R.I.P. FreeHand

The depth of my hatred for Adobe tonight is nearly boundless.
Like most longtime FreeHand users, I greeted Adobe's purchase of
FreeHand with a sense of foreboding and dismay. I hoped that Adobe
would continue to support and develop this extraordinary drawing
tool. Stupid me. FreeHand ran circles around that lumpy piece of
junk called Illustrator. Always did, always will. Macromedia knew
this when they bought FreeHand from Aldus (Remember them? Aldus
pretty much invented desktop publishing), eons ago, way back in the
1990s. And then Adobe got so big and powerful that the FTC allowed
Adobe to buy FreeHand and gut Macromedia's dead carcass. Corporate
feeding frenzies rule our nasty, modern world.
FreeHand MX 11.0.x was working well up to or around Mac OSX
10.2.x. I recently bit the bullet and "upgraded" to OSX 10.4.x (aka
"Tiger" -- argh, Apple, ditch the cat names, OK? Since most of
those big cats are on the brink of extinction, naming your flagship
OS after an endangered species is a weird, ironic marketing
choice).
All hell has broken loose since I "upgraded." Simply turning
on FreeHand's "snap to grid" and turning it off again is now
impossible. Adobe offers a lame "TechNotes" workaround that doesn't
truly work.
Adobe doesn't care. And why should it? Adobe only wants us
all to buy their version of some fabulous next new thing -- like
"CS" (aka "Creative Suite" -- an Orwellian doublethink marketing
campaign if ever there was one). Adobe is nothing more than another
money-grubbing corporate nightmare. Customer loyalty and
trustworthy products don't figure in Adobe's bottom line... let
alone respect or commitment to the venerable art of graphic design.
I used to love getting up in the morning. I used to love
turning on my Mac and making art. I thought I was the luckiest man
in the world! I could make art and design and pay my bills! Stupid
naive me.
Hours of my life melted away forever this afternoon. I'll
never get them back. I was just trying to make some graphic design
for a paying client. For every five minutes I spend on an idea
these days, I spend an hour or so trying to make software express
it. The ratio of art to product is crazy... especially considering
the stupid amount of money Adobe charges for products that never do
what Adobe says they'll do. It's all snake oil and trickery.
I wish I could go back to FreeHand 3.1. It was a brilliant
piece of software. R.I.P. FreeHand. Rest in peace. Shame on Adobe.
Shame. I'm tired and sad tonight, and my deadline is shot to hell.
I used to make digital art, but now I'm just another digital ditch
digger. Just another consumer, hooked on this never-ending heroin
spiral of "upgrade" after never-ending "upgrade."
I looked at the very first serious drawing I ever made with a
vector drawing program (FreeHand 2.0) tonight. You can see it
here. From a
purely technical point of view, it's not a bad drawing... and the
technology that made it possible is gone forever. Bought and sold
by the jerks who own the code.
OK. I'm done with this rant. Thanks for reading it. I guess
I'll go check my email now... an inbox full of more image-based
spam peddling pump 'n dump stock market scams. I used to love the
'net, almost as much as I used to love drawing with FreeHand.

