Should I get the spyder2pro?

[Josh66]

Post some screenshots if you run into any trouble. From my experience, you can pretty much run it with everything at the default and it will be good to go.

 

[Josh66]

ABSOLUTE worst case - boot Linux up on that sh!t and I guarantee it will work. (It's hard for me to call that a worst case scenario though, but some people are pretty attached to Windows.)

That last computer I bought shipped with 64 bit Windows 7 - I only used it long enough to open the DVD tray and reboot, but I know for a fact that dispcalGUI & ArgyllCMS will work with Linux Mint. I see no reason why it won't work in Windows though. Worst case (getting the Spyder2 to run on Windows 7), it will run 32 bit instead of 64 bit. Absolute worse case sticking with Windows, you might have to compile some code from source. That isn't as hard as it sounds.

A bad experience with good ol' Billy Gatesl? Lol yes windows have a lot of bloatware, but tech savvy people could disable the crap without receiving the dreaded blue screen.

I like Linux. I needed a new computer, and the computer I wanted came with Windows 7 pre-installed. I only ran Windows 7 long enough to pop a Linux Mint CD into the tray.

 

[Jeff92]

Alright I dis the highest setting for the calibration. It's been going 23 minutes now. The first part before the actual calibration, should those three bars have been centered already? I couldn't figure out how to center them. Thy int going to make this whole calibration garbage is it?

 

[Josh66]

Not sure what you mean by the 'three bars'... If you run it on the highest settings, it takes a LONG time. Hope you have a six pack and don't have to get up early, lol. With everything maxed out, it can take 2 hours or more...

edit
On the max settings, it will take a few thousand samples, then it will double check those a hundred or so times. That might be a little exaggerated, but not by much.
The good news is that it will be perfect.

 

[IByte]

I like Linux. I needed a new computer, and the computer I wanted came with Windows 7 pre-installed. I only ran Windows 7 long enough to pop a Linux Mint CD into the tray.

Wait until win 8 comes out after beta testing (((O.O)))

 

[Josh66]

I like Linux. I needed a new computer, and the computer I wanted came with Windows 7 pre-installed. I only ran Windows 7 long enough to pop a Linux Mint CD into the tray.

Wait until win 8 comes out after beta testing (((O.O)))

Hopefully I won't have to wait an hour to open the tray like I had to with 7...

 

[Jeff92]

After you hit calibrate and profile another screen pops up and has some color stuff on it. If you have it handy you'll see what I mean. Damn about the 2 hours though. I guess ill have to download a game on my phone or something lol. Im 30 mins in now. I wish I knew before

 

[Josh66]

After you tell it to calibrate and profile, a window should pop up (you need to attach the color meter wherever that window is - you should be able to move it). It'll show a bunch of different color patches, then it'll run though them again to make sure the second readings match the first ones, then it'll do that a couple more times (depending on how maxed out the settings were). In the end, it will average the readings for each patch, and you'll have a well calibrated monitor.

Make sure you disable the screensaver if you take a nap or something.

 

[IByte]

After you hit calibrate and profile another screen pops up and has some color stuff on it. If you have it handy you'll see what I mean. Damn about the 2 hours though. I guess ill have to download a game on my phone or something lol. Im 30 mins in now. I wish I knew before

Never knew it took that long to collaborate a screen. Oo

 

[Josh66]

After you hit calibrate and profile another screen pops up and has some color stuff on it. If you have it handy you'll see what I mean. Damn about the 2 hours though. I guess ill have to download a game on my phone or something lol. Im 30 mins in now. I wish I knew before

Never knew it took that long to collaborate a screen. Oo

Perfection takes time.

I have never heard one bad thing about dispcalGUI. By all accounts, it's better than the **** that ships with the calibration hardware.

The reason it takes so long is that it doesn't just run the test once (like the software that ships with the unit) - it runs it multiple times and compares the results.

You can speed it up a lot by not having everything at the maximum setting, but hell - you don't have to do it that often so you might as well do it right the first time.

 

[Jeff92]

After about an hour we are done. I can already see my desktop background is much more yellow than before. Thanks for the help. Now to compare the processed ones I had done before I calibrated. I had some prints from Mpix done a few days ago and they actually looked pretty good, although I dis have them color correct. Maybe I will retouch some up and have them print with no correction and see how close I get.. thanks a lot for the help everyone

 

[Josh66]

After about an hour we are done. I can already see my desktop background is much more yellow than before.

It takes some time to get used to the 'right' colors. After a while, it will look completely normal.

 

[Jeff92]

Yeah it will take a little bit I'm sure. I am already seeing the stuff I just processed is wayy off, mostly grass seems to be way off color. I think some prints will be the best comparison. Next round I shall try lol. Thanks for the walkthrough and the great software recommendation, I am hoping this spyder2 is good enough, I figure calibration couldn't have really changed that much since it came out. If it worked good then, it should work good now, at least from my perspective. 25 bucks for the spyder2pro though, I can't complain even if it is just a tad better

 

[Josh66]

Most of the differences are in the software. If you're not using the software that shipped with it, the hardware is just as good as it always was.

 

[Jeff92]

Well that makes me feel even better. Good stuff