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I have EPS files from 25 years ago that I still want to be able to open, these old graphics that help me remember my dad, a graphic designer. This sucks.



There are many graphics editors that still support eps (Illustrator, Affinity stuff, Inkscape); the format is well described and as it basically does not move anymore, the existing convertors will work, like ghostscript (although the Affero GPL is annoying but thats not for this discussion)

It’s much better than to have docx or photoshop.

It’s just removed from the base OS for probably both licensing and security reasons.


I bought Affinity Designer because I updated my Mac and Adobe CS6 (which I used Illustrator from) no longer worked.

It’s really great, if you do that kind of thing I second it for sure.


Seconded.

Between Pixelmator and Affinity Designer I've officially kicked Adobe to the curb.


I looked just now and I actually have an EPS of something I drew on a mac SE in 1993. It's amazing how if you can manage not to lose all your files over time, they become an archaeology site documenting long stretches of your life.



Is anything stopping you from converting them to PDF?


Just that until now I didn't realize I would need to.


Why? Just install ghostscript, works fine?


Wow. That’s amazing. I have a bunch of Hollerith punched cards from my dad. I guess my kids will have a bunch of jpeg files from me…


For this type of "still use an old thing" it's easier to setup an emulator/VM imo. It's not native but you don't have to worry about small quirks/bugs/changes over the years.

For things sufficiently old that copyright/licensing isn't an issue, sometimes you can just download a ready built machine.


I mean… no offense man but if you were relying on built-in support in an operating system to access stuff, that was never going to pan out long term. You should find software to open and convert those to something more accessible now, before it becomes even more challenging.


I've still got PCX and BMP files I drew as a kid in the 80s that work fine in every major OS


Until support is removed for the crime of being "too old".

Digital archival support rot marches on and formats will die for lack documentation and usable converters.


You can still open them in a graphics editor but cannot preview them in the OS.


I don't think Ghostscript is going anywhere. You should be able to use it




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