Greetings and thanks to everyone who's posted to this thread.
Interesting insights and opinions here. Special thanks to those of
you who sent private messages of condolence and support via my
site. I took a few days off and I'm feeling a little better.
I stopped in here off and on and decided to wade in again
with what will probably be another longwinded epic-style post. I
tend toward verbosity, especially with a subject like this. In
addition to raising my blood pressure a notch or two, the subject
of FreeHand's demise sparks some passion in me. This will be a long
post because I want to attempt clarity. Clarity sometimes takes
time.
Navale's post regarding the fact that Adobe charges full
price for a broken FreeHand is spot on, as is darrel's car
metaphor. If GM sold a car, and the engine exploded when a buyer
first turned the key, well, that would be the lead story on the
evening news. Congress would launch an investigation. I think
there's a federal law somewhere that requires carmakers to make
parts available for 10 years after a car is released to the public.
I could be wrong, but I think that's true. Anyway, there's no
parallel in the software world... no protection for consumers. It's
buyer beware and blame the consumer if things don't work as
advertised. While the speed of software development makes a ten
year 'parts' guarantee impractical, I don't think some sort of
mandated guarantee of maybe 3 years is unreasonable.
I appreciate Judy Arndt's post. "Keep in mind that if Adobe
is going to put it's logo on a FreeHand box, the product is going
to have to live up to Adobe standards." Well said, Judy. As for the
EPS, PDF, OpenType, and "old code" issues, well, I could discuss
that at greater length later. The short version is that there are
workarounds which worked prior to Mac OSX 10.4. Adobe's FreeHand
product page states that FreeHand is compatible with Mac OSX 10.4.
I took that statement to be true, without following the "emerging
issues" link. Stupid me. I took Adobe at it's word without reading
the fine money grubbing print.
Adobe has a major PR problem with FreeHand and chooses to
blow it off. Frankly, this astonishes me. Maybe Adobe thinks we'll
just fade away. Maybe Adobe is correct in that assumption. For
better or worse, Adobe now owns FreeHand. FreeHand is a spectacular
vector drawing tool (and I still contend that it runs circles
around Illustrator -- old code and all -- don't even get me started
about Illustrator's lumpy old legacy code). There's a market for
FreeHand and no more competition (thank you FTC; nice to know
you're watching out for consumers -- not).
I know no figures on the number of people who use (and maybe
even love) FreeHand, but I suspect it's easily in the hundreds of
thousands... maybe even millions. Why would Adobe abandon a product
it now owns and shun a substantial market? Maybe it's just
corporate spite? The trouble is, we just don't know. Adobe is
silent. There's a major communication break between Adobe and
FreeHand users. I want somebody at Adobe to tell us the truth...
either Adobe will support and develop FreeHand or ignore and
therefore kill it. I want to read a letter on Adobe's FreeHand web
page from somebody in a position to tell me what the hell is going
on with a product in which I've invested thousands of dollars and
thousands of files... a product I still want to buy.
Quick note to doentz here: Yeah, I loved Fontographer too.
Call me paranoid if you like, but I sometimes think Fontographer
was way too brilliant to be allowed to exist in a market-driven
world where Adobe owns just about every font and there's no room
for people to freely make and distribute their own creations. From
Adobe's point of view, such freedom is way too dangerous.
Capitalism run amok.
Curtcarto's post was interesting. Yes, software development
always takes time. I know this; I've seen it first hand... and
maybe that's what's going on with Adobe FreeHand. The point is, we
don't know! All indications from Adobe don't look good. Adobe is
silent. Adobe still charges full price for a broken FreeHand, but
doesn't list it in its main Products page (you have to dig to the
"view all products" link). If an updated version of FreeHand will
indeed join Adobe's product line - with full support and commitment
- you'd never know it by cruising through Adobe's corporate site.
R.I.P. FreeHand.
Argh. I'm gonna stop typing pretty soon. I'm tired and sad.
Before I go, I want to post a little more background about my life
with FreeHand. Maybe this will help readers understand why I'm so
passionate about FreeHand.
I became aware of FreeHand way back around 1986 - shortly
after Aldus PageMaker launched a revolutionary concept called
"desktop publishing." Prior to that, I made art the old fashioned
way... you know, I threw paint at a canvas or scribbled stuff on
real live paper with pen and ink and oil pastels. I beta-tested
FHv.7 for some of the guys who wrote the original FreeHand code. I
bought FreeHand v1.0 and later used v2.0 at a design firm that
employed me to make illustrations for their clients.
With FreeHand v3.1, Aldus nailed the interface and features.
It was a stunning and elegant piece of work. It made Illustrator
look like the junky copycat it is to this very day. If Adobe
offered a Mac OSX compatible version of FreeHand 3.1, I'd buy it in
two seconds flat. Adobe could market it as "FreeHand Lite" - heh.
And then things started getting ugly and convoluted.
Illustrator was emerging as a serious competitor in the vector art
world, while Aldus was loosing track of everything that made it
great. Too many cooks in the kitchen... it happens all the time.
The dot com bubble started to pop and nobody gave a flying fart
about art and vision or related nonsense. It was all about money.
I beta-tested FreeHand 4.0 (which was code named "Roadrunner"
at the time). It was a wreck... a screaming, flaming car crash. It
pulled the rug out from under every user who had invested time and
money and trust in FreeHand. I told the development team that if it
was released as written, loyal customers would scream bloody
murder, jump ship and buy Illustrator. I said, "If your intention
is to kill FreeHand, release this version immediately."
By this time, Aldus was dead. Macromedia owned Freehand and
released it as FreeHand 5.0. Loyal FreeHand customers screamed
bloody murder, jumped ship and bought Illustrator. FreeHand's
market share (not to mention its art and vision) was a sad memory.
Macromedia dorked around with FreeHand for a decade or so.
Version 5 was pretty dismal, but almost useable. By version 7, it
was almost OK. By versions 9 and 10, it was almost interesting.
Through all these versions, Macromedia didn't fix the stuff that
didn't work in previous versions... they just tacked on new
"features" nobody wanted and nobody used. Illustrator followed the
same development path, but by this time it was too late for
FreeHand. Illustrator ruled.
A buddy of mine just sent me an email. His message punched
through... one of two legitimate emails and 56 spams. He said:
"Maybe its time to start associating Adobe with Microsoft in
software's "Evil Overlord" category."
Argh. Welcome to the future. Adobe launches a new marketing
tool called "Adobe Youth Voices" on its home page. Socially
conscious work that can only be expressed by kids who buy Adobe
products. It's all so sick.

