence was presented on this issue, in particular relating to the use of ``dongles,'' hardware locks attached to a computer that interact with software programs to prevent unauthorized access to that software. C199. (Spectrum Software's initial comments) One commenter attached numerous letters and news articles to his submission and testimony, documenting the experience of users whose dongles become damaged or malfunction. (Spectrum Software's president Joseph V. Montoro's testimony of May 2nd, 2000) It appears that in such instances, the vendors of the software may be nonresponsive to requests to replace or repair the dongle, or may require the user to purchase either a new dongle or an entirely new software package, usually at a substantial cost. In some cases, the vendors have gone out of business, and the user has had no recourse for repair or replacement of the dongle.

The dongle is the reason the software won't run on XP. In this document, the dongle is an "Access Control Mechanisms" & it fails to operate due to being "obsolete" in the XP environment.

The above ruling is an exemption to other rulings outlawing circumvention of Access Control Mechanisms in situations like this one with Casmate.

 

[GAC05]

Doug got anything more recent?
Not sure if I am reading this legal stuff right but it says those exemptions expired in 2003?

wayne k
guam usa

 

[iSign]

I had posted this in a similar discussion years ago.

This "copy" is now out of date & I'm not going to hunt down the current version.

I'm innocent untill proven guilty anyway... & I can't imagine why that clause would have been changed or eliminated, so I feel that I already did enough research on the DMCA. Anyone else who looks into can post back here with their findings

 

[thomchar]

I am the owner of Casmate 6.5 the name of the company that will make you a program for XP so that you can run Casmate in XP is safe-key.com

 

[iSign]

Thanks Thomchar.
I bought their software emulation long before XP was released. (but after support for the program was yanked)

Back then, you had to load the software on a computer first, then run the emulation software, then remove the key. I didn't want to risk damage to the dongle taking it to & from work on a regular basis & this solution allowed me to minimize that risk while continuing to operate the software on one computer at a time... whichever place I happened to be, leaving the dongle safely in a drawer.

Since I got it before there was an XP, it never occured to me that it might work with XP... but then again, maybe it is an entirely different software they have for XP. I know I paid a lot more then $35 back then. I hope the solution I have now works.

I have become free from my former addiction to Casmate... but when I bought Flexi, one selling point was that it could open all .scv files & would include the entire font collection that came with Casmate (& existed in my archives of 7 years worth of Casmate files) BUT... they didn't mention that it would throw the kerning of all text blocks entirely out of whack in the process. So, for opening up old files, converting text to outlines (curves in casmate-speak) & then sending downstairs to the production computer with Flexi on it... I still plan to make some time-saving use out of Casmate.