Digital Darkroom Basics, Part 5: The
Computer
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Over the last few months, you have learned how to select a printer, a scanner and photo-editing software. Some of you decided to get a Mac, which is always a good choice. The rest of you decided to get a PC, which is really a matter of picking each component from among thousands available. The Right Stuff PhotoShop for the PC is a Windows program. It will run under Windows 3.1, or Windows 95, or Windows NT. A lot of the PhotoShop documentation is in Adobe Acrobat Reader format. Acrobat Reader does not run under Windows NT, even though PhotoShop does. If you actually like the Windows 95 look and feel, get yourself a Pentium-133 or faster. If you prefer the older style of Windows 3.1, you will be happy running a 486-120 at one-third the cost of the faster Pentium. I use both. The 486-120 takes 8 minutes exactly to spool a 7,342-K graphics file to my Epson print spooler. The Pentium-133 takes 2 minutes and 50 seconds to spool the exact same file. About three times as fast, and about three times as expensive. Maybe you do get what you pay for, just decide what you need and are willing to pay for. I use Asus motherboards. The Pentium is an Intel chip, the 486-120 is from AMD. My 486 has 48-MB of ram, the Pentium has 64-MB. Neither has had any problems working with scanned images, but the biggest file I've made was 20-MB, scanned from an 8 x 10 print. Your printer might be slightly faster if you have an Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) on your computer. These are common now. Slide scanners and flatbed scanners usually require a SCSI adapter and cable. Sometimes these are bundled with the scanner. They are expensive, so find out what you are getting with your particular scanner. I use an Adaptec 2940 SCSI adapter with my Agfa scanner. The Adaptec also drives my Seagate 8-GB tape backup. Pick a tape backup that will backup your entire hard disk on a single tape, or you won't use it very often. SCSI hard drives are available, but EIDE drives are cheaper and faster for desktop computers. Don't buy anything smaller than 1.2-GB. Your 486 or Pentium motherboard should have built-in EIDE connectors, as well as two high-speed serial ports and a parallel port. Seagate hard drives are a good choice. Don't buy a Conner. PhotoShop comes on a CD. Buy a 4x CD-ROM that connects to your EIDE. You don't need anything faster. SCSI CD-ROMs aren't worth the extra price. Panasonic CD-ROMs are fine. Each of my computers has a 15-inch monitor. I was told this would be suitable for 800 x 600 resolution viewing, whereas a 14-inch monitor is only good for 640 x 480 work. Balderdash! You can't see beans on a 15-inch monitor running at 800 x 600. Not unless they are very large beans, anyway. Yes, you can see more of the graphic image. When you see text, however, it is usually too small to read easily. You will have trouble reading the menu options, the tool bar names, and the on-screen help. I run both of my monitors at 640 x 480, even though the text is just a little too big. Don't make this same mistake. Either buy a good 14-inch monitor or a good 17-inch monitor. Don't waste money with the 15-inch size. I like the Mitsubishi monitors, and the less expensive ADI monitors. You'll need a really fast video card to handle 16.7 million colors at 640 x 480, and an even faster one if you plan to use 800 x 600. The ATI Mach 64 is pretty darn good on my 486. It is 86 times faster than a standard VGA card. On the other hand, the Matrox Millennium on my Pentium is 267 times faster than a standard VGA. That's right. Tip: Buy a cheaper CPU, hard disk or tape drive if you have to, but spend the bucks for a Matrox Millennium. You will be very glad you did! Buy a good mouse. A cheap mouse packs it in within months, but a good mouse will last about a year before it is too dirty to be cleaned. Better yet, get a trackball, which does not get dirty as quickly as a mouse. I use a LogiTech TrackMan Marble, which LogiTech claims will never wear out or lose its sensitivity. Are You Worn Out, Yet? Well, I sure am. Picking a computer system is easy if you just walk into a store and hand the salesperson your credit card. Analyzing your requirements and selecting computer hardware and software that satisfies those requirements is hard work. [Next month I will show you how to create something really neat with your new digital darkroom.]
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