Similar Messages

Copying objects from Illustrator CS3 to FreeHand 11.0.2

Working on a Mac in OSX 10.4.11, I was able to select and copy objects in an open Illustrator CS2 file and paste them into an open FreeHand 11.0.2 file, where they would be fully editable. After migrating to OSX 10.6.2 and upgrading to CS3, this no longer works - the objects selected and copied from Illustrator either do not appear (only corner indicators are visible) or a pale version appears as an uneditable low-rez image with funny colors....
Because there are so many missing features in Illustrator, it's important for me to be able to work back and forth between the two apps. Has anyone been able to achieve this (formerly) simple interactivity?

I got the following post from Danny Haas:
If you go to Edit>Special>Paste Special and then select AI/EPS from the list
it should paste just fine. It works well for me.
Worked for me too, although text was not imported as editable text. To do
that had to special paste the text separately as unformatted text, and then
reformat in FH.
From: Judy_Arndt <[email protected]>
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:19:27 -0700
To: PETER AGOOS <[email protected]>
Subject: Copying objects from Illustrator CS3 to FreeHand 11.0.2
I skipped AICS3, but now use AICS4 for some tasks.
The only solution I've found is to save the AI CS4 file as AI 8, open that
in FHMX and copy from there.

Old version of FreeHand 5

I had a working version of FreeHand 5 on my XP machine, which I have used to do a great deal of work, mostly newsletters. It has a lot of features which seem to be missing in the MX versions. It stopped working when my backup disk failed. I need a new activation number. I called about it several months ago, but I couldn't find the actual disk. so they couldn't give me the code. Now, I have the disk, and the documentation files, but I cannot contact Adobe again by telephone.

To locate the serial number:
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/find-serial-number.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/serial-number-retrieval-process-faq.html
https://redeem.licenses.adobe.com/getserial
Here are some links to help make contact:
http://www.adobe.com/support/chat/ivrchat.html
http://www.adobe.com/support/download-install/supportinfo/

I've just switched from Freehand and I'm going to have a heart attack ...

In two weeks, my tech department is ripping Freehand MX off of my machine and I'll be finally forced to use Illustrator.
I know it is going to take a bit of time to get used to Illustrator after using Freehand for the past 15 years, but if someone out there can help me with two questions, I'd sure appreciate it because the Adobe help files aren't as helpful as I'd hoped. (Adobe: screen captures are a useful visual guide when I can't find the "t-slider" and have no idea what it might look like ...)
1. How do you adjust the tint of a color? Apparently there's supposed to be a "t-slider" in the color palette. Perhaps mine isn't visible for reasons unfathomable, but if I create a color and I want to use 10 percent of that color as a tint, I don't want to whip out a calculator and drag each of the CMYK sliders accordingly. I want to use the feature Freehand had, where you type in "8" in the tint box and voila, you've got 8 percent. InDesign has this feature, so I know Adobe knows about it. Where is the tint slider in Illustrator? (I don't want to change its transparency, I did find that palette easily enough ...)
2. If I paste in a graphic from Freehand into Illustrator, everything comes over on one layer. That's annoying, but understandable. But I can't select parts of the graphic and assign them to new layers, they remain firmly on the first layer they were pasted on unless I copy each item, delete the original, click on my new target layer and paste it on that way -- and then, it doesn't paste perfectly back into place, it moves randomly around the page and I have to reposition it. ARGH! How can you reassign layers without cutting and pasting? Clicking doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?
Many, many thanks in advance from a *very* frustrated designer. If I thought I could secretly reinstall Freehand on my machine without tech hunting it down and ripping it out again, I wouldn't be fretting about such things ...

