I would like to take a moment to vent my complete frustration with technology today

[Kiwibird]

I am so, so very frustrated with technology today. It’s not really Apples fault per se that Catalina has rendered my extremely old/outdated Wacom unusable, but the fact remains it is unusable now as a graphics tablet. If I want to continue using it, I will now have to hope my technologically gifted husband can figure out some “workaround”, likely downloading a legacy OS to an external hard drive I can boot from, which I’m sure will be time consuming for him to figure out since he’s a PC guy and will surely be annoying to use. And if that fails, I guess I’m stuck using my iPad for any digital art creation in the foreseeable future because new Wacoms are far beyond my budget right now and with a baby coming soon, will undoubtedly be out of reach for a good long time. My iPad Pro, which I initially had high hopes for, comes nowhere close to the precision of a dedicated graphics tablet and is basically an overpriced entertainment device. I will likely just revert back to traditional art mediums if my husband can’t get the other one working. At least marker, colored pencil and acrylics won’t be affected by stupid software upgrades right?

Oh and the icing on the cake? Naturally, I just ordered an expensive new wide format printer I’ve been saving for a while to get before the baby comes to be able to do my own prints, notecards etc... at home as well as a Cricut machine for stickers and bookmarks as I’m looking for different ways to sell art after baby. Big digital pieces can take 20+ hour to create, so I have a whole plan for smaller scale art that I only have to find an hour or 2 a day to work on and still get a consistent flow of new pieces. I literally just got the printer yesterday:31: I kind of feel like sitting here on the couch and throwing breakable objects at the wall, or putting my head through the wall. Life can never just go...smoothly can it?

 

[SailBoat]

Apple O/S Catalina: Warning, this O/S system is not ready for Primetime! It was released prior to major Application Software being ready and has resulted in 1000's of crashed computers and other devises that can use it.

If you have not yet downloaded it, avoid doing so until after the first of the new year!

Kiwi's Mom: Have your in-house computer expert take your devise back to the prior O/S system!

 

[Valyndris]

It's not just you, I am really good with computers and tech and even I get annoyed by it sometimes. Especially when companies decide to update things that worked fine and completely change the UI (user interface) so that everything you were used to is now completely changed. I've never been a fan of apple products, they just aren't compatible with anything but their own tech.

 

[Kiwibird]

Apple O/S Catalina: Warning, this O/S system is not ready for Primetime! It was released prior to major Application Software being ready and has resulted in 1000's of crashed computers and other devises that can use it.

If you have not yet downloaded it, avoid doing so until after the first of the new year!

Kiwi's Mom: Have your in-house computer expert take your devise back to the prior O/S system!

In my case the other company (Wacom) will not be updating the drivers for the model I have at all for Catalina as it’s so old at this point (I contacted them directly). So even if I rollback to the prior operating system now, as soon as I upgrade, it will stop working again. I need to run an older OS off an external hard drive to continue using it when I need to create art and then still be able to use an up to date OS otherwise. I understand the concept of what needs to occur, but need Joes help. It’s either that and have a workaround that will work for longer or give up on The Wacom entirely and use my iPad or go back to traditional mediums. I really dislike drawing on my iPad, but it is possible I haven’t given it a fair chance but my impression has been it’s simply not as good for the type of art I do.

 

[ravvlet]

This had happened to me too when I needed to use a very old Wacom tablet as a back up device when my normal set up was on the fritz. my condolences! I have a lot of friends who really love the iPad Pro but I felt similarly to you. There is however a pared-down version of photoshop on it now?

Or be a little naughty and hope someone sends you an Amazon or similar gift card for the baby and get a new tablet!

 

[Kiwibird]

This had happened to me too when I needed to use a very old Wacom tablet as a back up device when my normal set up was on the fritz. my condolences! I have a lot of friends who really love the iPad Pro but I felt similarly to you. There is however a pared-down version of photoshop on it now?

Or be a little naughty and hope someone sends you an Amazon or similar gift card for the baby and get a new tablet!

I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t like iPad for art. My art relies heavily on very precise and detailed patterns and the iPad is just not up to the task. Maybe it’s user error but I started with the Wacom and instantly was generating art on par with what I could draw in traditional mediums. In the same program as I have on the iPad too. Everything I draw on the iPad looks “rough” , lines do not come out smooth, just looks very amateurish Is that the issue you find with the iPad?

I don’t think I know anyone who’d send me anywhere close to enough money on a gift card for any reason to get a new Wacom We haven’t really gotten much for gifts for the baby. We don’t really do the gift exchange thing with anyone, so it’s not unexpected. I wish someone would send me $550+ though (that was about the cheapest I was finding). I already have everything we need for the baby:33:

 

[ravvlet]

Woah. I haven’t looked at the prices in a while - last I checked the Intuos line was a couple hundred. I’m not sure what size you use though! I have an all in one cintiq that I got off Craigslist, sometimes you can get really lucky there!

I’m sorry! I wish you the best of luck. If I had a spare I’d offer it but mine are probably even older than yours and are definitely not supported anymore.

