marilyn y

I'm think about getting a Magic Box for my Bernina Artista 185 rather than upgrading from ART verzion 3. If I upgrade to a newer version of ART I'd probably have to get a new computer, as the old one in the sewing room dates from 2001. It's been upgraded to Windows XP and has a second hard drive, but it's limited by its processor. One of these days it's going to die, so far it's still working. If I replace it first, I will most likely have to replace the Bernina software due to the change in operating systems and the software certainly isn't cheap. A regular Catch-22.

Has anyone any experience with the Magic Box? How does it do downloading designs from the internet (especially free designs of which I have plenty) and stitching them out? Any problems with it? Thanks

Marilyn

MaryStoaks

I have a magic box for loading the blank cards for my Babylock Ellure. If you want to buy a new computer you need to know that the magic box is not compatible with the windows 7 on my new computer. When my old computer (with windows XP) gave it up I was lucky to have a windows XP laptop to use. Since used computers are cheap you might consider getting one with XP. I am happy with the way the magic box works. It is a bit akward to choose a design as you have to load each design before you can see it (if you don't like the design it's easy to delete). For the price it's good. To get designs from online I download to my computer and use the magic box to load my blank card. I usually put my designs on a flash drive so I have them in a safe place in case of computer crash.

Quilter7x

Great information ladies. I have always wondered how a Magic Box works. I just got a used Bernina 180 but have not explored with the embroidery unit yet. I also have an older PC, so this thread will be really helpful for me! :lol:

marilyn y

Thanks for the info. I noticed that the Magic Box isn't compatible with Windows 7. Luckily we have a place here that sells used computers. I bought a used Dell desktop business grade machine last year for only $400 but it's in the family room and I don't want to relocate my sewing machine every time I want to embroider something. The old family room computer is the one that moved to the sewing room. The Bernina requires a 9 pin port (can never remember if it's serial or parallel) because it has a dongle. There doesn't seem to be a converter cable available for USB to 9 pin that will work. So I'm thinking that a Magic Box could be the answer. I could still use my ART 3 to edit/digitize (assuming I ever figure out how it really works) and the Magic Box to convert downloaded designs so I can use them. Does anyone know if you can use the3 Box to convert from one version of ART to another?