Doug, you gave me the first giggle I've had since I opened this blasted program, so thanks for that.
I'd love to keep secretly installing Freehand, because you can save your finished work as an Illustrator file, and I could then open it in Illustrator CS3, save the final as a CS3 EPS file and nobody would be the wiser ... except my tech department is prone to periodic look-sees on everyone's machines, there was a massive freakout that went all the way to the publisher's office when they discovered I'd installed .... wait for it .... free fonts on my machine that weren't part of the Adobe package they bought. In the end I had to yank the fonts out, despite showing them the read-me files that came with the fonts that expressly permitted usage in commercial applications. It's a very controlled environment. I now have 12 days left to start converting all my files ...
The good news is I'm pretty sure they're going to hurl the Freehand install disc at my head when they rip it out of my work station, so I can put it on my home iMac, where I'm still running Tiger. Now to convince them to let me work from home ...
Thanks again to everyone for all the advice,
~michelle

Your Favorite FreeHand Features You Would Like To See In Illustrator

I am really curious to hear about the favorite features that Freehand users think would be important additions to Illustrator.
I would also be interested in hearing why you think this feature is better than the way Illustrator handles the same task, unless you the feature just doesn't exist in Illustrator.

Just found your question, Wade. Many thanks for asking since it is very encouraging to know that Adobe is aware of Freehand (FH) users' frustrations, beyond the usual learning curve challenge. Many CS3 Illustrator (AI) features are terrific and not available in FH, but the frustration of seeing FH's many intuitive options disappear from our desk top is difficult. I'd hardily amen the words of Ken Nielsen: ... 'incorporate EVERY feature possible from Freehand.' I am quickly improving my ability to exploit AI's advantages but still get frustrated that many of FH options are not available in AI. Here are a few and will try to add others later:
PAGE SIZE TOOL: I cannot change the page size with FH's page tool. To get a page size to fit new art work I have to guess and run the risk of something not being open and not adjusting if I move my work. This is important to keep the white border from appearing in exports, although I have found that making a Clipping Path can solve this. Why not have the FH option, however, of diagonally dragging the corner of the page and fit it the size of the page to the art work?
PEN TOOL DRAWING: The pen tool does not have an option that automatically makes beautifully curved lines (which always and exactly fit the complex map borders I draw), and simply by holding down Option in FH while clicking the pen tool (dragging out in AI is nice sometimes, but I had to buy a Big Wacom tablet to do what FH does naturally).
OPEN/CLOSED PATH: I always knew in FH if my path was 'closed' or 'open.' I know fill does not depend upon this in AI but in my work to know this is very important.
SWATCH BOX: In AI I have to remember the short cut or travel around my 30" screen to change between stroke and fill. In FH it was right in the color palette where it should be. As in the case of layers below, my choice of viewing swatches (small list) does not stick and I have to choose again every time I reopen AI. Have you thought of layers for swatches for those of us who have many?
GRAPHIC STYLES: I thought AI had a 'Redefine' option in the Graphic Style but can't find it. Since AI does not allow the editing of a graphic style in the Style palette, I have to make a new style and toss the old one. FH has both of the possibilities (redefine and editing).
PASTE INSIDE/CUT CONTENTS: Paste Inside, etc. was great in FH. I understand how it works in AI but to have the old FH option, and edit inside (hold down Option) were so easy.
LAYERS: AI's great layer/sub layer/sub layer organization is especially exciting for me since my 300-400 layers in FH can be nicely 'compacted.' This has vast potential and already I cannot live without it. However, you should demonstrate how good it is to new users rather than simply imply 'you'll get used to it.' I have tons of docs with tons of layers (maps and charts).
COMPRESS ALL SUBLAYERS NEEDED: I have my layers collapsed so that my palette is very easy to use, *but* when I close the doc and bring it up again they are all open again and I have to go through and close them. Make them 'stick' so they open the way we close them, and 2) put in a way to deal with sub layers so that we can make all of a certain set of sub layers visible/invisible or locked/unlocked without affecting other layers. Yes, I can drag my mouse down the list, but when I have 600 map city names in their individual sub layers that is a bit much.
A BIT OF TROUBLESHOOTING: A graphic style fill would not change (disappear) although fill color was nothing. I even use 'Break Link to Graphic Style' and tried again. Something is wrong since the stroke changes color if I choose it manually or via a style, but the fill remains the same (one of my styles = 50% red) although I change it many all or via the Graphic Style palette. Thus it appears the the fill is stuck in one mode, or rather two since it will change color or change to gradient, but it will not disappear and always default to the 50% red. I tried quitting the program and bringing it up again, and also rebooting. No change. Finally, after long hours I tried putting the graphic on a new layer and it was okay. Thus, it appears that something can be 'caught' on a layer, in this case the fill color, or rather the fact that I could not get rid of the fill color, no matter what it was. I do have 310 layers in THE doc, most as sub layers under main layers.
Must add that AI's Opacity, Layers, and other features are terrific. I finally have gotten over my reaction in the move from FH to AI, especially since CS3 version sped up the very slow CS2 version. Again, do everything you can to get all of FH features into AI. FH is a tremendous program which relatively few people knew of and exploited. If Adobe wants to create another real success story, follow Ken Nielsen's advice (as you are doing with your question, Wade.)

