Bought the Designer SE

Congratulations, Kirsten! Do be aware, you'll soon be addicted to putting designs on *everything*! Old T-shirts, totes, jackets....

And this is definitely something the girls will love, too. Blair is nuts about it.

Beverly

Yay!!!! Happy Dancing for you!!! That sounds like so much fun. And I know you will use it like crazy. :)

So

Shouldn't school be starting back up this week? Mine go back tomorrow. ;)

Sharon

I think I am already addicted. I can't think of much else. School did start back up last week but they still make alot of work for me with laundry, dishes, etc. If I was alone for a week (with Mr. Designer SE) I could really have a good time (haha). A girl can dream, can't she?

Kirsten

Thanks Beverly, The girls are nuts about it. We went to the fabric store yesterday to buy stabilizer and Britt-Christine and Ann-Cathrine chipped in and bought fabric to sew Ann-Cathrine pajamas. When we came home, Britt-Christine went right to work, cut them out and started sewing them, then embroidered something on the pants. Is this the same machine you have?

Kirsten

Isn't this why our parents sent us to camp in the summer? Or to relatives in the country. In my family, we played "round robin." I went to my father's, and my cousin came to my mother. Plus two weeks away at camp, and my mother had a nice break.

No, I bought the Singer XL5000, at the end of that model run. Pogonip/Joanne mentioned longing for one a few years back. She liked the "endless bobbin", and I find that to be a terrific feature. I also invested in the Singer proprietary software package (PSW 2.0a), as well as Embird. I have loved creating my own designs.

Beverly

I got one, Beverly, and also the PSW 2.0a, which I need to plug in to see if it works..... I got it from Jenny and she tested it before shipping.

Just don't bother buying a new laptop to run the PSW. My new Dell had no serial port (of course), and no matter how I stand on my head or hold my nose, I cannot send a design from the laptop to the SM using the "send" feature from PSW. I have to close PSW down and send using the (extremely limited) "XL5000 Conversion Tool" software which shipped with the machine. I swear, I am going to go buy an older used notebook just to have one with a native serial port. BAH!

Beverly

I have a relatively new Dell - a year or so old - but I think it has a serial port. It's hard for me to see the back of the tower, but with a mirror.....I see what looks like a serial port there.... keeping fingers crossed. Otherwise, I would consider hauling the tower down to Comp USA and having a serial port plugged into the motherboard. Or doing it myself. I've installed network cards before, it can't be any harder than that, I don't think.

I use a USB to serial adapter cable with my PSW 2.00a.. It works fine for me, but it others are not always as lucky (some brands work better than others it seems, and some computers just seem to have problems with the adapters for some reason)..

Sometimes you need to resort to a PCI serial port card, which as you said, gives you a native serial port.

BTW, you can register your previously-loved PSW at the PSW site. (Ask me how I know this.)

do not use any of the "updates" from the site, except the"assistant" patch if you have PSW 2.00a PSW 2.00a is a very slightly watered down commercial digitizing software.. The worst thing about it is the ever-so-confusing manual.

me

Beverly, Have you tried a USB to serial adapter cable? There are a few different ones out there and some of them work better than others.

I use this one by CableMax

I also have one of these by Sabrent of both of them the first one truly is transparent to anything I have connected to it so far. Even the portable radios we use for the fire service don't see it there and THEY are VERY fussy about the signals.

Kristen, it sounds like you got the perfect machine for you! Enjoy - and envisage me as a smal green greasy spot on the carpet! Jealousy does terrible things to one... ;)

Congratulations on the purchases, Kirsten! I know you and the girls will enjoy both machines. The spring term of school has begun now, hasn't it? So at least, for a few hours daily, you can have both machines all to yourself. Emily

Sounds like your Dell is a desktop, it may well have a serial port. My notebook had none, just lots of USB ports. After pulling out my hair, I *finally* found a USB-to-serial converter which worked (and a pair of null-modem cables), which works fine for making the card-reader find the computer so I can use the software, and I can do all the editing I want in PSW, but no matter what combination of port/speed settings I use the PSW software will *not* see the XL5000. It's just weird! It happens I am able to send designs to the SM using the "Conversion Tool" software, but it's tedious to have to close PSW and then open the CT and locate the saved file, etc.

I really am seriously thinking about finding an older notebook to see if I can fix this problem that way.

Beverly

Yes, several! Including a PCMCIA serial card for the notebook, like:

Only one converter ever worked, and it will not let me send direct to the SM from within PSW2.0a.

Thanks for the input. I suppose I could try additional USB-to-serial converters, but it's frustrating that the "send" feature works perfectly with the Conversion Tool software, it just won't with the PSW 2.0a even though I use the identical port and speed settings. I spent a lot of time with Singer support, they never could figure it out, either.

Beverly

That's what is happening here, apparently. :-(

In one iteration of my attempts to get the machines communicating, I installed a PCMCIA serial card in my notebook, still no joy.

Beverly

Yes, it is a desktop. I paid extra to have a floppy drive put in it, too. I hope to get a round tuit soon and try out my system - hoping not to have all the trouble I have read about others having.

I have a Singer EU that I use an ancient laptop with - works fine, except I hate the laptop. LOL! It has the old hard-to-see screen, and is slower than molasses in January. But it works. I just do everything on my desktop, load the design on a floppy, put it in the laptop and tell it to stitch. Or I did. Haven't done it in a while now. But it works so well, I haven't brought myself to get rid of it.

The thing to remember about computers is that they will never do what you want them to do. They will only do what you tell them to do, and you have to speak their language.

The other newsgroup you might want to check out is alt.sewing.mach-embroidery. There's always people there to answer any embroidery questions with operation of your machine as well as software suggestions and trouble shooting. I'd also strongly recommend taking any free classes, especially the into to your machine, that your dealer offers for your machine. I have the Designer and I was amazed at the little tricks they teach that aren't in the manuals.

I love my machine and have already made it clear I will buried with it ;)

Val

I glance through there, but it seems mostly to be battles between someone they call Taz and a couple of others, unless they're all the same person, it's hard to be sure.