 

[Kiwibird]

Woah. I haven’t looked at the prices in a while - last I checked the Intuos line was a couple hundred. I’m not sure what size you use though! I have an all in one cintiq that I got off Craigslist, sometimes you can get really lucky there!

I’m sorry! I wish you the best of luck. If I had a spare I’d offer it but mine are probably even older than yours and are definitely not supported anymore.

I’m looking at Cintaq’s. I don’t think I could work with the Intuos with no screen. I currently and would like to continue using the 16” display. They are on sale for $550 right now (the pro line is over $1000). I’ll probably just keep my eyes peeled for a used or refurbished one. I also see some different brands to Wacom that cost less but am leery they won’t be as good. Decisions, decisions....:33:

 

[SailBoat]

Woah. I haven’t looked at the prices in a while - last I checked the Intuos line was a couple hundred. I’m not sure what size you use though! I have an all in one cintiq that I got off Craigslist, sometimes you can get really lucky there!

I’m sorry! I wish you the best of luck. If I had a spare I’d offer it but mine are probably even older than yours and are definitely not supported anymore.

I’m looking at Cintaq’s. I don’t think I could work with the Intuos with no screen. I currently and would like to continue using the 16” display. They are on sale for $550 right now (the pro line is over $1000). I’ll probably just keep my eyes peeled for a used or refurbished one. I also see some different brands to Wacom that cost less but am leery they won’t be as good. Decisions, decisions....:33:

Have your on-site computer expert take a long look at the display unit requirements. It maybe very possible that the smart flat screen TV's will communicate with your design unit (???). 55" smart flat screens can be found (new) in the $550 range. Not sure what is coming for year 2020, but there seems to be a major effort of eliminating all in store stock. If not right for your application, so be it. But at least you will know.

 

[Kiwibird]

Have your on-site computer expert take a long look at the display unit requirements. It maybe very possible that the smart flat screen TV's will communicate with your design unit (???). 55" smart flat screens can be found (new) in the $550 range. Not sure what is coming for year 2020, but there seems to be a major effort of eliminating all in store stock. If not right for your application, so be it. But at least you will know.

The issue is the unit will no longer communicate with its pen so it’s essentially been rendered a second monitor. I’m guessing it’s a move by the company to force you into buying a new unit even though your old one was still working fine The addition of another monitor/display wouldn’t help, unfortunately. I wish it were that simple! These “tablets” are not like an iPad or galaxy tab and cannot operate independently of a computer (in my case, a MacBook Pro). They’re like a monitor in that sense, they don’t “do” anything unless hooked up to a computer and the pen has to be precisely calibrated through software and drivers from the manufacturer.

I did check with the place I bought my MacBook and iPad (they sell all kinds of refurbished computer stuff and have several locations around Portland) and the guy is going to check with some other locations to see if he can find a used/refurbished one for me. Fingers crossed!

 

[Flboy]

Hey, two thoughts. Rolling back the Mac fixes the problem now! You should be good for quite a while, one level behind!
And. Setting up dual boot on a Mac is fairly straightforward!

 

[Flboy]

I know I said dual boot, but I meant setting up a virtual environment!
This is one free solution to explore!
https://www.virtualbox.org/

Or
https://www.rallyhealth.com/devops/mac-on-mac-virtualization
I can bug my son-in-law, he is a developer! And a Mac snob!

 

[Kiwibird]

I know I said dual boot, but I meant setting up a virtual environment!
This is one free solution to explore!
https://www.virtualbox.org/

Or
https://www.rallyhealth.com/devops/mac-on-mac-virtualization
I can bug my son-in-law, he is a developer! And a Mac snob!

My husband knows what needs to be done but is pushing me to just get a new tablet. Mine is admittedly quite old (10+ years) and was bought used in the first place to see if I even liked creating digital art before investing in the latest and greatest pricey technology. I just never actually bothered upgrading since it worked fine for my needs

I’m just hesitant to spend that much money on an unexpected expense that isn’t 100% essential right now when our baby is due so soon and I don’t know what unexpected expenses the baby will need (I feel we have everything we need/budgeted for continuing expenses but no way to know for sure). It’s an especially annoying time in life for this to happen! In the meantime, I’ve been creating “adult coloring book” pages for digital download on my iPad. At least I’m doing something while I figure it out right?

 

[Kiwibird]

I ended up just biting the bullet on this issue and buying a new tablet. While Joe could have done some workaround for the old one, the fact of the matter was, I bought the old one knowing it was old and nearing its the end of its life expectancy as a means to see if I even liked creating digital art without making a large investment.

I did not end up getting another Wacom. It was just too far out of the realm of our budget and I did not want their “bottom of the range” model that “only” cost $550. I ended up doing a fair amount of research into other brands and got a 22” XP pen tablet, which is larger and at the top end of their range for tablets. It’s on sale for the holidays and a pretty good price at $360 right now, if anyone is interested https://www.instagram.com/p/B5a0MQbgx2Z/?igshid=8ixey0mzub13 I have been using heavily for a week now and it seems like a nice enough tablet and I’ve had zero issues with it. I’d be interested to try a Wacom 22” to see what makes it worth $1200��

 

[bill_e]

Why do you need the new OS at all? Just roll back and don't update...If it ain't broke....