File is not a valid freehand document

Hi
I need help! I am a Freehand 9 user using Window 200, 256MB
Ram. At times i have a problem of not being able to open the
freehand file that i save. The error code is "Could not convert the
document because the file is not a valid freehand document ".
I have tried using Freehand MX to open but the same error
code appear too.
Was the file corrupted ? How can i prevent this thing again?
Cheers
Bwlim

In Windows I believe you have to have the 3 letter extension
on the end for it to be recognized?
For Freehand 9 that would be .fh9
Other than that, the document may be corrupt.

Not a valid freehand document

dear all:
phased a problem , if anyone know what i can do please let
me know
problem: i was working with a fh9 file while i was working i
received an error mesage whilke i was trying to copy something ,
and well i was not able to copy it so i closed the file and tried
to open it again , so i receuved this message saying that unable to
open this file at it is not a valid freehand file , the point is
that of course its a fh9 file and i was working with it , so i
tried to open it with freehand mx and the same happened so i dont
know what to do to get this file , the point is that its very
important for me to get the contents of this file , if anyone know
a solution please e mail me at [email protected]
thanks

quote:
Originally posted by:
nelshawarby
dear all:
phased a problem , if anyone know what i can do please let
me know
problem: i was working with a fh9 file while i was working i
received an error mesage whilke i was trying to copy something ,
and well i was not able to copy it so i closed the file and tried
to open it again , so i receuved this message saying that unable to
open this file at it is not a valid freehand file , the point is
that of course its a fh9 file and i was working with it , so i
tried to open it with freehand mx and the same happened so i dont
know what to do to get this file , the point is that its very
important for me to get the contents of this file , if anyone know
a solution please e mail me at [email protected]
thanks
Hear ye, hear ye,
I have got the same problem...spent a considerable time
creating some illustration on freehand 10, trying to copy and paste
to photoshop...'not enough memory'! my mistake was to save my file,
quit the application and reopen (it's usually work), now the
Freehand file can't open..."not a valid freehand file"....can
somebody pls....pleeeaaaaassee tel me what to do to reopen the file
again???? Have done two illustrations on this file...I'm desperate
and deadline is nearing (it seems it happen all the time??????could
anybody from macromedia response to this????)

I bought freehand MX, But after re-format my pc, this freehand programme can no longer be use. pls h

i bought freehand MX, But after re-format my pc, this freehand programme can no longer be use. pls help.
[ email address removed by forum host ]

And what exactly is the problem? What system? you need to be a lot more specific.
Mylenium

No longer have a system that can run Freehand but have 1000's of old Freehand files. Can I convert them to something CC can open, like AI?

