There is a free alternative to the Parallels app called VirtualBox which is not as smooth as the Parallels app but still more than usable.Īnother option is to create a dual boot system with Boot Camp, but this is not nearly as practical. Parallels license cost $80 which is steep for this type of software and you still have to buy a license for Windows. It’s easy to install and workflow is quite fluid as long as you have enough RAM to accommodate both operating systems. This will allow you to use best from both worlds and seamlessly copy and paste between 2 operating systems. With the Parallels app you can run Windows OS inside an app so you can have windows and Mac apps side by side. If you don’t want to go for option a) (buy dedicated Windows machine) but still want to use Windows-based software you can install windows on a Mac OS as a virtual machine using Parallels application. If you have one of these Chinese controllers there is alternative software that works on a Mac, but we will get to it later in this article. Controllers in Chinese manufactured laser cutting machines use specific software which is usually windows based (RuiDa controllers work with RDWorks software, Trocen controllers with LaserCAD etc…) so if you want to use this type of software you will need a Windows environment for that. This option is best used if you have a specific program that you want or need to use which works only on Windows. We will skip option a) since it is pretty straightforward and not relevant for this article and go straight for the next one which is… Run Windows on a Mac But even so, for any serious designing you will need to use proper vector drawing app because control software is just not as capable (which is understandable, it’s not meant to be a drawing software). There are few laser controlling software that offers some designing capabilities and in recent years they got better from designing point of view. Now, before we get started it’s important to make a distinction between laser control software (which is software that communicates with laser cutting machine) and laser design software (app used to create graphics). Luckily, technology and software are developing rapidly so in this day and age there are plenty of options (paid and free) to choose from if you are not Windows OS user. Go for an expensive top brand machine that comes with proprietary “print drivers” for Mac OS.Run Windows in a virtual machine-based environment on a Mac or.Buy a cheap PC and install windows on it (popular option even today because you probably don’t want to keep your Mac in the workshop).Depending on the brand and the type of the controller in your machine there are several options regarding which software you can use.If you were a Mac user trying to get into laser cutting a couple of years ago your options regarding software would have been quite limited. They are often used in pairs but they are designed to do different things.īut, before we get any further first we need to make a distinction between laser designing software and laser control software. Laser design softwareis used to create graphics that can later be cut on a laser cutter. CorelDraw, Inkscape, and Adobe Illustrator are some of the most popular ones. If you want to read about those, here is the list of the most popular ones with their pros and cons. Laser control software (or CAM as they are called in CNC world) are used to convert a graphic design into a set of commands that your laser controller can understand and then translate into a list of coordinates. With that cleared, here is the list of most commonly used laser control software for laser cutting today. K40 WhispererĬommonly used with – Inkscape K40 Whisperer is often used with Inkscape K40 Whisperer (created by Scorchworks) is laser controlling software most commonly used with legendary/notorious (depending on how you look at it) Chinese K40 laser cutters that come with M2 Nano controllers. It was designed to be used as a (much better) alternative to the LaserDRW software that ships with some of these cheap laser cutters. It simplifies the entire process and eliminates the need for a USB stick that was required with LaserDRW while supporting all the same controllers LaserDRW does and evens some that it doesn’t. K40 Whisperer is created only as a laser controlling software so It has no design capabilities and it relies on dedicated design software (like Inkscape) for graphics creation.
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