Craft Robo on a Mac

[Liz_S]

Hi,
Just came across your forum and decided to register.

I have just purchased a Craft Robo and can't wait for it to arrive. They look brilliant.

Anyway, problem is, I have a Mac. I don't have Illustrator software - can anyone tell me if I need to buy this before the CR will work? Obviously, having just spent £245 on the Craft Robo, I could do without spending the extra money.

I do still have my Windows PC hiding upstairs which I will use if I really have to, but, having been away from Windows for six months I really, really don't want to go back to it. The Mac is so much better than a PC - I just wish that everything would work on them.

Thanks,
Liz

[Jennywren47]

Hi there,

I agree with you on all points. I have spent a lot more than the intial outlay on the Robo in order to get any useful mileage out of it. But I do I love my mac. Have you got a new one which will have come with Bootcamp software? If so, you could take the copy of windows off your other machine and install it on your mac. Then you would have the option of starting up in either osx or windows. This way, you can have the best of both worlds. I bought parallels for my mac, so that I can run both systems side by side but I do find it painfully slow. You can drag and drop files between the two systems and this does make it easier to access PC programmes.

While you can get a version of Inkscape for the mac, I don't know if the Craft Robo (Cutting Master) plug in works with it.

I am always glad to meet more mac users on this forum and hope you find a way forward to enjoy your robo on using your mac - when it arrives!

[jochapman]

I use mine with parallels software then you dont have to choose with operating system to start up with, just install parallels and install the robo there. Have search through the the forum for more info.

HTH

Jo xxx

[Lucille]

Welcome to UKS

There are ladies who use a Mac I think it is the drivers you need and something called Parallels, I'm sure one will be along soon to help you out.

You don't NEED to buy Illustrator or any other software you should get Design Master with it and there is an update going to be available any day.

Join the Crafty Club once you get your machine that is here

We have lots of tutorials in the tutorial forum and if you click on the link under my signature there is lots of info about the site.

You will have to register on the template section to be able to view and download templates just look for PLEASE READ at the top of the template section window and you will be OK.

[Jennywren47]

is Design Master mac friendly (or the update)? If not, one would still have to go down the Bootcamp/Parallels route.

Jenny.

[Liz_S]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies.

I don't have boot-camp or parallels on my Mac. To be honest we used to get so many problems with our old PC, we're really kind of reluctant to put Windows on to our Mac. It just runs like a dream, and I'd hate to put windows on it and slow it down or cause problems.

The Design Master software is definitely not Mac friendly. But the Craft Robo comes with a plug in for Illustrator. So I guess I'm going to have to go down that route. It is so expensive though. I couldn't believe the price of it. I have seen some older second-hand versions of it on eBay - I don't know if they'd be compatible with the Craft Robo or with my Mac, but they are an awful lot cheaper.

I know I can always use it with my PC - I just don't really want to do that I guess.

Thanks again for your help everyone. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions once I've got my machine. (hopefully, tomorrow!!!) I could hardly sleep last night thinking about all the things I could make.

Liz

[Jennywren47]

Hi again,

I would contact Graphtec to ask which versions of Illustrator are compatible before you buy anything. There is not much basic difference in older versions of Illustrator - newer versions just have more bells on. (I think this info may be on their site.)

[Liz_S]

Thanks, Jenny,

Yes, I'll do that. I also checked on the Apple site to see which versions were compatible with my Mac. Someone told me which were ok, but "to get the best stability, you should get the newest version" Hmmm....do you think they're on commission. Lol, need to save up before I buy anything anyway.

So, I'm thinking that maybe initially I'll just have to start up my Windows computer and use that.

Thanks again for your help,
Liz

[jochapman]

Parallels software is only $80 and there's a free trial on there website. I could never get my robo to cut from Illustrator. I dont have any problems using my robo via the parallel machine and we all use it at work for hosting windows applications.

jo xx

[Liz_S]

Thanks for that Jo,

I certainly don't want to spend the money on Illustrator to then discover it wouldn't work. They say on the site that it should work with the Illustrator plug in that comes with it. Nothing is ever straightforward, is it?

Liz

[Raevyn]

So it seems the consensus then is that you need to run parallels or bootcamp to get the CR to work on a Mac? I have just switched to Mac (what a breath of fresh air after so many years of PC!) and have a copy of Inkscape but again, I can't justify the price of Illustrator. It's good that Graphtec have developed the plugin for Macs but I do wish they had developed it with a different software package than Illustrator. Is there no way they could develop a version of RM or DM for Mac?

[Owl]

I have a Mac and to be honest haven't used my Craft Robo since I swapped due to the problems above. I may have to bite the bullet and sell the Craft Robo but DH wouldn't be pleased as it was a present so it is just sitting there at the moment. I really can't justify buying ore software at the huge cost it is to get it to run on my Mac.

[Lucille]

So it seems the consensus then is that you need to run parallels or bootcamp to get the CR to work on a Mac? I have just switched to Mac (what a breath of fresh air after so many years of PC!) and have a copy of Inkscape but again, I can't justify the price of Illustrator. It's good that Graphtec have developed the plugin for Macs but I do wish they had developed it with a different software package than Illustrator. Is there no way they could develop a version of RM or DM for Mac?

You would need to contact Graphtec and ask this.

[Liz_S]

So it seems the consensus then is that you need to run parallels or bootcamp to get the CR to work on a Mac? I have just switched to Mac (what a breath of fresh air after so many years of PC!) and have a copy of Inkscape but again, I can't justify the price of Illustrator. It's good that Graphtec have developed the plugin for Macs but I do wish they had developed it with a different software package than Illustrator. Is there no way they could develop a version of RM or DM for Mac?

You are so right - macs are a breath of fresh air compared to PCs, and it seems that more and more people are converting to them.

As for the Robo, I'm using it on my old PC - no way I could afford Illustrator. I did phone Graphtec at the beginning and spoke to their "Mac" guy (sorry, can't remember his name - might be Neil). I don't think there are any plans for a Mac version of the software, but why don't you email or phone them as well. Maybe if they know that there is a big enough demand for it, they might consider it at some point.

Liz

[newedition]

I am new here but this is what I have been told...........

The Robo Craft is not compatible with Mac. I have the software that gives me PC on my Mac but its not a satisfactory arrangement. I bought a PC laptop and now use this for all the MAC unfriendly DVD's and CD's the industry puts out for crafters.

When I need to print and Robo I just plug the various machines in and go and use my MAC for my other projects.

It's a shame that MAC's are not catered for, its because we are in the minority. newedition