I had a graphic design business for 10 years and at the time found Freehand to be the best solution. Now I'm an InDesign convert but many of the old freehand files I wish I could open and convert to something in CC. I need to rebuild my portfolio and many of those old Freehand files are great works of art. I no longer have a system that will run Freehand, is there something I can run that would convert these files to Illustrator or something usable. I wish adobe would at least make a patch so I can run it on my Mac long enough to get the key files I want. Anyone have any suggestions or am I just screwed and 10 years of art is gone...

Your timing is actually good! This plugin was released this month for doing what you need into Illustrator CC:
Tensai FH>AI Plugins
As to InDesign, I have been using FreeHandMX to export my files to PDF and trying out these two converters:
PDF2DTP | Markzware
PDF to InDesign converter
The Markzware converter seems better and they have been eager to hear from FreeHand users. Where conversion isn't exact is text and takes some tweaking. Also any problems Illustrator had with converting FreeHand files shows up in InDesign.
As for running FreeHand on the latest Macs, virtualization with Parallels and Fusion running Snow Leopard is successful and seamless. Also using WIN versions of FreeHand with CrossWeaver and WINE on Mavericks.
—Mark

Can't Print from Freehand via Adobe Driver

For no obvious reason I can no longer print from Freehand to pdf using the Adobe driver.
I'm using Freehand 11.0.1 on Windows 7 (64-bit). Our team has the same problem on Windows XP with Freehand 11.0.1, and Windows 7 (32-bit) with Freehand 11.0.2. All of the above stopped working this week. We still can print to pdf using Cute PDF. But we really would like to get back to using Adobe which gives us more control over the output generated.
Here is the content of Adobe log file:
---------- start of log file ----------------
%%[ ProductName: Distiller ]%%
%%[ Error: syntaxerror; OffendingCommand: --nostringval-- ]%%
Stack:
{AVec 256 array copy /f1 /|______Gen_Arial dup RF findfont def f1
DoPatch}
false
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%
----------- end of log file ----------------
The problem does not occur using the same Adobe print driver with MS Word, PowerPoint, or Adobe Illustrator CS6.
Has anyone else seen this or have a clue how to resolve it?
Any help is very much appreciated!!!!!
Thanks!
John

Did you update your Acrobat/Distiller application before it stopped working? My first thought was that something was changed last week to have this happen and to go back and recreate what that might have been. Sounds like an Adobe update.

I have a new IMAC with a Maverick platform (I can update to Yosemite). I did all graphics on a G5 Power PC (very old), in Freehand (very old)... How can I open old Freehand files on this new Mac? Can I still open and work in Freehand on this new Mac?

I have a new IMAC with a Maverick platform (I can update to Yosemite). I did all graphics on a G5 Power PC (very old), in Freehand (very old)...
How can I open old Freehand files on this new Mac?
Can I still open and work in Freehand on this new Mac?

Let me see if I've gotten this right! You want to remove an account from BOTH machines? Do this for your new machine first, then for the other.
Click the Apple logo on the top left of the screen, System Preferences, Users and Groups (under Systems), unlock the lock in the window if its locked (you need to know the password), select the user that you wish to remove, and click the - sign next to the + sign for Login options. A window will pop up with some options. Select Delete this user and securely, and click 'Delete user'.
After this, do an update from the App Store.
Thats all there is to it.
For the other machine repeat the process except for one thing. Before you delete the user in this case YOU, you will have to give Administrator priviledges to your son bu checking the box 'Allow user to administer this computer'.
Do NOT do anything from Finder ... if you dont know how to fix the consequences of the problems caused.
There is no need to unauthorize your iTunes account on your new machine. Do it on the old machine though.

