While I was able to find the Viper 1.9 CD, I'm hesitant to reinstall, knowing how touchy the serialization, with it having a dongle can be.
AFAIK, having installed and re-installed 2 Viper 1.92 (one was a 1.9, immediately updated to 1.91, and updated to 1.92 some years later, the other one was a 1.92 direct) on various second-hand Apple computers (two 8200, one 8500 and two 7300, depending of the second-hand computers I could get), i can say that there is no serialization: you only have to install the software, and to plug the dongle.
While the other machine that runs a Agfa 1500 runs 1.92, I wonder if Agfa 1000 would work on the 1.92, or if the PM 7300 will.
Yes and yes: 1.91/1.92 are only minor updates of the 1.9, and the 3 can drive the AccuSet 800/1000/1500 serie, and the 3 are running fine on a PC601/PC604 based computers like the PM7300.
I had jacked up the memory to about 70000K for the input buffer, but it seems that anytime the page tries to print, it quits real early in the process, and the error message suggests I up the "source list" and "display list" settings.
The machine has 96MB of RAM in it currently.
Amount of RAM shouldn't be an issue, as the machine had run flawlessly for years until just a few weeks ago, with the same amount of RAM.
The minimum memory in the computer for a Viper 1.9 is about 64 MB... and my first installation on the PM7300 ran fine with only 80 MB... and I began to have much more memory only when I upgraded the DTP computer from a PM8500 to a G4 and removed the memory modules from the 8500 to put some in the RIP... but I didn't notice any change in the RIP speed, as it was already working much faster than imagesetter could image!!!
But memory become an issue when you set the input buffer memory at a value higher than the available memory!!!
My only question, is I imagine I'd have the CD for the 1.92, but could I install it with using the same dongle that I've been using for 1.9?
Installation CD has no importance... the only important thing is the dongle: your licence for a Viper 1.9x RIP is linked to the dongle, and if you have 2 dongles you can install 2 RIPs with only one 1.92 CD.
(I'm sure, because I did it: my first RIP had a 1.9 CD with floppy disks to upgrade to 1.91... but when I bought a second imagesetter, an Avantra25, I got a second Viper 1.9 RIP with a real 1.92 CD... and as this second Imagesetter works quicker than the AccuSet, I re-installed my two RIPs to allow the fastest imagesetter to use the fastest computer, which was the 7300, downgrading the AccuSet RIP on a PM8200... And being fed up to install one RIP with first the 1.9 CD and then to have to use floppies to upgrade from 1.9 to 1.91 and then a second CD for the downloaded 1.92 upgrade, I made the 2 installations with the same 1.92 CD that I got with the Avantra... and I'm not sure of which dongle I plugged on these computers: I simply did connect one dongle to one computer, and the other dongle to the other computer...)
If I have to stay at Viper 1.9 because I can't use the dongle paired with it for VIper 1.92
??? normally, you can: 1.92 is only a minor update working with the same licence and the same dongle than the 1.9.
As i said above, my first Viper has a 1.9 CD, my second has a 1.92, and both dongle are identical and both RIPs can run with the dongle of the other.
, I wonder if I could upgrade to OS 8.6 under my current setup
Yes: I did run my Vipers 1.9x on 7.5, 8.1, 8.51, 8.6, and 9.1.
But don't forget that higher is the OS, more memory it needs, leaving less memory for the RIP.
(As the computer hosting the RIP was always fully dedicated to the RIP only, I always clean my OS after installation, removing all the unneeded parts, unuseful control panels, unuseful extensions, unuseful utilities and softwares to gain memory and disk space... I even remove the CD reader after installation and removed the CD driver extensions!!!)
While it sounds that you had plenty more RAM than we have, it seems as though what we asked of the machine, solely to send pages to the Afga AccuSet 1000, it was able to do that for years, so having additonal memory doesn't seem to be the issue.
You're right... but your memory settings can be an issue if they don't match with the real available memory (don't forget to turn off the virtual memory of the OS)
The thing that I'm trying find a fix for, is when you have Viper 1.9 running, and you go to "About Viper 1.9" under the Apple in the left hand corner, it tells me that only 64K is allocated to both the "source list" and "display list." On the AccuSet 1500, which is running 1.92, when I do the same thing, it tells me those settings are 20 or more times larger for settings. It clearly quits on sending the pages when it gets to that 64K threshold, which is barely getting the page started, so I figure once I get that setting upped, the pages will once again be able to run through the process and be sent to the AccuSet 1000.
As I didn't use the 1.92 RIP since about 2 years, I don't remember exactly how it works... tonight, I'll reconnect my 1.9 and look at what you say.
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Edit: I took my 7300 from the shelves and plugged it...
To come back about this dongle issue that worries you, as my two viper 1.9 boxes, with the two 1.9 dongles, are carefully tidy-up somewhere in a safe place... too far away, in order to make my tests I simply used a third 1.9 dongle that is normally used for a Viper 3 (linked with a second "update 1.9 to 3" dongle)... and it worked fine!
(and I'm sure that this 1.9 dongle I used to make the tests is not the original dongle that matches with the CD used to install that 1.92 RIP in the PM 7300...)
The "source list" and "display list" are automatiquely set with an amount of memory depending of:
1- the amount of memory allocated by the finder to the Viper software,
2- the setting of the buffers sharing between "line-art" and "image" (menu "Options"-> "Configure Buffers"):
• "source list" = "image"
• "display list" = "line-art"
If you have 64 KB for both buffers, it's probably because your software has only the minimum allocated memory in the finder, and your buffers setting is "50%".
Having 96 MB of memory in your 7300, the system 8.1 should use about 20-25 MB, so you can allocate 65000 KB to your Viper, and then you'll get around 9500 KB for both "source list" and "display list": simply start your computer, click in the apple menu on the item "About your computer", look at the real available memory and adjust the memory allocated to your Viper software.
(be sure that the virtual memory is turned off:
• if the "About your computer" window shows you:
- Memory: 96 MB
- virtual memory: 97 MB (or more)...
... go to the "Memory" control panel, de-active the virtual memory, and restart your Mac.
• if the "About your computer" window shows you:
- Memory: 96 MB
- virtual memory: off...
... it's OK.)
To allocate the memory to a soft:
- click once on the soft,
- hit "Command i" (or menu "File" -> "Read informations"),
- in the informations windows, click on "Memory" and enter 65000 (or more or less) in the "Desired" or "Wanted" field (I'm not sure of the translation, I have a french OS...)
- close the infos window...
... then:
- launch your Viper,
- when the first windows appears, set your "Input buffer" at a reasonnable value (not 70000!!!): I use 25000 KB,
- let the Viper finish starting,
- click "About your Viper": with 65000 KB memory, your "source list" and "display list" should be set at around 9500 KB,
- go back to the Finder, look at the "About your computer" window to control the use of the available memory, and adjust the allocated memory if needed.
