I fed on an old "Johannesburg" press that was converted over to diecut plastic ... steel on steel, no safety stops, had to manually raise (wind) the pile, and my fingers still get twitchy (scared) when I think about it.

The glory days... happily burning up my retinas on that monochrome 9in screen...

Quote from: Joe on December 04, 2023, 03:47:36 PMIn reality for Prepress work on a Mac ... $4198 + you need to buy a keyboard and mouse.

DAMN, I'm glad I got out of prepress when I did ... I was "that guy" who suggested everyone gets a Mac, after process improvements and vendor changes netted us a huge budget cut, but even I couldn't sell a $4k price tag!

Yeah, this really was not a big deal ... AI seems to have mellowed in it's complexity over the years, the only real issue was removing a PMS from the logo, which took 5 mins to find the color pallette.
Thanks for the background on everyone's machines, dumb stuff like that helps!!

Apparently there IS money in it for me, I didn't realize a public garden can double as a charity with fundraising, so I asked for a gift card instead to the value of "whatever you think"!

Preface: Yes, I know we shouldn't help people with their hobbies when it comes to Printing, but this woman was ready to dive in and help last month, as soon as she heard I was unemployed. She's from our industry, and knows why I "paused" when she asked!  

It's a straight 48x24 banner/1 color/less than 50 words, I've already done the text in Illustrator and working on a vector version of the logo ...
- Is there a preference on file format these days? 
- Do people work in AI nowdays? (AI is still my weakest program)

Any constructive advice/pointers welcome! 

Or work like my PC where it LOVES to hang itself at 99% complete ... for 2-5-10 minutes!!

Delicious irony from yesterday: I did a video interview on that machine, just 15 minutes after the fresh install!

So ... that was WAY easier than I thought!
Machine was running OS-Monterey - Hold the power button down to get into the system, fire up the utilities to delete hard drive, then re-install the OS ... which took no more than 30 mins! 

Former employers statement at the start of 2023: "We need all those (1100+) pieces of packaging updated, just change the name in the fine print, so it's only a K plate change to save money."

Even if it worked out their way, which would be for 20% (maybe) of all files - we have to explain thet Adobe pulled support for any files using Type-1 fonts, and also Pantones on layouts that print as 4C-Process ... this is (unemployed) me now 

Quote from: DigiCorn on March 08, 2023, 12:28:49 AMI used to take keyboards apart and clean them during downtime. My workstation was always organized and spotless.

When I first went to night shift I would clean the track wheels on the old ball mouse ... if I liked you, I'd do yours too, if you annoyed me  "Maybe later, when I find the time!"  Funny how we all made office friends back in the 90s.
Lost count of how many times we'd "swap out" a clogged mouse, so it was the assistant Manager's problem. 

Quote from: born2print on March 07, 2023, 10:49:51 AMYa ever know anyone that would point at the screen with a pen and get ink on it?
grrrrrrrr.

Quote from: David on March 07, 2023, 10:12:12 AMI had a color retoucher I worked with that would lose his mind if you ever touched his screen with you bare finger.

AS WELL, HE SHOULD ... I still get angry over it!

When I did photoshop 40hrs a week, uninterrupted, I used to flip out over that shit ... you'd be "in the zone" crushing 1hr enahnce/sharpen reqs in about 15mins, only to WASTE 5 mins trying to clone out some grubby A-hole's finger print on the screen!

Yeah I already saw that online (MacWorld site) ... figured there "had to be" a catch, so there isn't?!?!?

Is it possible to reset/format/wipe a Mac and start over?
(I have a MacBook Pro the company doesn't seem to want back)

I got into a weird argument with an IT guy over my PC, he "demanded" I give him the key for a licensed version of Adobe Acrobat, which (ironically) I got from THIS SITE about 6 years back ... I don't have it.
Now I think they've forgot about the Mac, in their haste/annoyance!


I'm happy to send the Mac back to them, but REALLY would like to wipe the damn thing and avoid dealing with these people ever again.

Quote from: Joe on December 09, 2022, 09:16:50 AMPrinting is expensive.

"Holy crap ... Ya know, let's just buy our own printer! That'll fix it!"

It's like a Christmas Puppy for the workplace ... you're all excited for a month or two, then the reality of maintenance and responsibility kicks in, and nobody wants to be bothered anymore!

"No-justice no-peace! No-pantone Police!"



I guess it's an internet jurisdiction stand-off then ... I wonder whether the PMS and Pantone police would be anorexic or obese?