HP laser printer does`nt print freehand

Last problem not yet solved – next standing on my desk
well, my iMac is connected with a HP LaserJet P1006 and a HP
PSC 1350. Printing from "pages" runs good, but from FREEHAND MX I
cannot print with the LaserJet. It first shows the job in the
"status/ name/ user/ when -line", an then, after two seconds it
shows "stopped". I only can print the page/s as an exported pdf,
but it also doesn`t work every time. So I thought, the reason for
the problem lies in FREEHAND, but the same job runs without any
problems on the hp psc 1350.
What is wrong? Has anyone got an idea?
tobacco eater
Text
Text

> Printing from "pages" runs good, but from FREEHAND MX I
cannot print with the
> LaserJet.
Sometimes there is a conflict between a printer driver and
the print file
sent from an application.
Have you checked the printer manufacturer's website for
troubleshooting
advice?
Check the printer manufacturer's website for a newer driver.
Judy Arndt

My rotate tool won't work? (FreeHand MX, Mac OS 10.6.3)

Hi All,
I recently loaded FreeHand MX on a Macbook Pro. It seems to run pretty happily, except I can't get the "rotate" tool to select. I added this tool to the default toolbar (using "toolbar/customize" but when try to I select it, the cursor reverts almost immediately to an arrow or magnifying glass (whatever it was just now). So to rotate objects I've had to activate View/Transform Handles, or use the Transform dialogue box and type in my values. The former solution actually works pretty well but I'd really like for the basic rotate tool to work!
I read last month in the forum people were having problems with FH and OS 10.6.2; someone said 10.6.3 solved their problem, so I upgraded to 10.6.3 before loading FH MX. But I'm wondering if this is a 10.6.3 compatibility issue, or if there's something I can do to menus, preferences, or restarting, that would make this tool work. I need a solution that doesn't involve reloading the software from my FreeHand disks.
If you can help solve this, much appreciated! Then I'd just have my usual getting-used-to-MX learning curve (I normally run FreeHand 10 on an old G5 and Mac OS 10.4.11).
Thanks!
Ben Pease

Aha! No wonder the transform panel was always open to type in the values as a workaround.
You were correct; I had used the wrong icon. I found the other one (not one I would have immediately recognized from FH10 and earlier) and it works fine.
Thanks again, Judy!

A request from an ex-FreeHand user

Dear V.P. John Loiacono,
Your new Illustrator CS5 announcement has some appreciated new features like perspective drawing, reordering artboards, outputting specific artboard pages, improved paste inside, and stroke enhancements. This edition is bringing more for Illustrator users to love and thanks to you, David Macy, and the AI team. As a former FreeHand user, I appreciate seeing those features make it into Illustrator.
With this new announcement, there are still FreeHand users crying for their old program. It’s been 4+ years and they obviously are not going to like whatever enhancements you add for them. Yes, I made the switch but I’ve come to understand that not everyone will do it. Old habits die hard especially when it comes to workflow and deadlines. So, maybe giving them back their old program isn’t such a bad idea and I have a suggestion. You have some experience with open-source from your days at Sun Microsystems, like Star Office and Solaris. Sun apparently was able to balance profit and community participation so why don’t you open source FreeHand under the Adobe banner and pipeline any new features into AI? We can get more features created for Illustrator and still have the integration with the rest of the CS applications. The FreeHand users get their old program back and maybe learn and appreciate Illustrator in the process.
Adobe is always better when it has a little competition to keep you on your toes. At this point nothing can touch Illustrator in market share and it’s been the industry standard for years. So, if you don’t want to go the open-source route, then sell off FreeHand. We have all it’s features anyway and what damage could a small developer do to AI’s market share?
Sincerely,
(your name here)
Ex-FreeHand users, do you agree? While the above letter was written only as a viewpoint for former FreeHand users, we at Free FreeHand.org would appreciate if you'll join us in a special project, if only for sentiments sake. This week, personal letters and postcards are being mailed to Adobe from around the world asking for the above message to happen; give FH a future. Vice President John Loiacono is a good man and your support by writing him your personal message is appreciated.
FreeHand was your beginning, even if Illustrator is now your present. Consider it and many thanks!
Mail your request to:
John Loiacono
Adobe Systems Incorporated
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, California 95110-2704

CS5 Illustrator has reordering artboards? I'm glad to hear it--I was just cussing at CS4 this morning for it's inability to pull of this most basic of expectations. I had to do all kinds of moving things around just to get around the shortcoming and create a pdf with pages in the right order! It would've been that or reordering pages in Acrobat Pro, and both options had me grumbling. Tell me, does each new page have the rulers reset so it respects the page you created, instead of referring back to the first page when you created a new document? This is another thing that's been driving me nuts. FreeHand always had so much intelligence around the reordering and rulers aspect of multipaging.
I'll get behind your proposal. There's much to miss about FreeHand's speed and ease of use.

