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Two PCs is an excellent idea that I've used before. However, I find it
easier to run the software I document on the same box as the software I use
to document . . . maybe with two monitors. My setup certainly makes screen
grabs more convenient.
Now, consider I am speaking what I would like! Certainly, what I suggest is
not needed merely for writing a manual, I was addressing the software
requirements the original poster had. PhotoShop is the critical component
and its photo-editing, bitmap creation capabilities go beyond most technical
documents into pre-press high-color marketing, art, and the like. FrameMaker
is not a hog (although, methinks it leaks memory a little) but PhotoShop is
hugely resource intensive. Stack PhotoShop with FrameMaker plus a screen
capture tool plus the application you are documenting plus E-mail plus . . .
plus . . ..
The system I use most is a PIII 450 with a 12GB IDE hard drive, the retail
Matrox 32MB G400 MAX, soundcard (for . . . er . . . Quake), 21-inch monitor,
128MB 100MHz SDRAM. This works. At home, for the same kind of work, I use a
P5-166MMX 96MB EDO RAM, a Matrox Millenium retail card with 4MB WRAM. This
aging system has 4GB HD space and a SCSI subsystem. The latter, home system
can quickly be overwhelmed by PhotoShop, especially when using other tools
at the same time or when photo-editing for applications other than
FrameMaker. By overwhelmed I mean low-system-resource errors, low-memory
messages, and processes that crawl along so slowly I can make a 5-course
lunch and eat it before returning to the PC (try billing for that). All of
these are in various forms of Windows. I am thinking about a Mac G400 for my
next home PC but am partially scared off by the ATI monopoly on graphics . .
.
Anyway, for PhotoShop-intensive (or even moderate PhotoShop use--or other
professional photo editors) methinks 64MB RAM waaaay to little, and the 133
processor and probably your graphics card are slow, also. For plain old
FrameMaker or Miscrosoft Word, the system you describe should be fine, but
it's definitely behind the power curve and you should see real savings by
upgrading.
Best regards,
Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Maaike Groenewege [SMTP:mgr -at- mediasys -dot- nl]
>
>
> Reaction to Sean's suggestion:
>
> *swallow, gulp* all that for writing a manual? I need to contact my
> manager
> immediately, because I'm heavily under-equipped :o))
>
> Some more serious comments: I use a P1-133 computer with 64 Mb RAM for
> writing, but I used to have a separate computer for running the software
> I'm
> writing about (I'm not using it at the moment because I have to
> reconfigure
> it). So, instead of one super computer, I've got two regular ones. It
> works
> great for me, because I don't have to switch between my word processor and
> the company software all the time.
