Need advice about upgrading really old graphics software

(still using photoshop 5)

[Trisha]

Hi! I've been using photoshop 5 on my old NT computer for quite a few years now. But now I need to save some images as .png for some cafepress items. As far as I tell tell PS 5 doesn't allow saving images as .png. Also from what I can tell the newest version of PS is called 'CS', but it is only for Windows XP. My NT machine is getting pretty old, so I don't think it would be a good idea to try upgrading anything on it. I have a new computer, running linux though. But of course photoshop doesn't make a linux version. It seems I have 2 options overall:

PS 7: I recently got Win4lin installed on the linux computer and am thinking about getting PS 7, which I see they sell at amazon for only $124.98 and running it on the linux machine, as it is compatible with Win98. It looks like it is only compatible with a newer service pack for nt than what I have on that computer, and I'm afraid to try upgrading it. So I could get PS 7 for the linux/win4lin/98. I'll still have to scan in images to the old computer though - I don't have a digital camera or a scanner for the linux computer yet. But I guess the big question about this option is if PS 7 supports creating .png images or not? Also, can 5 be upgraded to 7 even?

Gimp: It looks like there is a windows version available, but I don't know if it is easy to install or not. I could of course install it on the linux machine, except one problem. I'm still using a dial up connection, and from what I've been told it is nearly impossible to download new software with this version of linux with a dial up connection. I plan to get a cable connection soon though. It might be nice to have both a newer version of PS and Gimp too. I've heard some people say Gimp is just as good, and others say it can't do as much as photoshop. And of course, the important question again would be - can gimp save image as .png?

Any comments or advice from anyone who has kept more up to date about graphics software? Especially about running PS 7 in Win98 and creating .pngs?

[Occupant]

I have used Photoshop5 for quite a while as well, but my version supports .PNG It easily converts .jpg or .tif to .png It's not possible to make .gif into a .png, however.

I recently moved 'up' to Photoshop7, and really love it. Especially the 'save for web' feature. The Amazon price sounds good. Go for it! Runs fine on Win98, but be sure you have plenty of RAM.

[limbo]

I use Win 98 and PS7 now for some of the design work - no problems and it allows save as png. As Occupant says the save for web feature will be a godsend if V5 didn't have it. It'll allow a much greater level of optimisation. I think you'll get image ready bundled with it which will enhance this tenfold (this is like Fireworks - Fireworks however uses PNG as it's native file and is very flexible this way). I have been using PS7 a while and it did everything we needed, till recently when we invested in a new digital camera and needed to upgrade to CS. But for web images you could do a lot worse.

[mivox]

Save for web was introduced with v.5.5, if I recall correctly... But I think 6/7 was where the really great text handling features started being introduced. If you can get 7 for ~$120, I'd definitely go for it. :)

[monkeythumpa]

The healing brush is a nice addition to PS 7. Great if you need to get rid of wrinkles or match up seperate photos.

[Trisha]

Thanks for the replies! Sorry I didn't reply back sooner, I was visiting my mom and while there discovered that my isp no longer has a phone number to dial into from her area, so I had no internet access while there.

Occupant - So PS 5 does allow .png creation? I hadn't noticed it, but I'll check mine tomorrow.

From what I've heard it was verion 5.5 that started making PS more web oriented, like mivox said. I just never wanted to spend the money to upgrade.

After looking at amazons site a little closer it looks like they sell both a ps7 upgrade and ps 7 by itself - and its cheaper than the upgrade! Unless I'm looking at something totally wrong.

I would like to have a newer version of PS, and 7 won't be around forever maybe, so I think I should get it while I can. Especially if there won't be any way to run newer versions on a linux OS.

limbo - you mentioned needing CS for a digital camera. Why is this? I am hoping to get a digital camera sometime over the next few months. I haven't even began to see what will be compatible with linux yet though. But like I said, CS isn't going to be compatible with linux.

[encyclo]

If you're on Linux, why not try the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) - it can produce PNG files just fine and can read and edit PSD files.

It's certainly not as advanced as the latest Photoshop, but it does a very commendable job, and it's entirely free. You may find it to be better than the old PS5. It is by far the best graphics editor for Linux/Unix out there, and the latest 2.0 version is even better still. I use it daily (although I'm not a graphic artist).

[gimp.org...] (or download it directly from your distribution's repository)

[Trisha]

Gimp is one of the choices I figured I had, but I wasn't sure if it could create .png images or not. Plus, I'm going to have to wait until I have a faster connection to be able to download it. In the end, I'll probably get both PS 7 and GIMP.

[limbo]

limbo - you mentioned needing CS for a digital camera, why is this?

Thread here [webmasterworld.com]

Ta, Limbo

[Birdman]

Hello,

I'll second encyclo. Gimp is great! However, I have never used PS, so I can't compare.

I have The Gimp running on a win98 box with no probs.

Birdman

[Trisha]

So, it sounds like the RAW file format is good, but there just isn't much software available yet that recognizes it. Hopefully GIMP will eventually.

[shigamoto]

Hello!

I use Photoshop 6, is it a big difference to ver 7? I'm thinking about upgrading but don't know if it's worth the money.

GIMP is a very affordable (considering it's free) and competent program. Maybe I should go for that instead, I tested it a year ago when running Linux. oh well :)