Installing Freehand 11 on mac os 10.8.2

Dear forum,
I just bought Freehand 11, surprisingly I cannot install it on my Imac intel based.
After searching , Freehand is a dead application which Adobe didn't care at all.
Is there anyway I can use Freehand?
Is there a legal statement that mention Adobe support on Freehand product?
Is it true that Rosetta can't work on mac os 10.8.2?
Ooh my head is start to crack...
Please give me some info.
Regards
Indra

Yes, you can still use FreeHand 11 in OSX 10.8.2 but you have to add a few things first. Mavericks doesn't include Rosetta so you will need two software programs; Parallels and Snow Leopard Server: 1-800-MYAPPLE.
Below, is this post from the FreeHandForums site on how to set up FreeHand with 10.8.2 Mavericks:
Like all Free FreeHand member, I love FH. I can make it do things that seem impossible for any other design application. I have tried all the workarounds to keep using FH (upgrading my 2000 Ethernet G4 to setting up a partition on my MBP to keep Snow Leopard and FH). Rebooting my Mac is really a pain; going back and forth between two computers is better, but still not like the "Good Old (Snow Leopard) Days" and can't be done when I am out of the office with my MBP.
Thanks to my son, I learned that Newegg.com had a special where Parallels 8 was basically free ($19.99 with a $20 rebate). Upon installing Parallels, I learned-to my dismay-that Snow Leopard could not be used in a virtual machine due to licensing issues. Parallels does allow Leopard Server and Snow Leopard Server. But who has that old software which cost between $300 and $500 in it Day?
After my initial excitement, I was really bummed out. All reading this understand.
Then, thanks to macintouch.com, I learned that Apple was selling Snow Leopard Server for $19.99, plus shipping. This unadvertised special is only available by phone, (800) MYAPPLE. Apple will ask if you plan to use the application for business, personal or education. The deliver date was 3-5 weeks out, but it arrived in two weeks. This server package comes with unlimited license.
I installed FH and then create a Macromedia folder inside the Application Support Folder, which is in the Library folder, and place my FreeHand MXa Registration file from my G4 in it.
Bingo, I am back in business with FH. I suggest having 8 mgs of RAM or more. I set up the virtual machine's dock on the left side of the screen and turned off hiding as my MBP dock is at the bottom of the screen. Can't have both at the bottom.
Also, I added all my fonts to the Snow Leopard virtual machine's font folder. It does not recognize the fonts on the Mac.
If you have not installed a Mac server, do not worry. It installs a lot of stuff you will never use on a virtual machine. Really who cares as long as FH runs seemlessly?
The only challenge I have encountered so far, is that on one Mac Mini, I can run in what Parallels calls "Full Coherence" but on my MBP, I can't. This means the virtual machine works as just another app and FH act as though it is running on Maverick, including cut and paste. I am sure I made a mistake in setting the MacBookPro Leopard virtual machine. I will figure it out.
This is a long-winded explanation of how I am now running FH on my MBP with Maverick operating system, but I wanted to be thorough. Plus, I can now run a number of useful legacy applications Apple had abandoned with the demise of Rosetta. And it only cost me $20.50. I hope this help some forum members.
By sebright » Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:51 am
http://freehandforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2067
Be sure to see the link above for the full discussion as there is more.
Besides Parallels, you can use VMWare Fusion and the free VirtualBox. Also don't forget that the registration process was changed by Adobe and a Universal Serial # was issued: FHD110-58402-67227-68568 > Error: Unable to Activate | Macromedia products
Hope this helps and let us all know how it works for you!

Files made in OSX 10.4.11 crash FreeHand when opening in OSX 10.6.2

I changed computers last fall from one running OSX 10.4.11 to one running OSX 10.6.2 and with the help of this forum and someone at Apple, got FreeHand MX 11.0.2 to open and run without crashing.
Today I tried to open some old files created on the old computer/OS and the app crashes on launch or, after launching, when trying to open one of these older files. Any thoughts? Similar experiences?

Just answered my own question after poking some more:
1. Select the file
2. Get Info [ -I]
3. Change "Open with:" drop down selection to FreeHand MX (if it already shows as the drop down selection, actively select it again).
4. Close the window
That's it!

R.I.P. FreeHand

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