Dear co-listers, I dare mail you all, in search of some informed and time/work tested advice on guidelines for putting up from scratch and not so great budget, a small carthography and mapping home bureau, as sadly stranded ashore by a light heart,medical, affair after a life of landscape photography. Knowing little of the curricula, (but I can already work with 3D software), a friend carthographer would pass me some job if i could qualify. He still uses a monster mechanical analogic machine with hand wheels, making great maps from aerial stereo plates on Microstation software. I will like to go desktop, but which way, hardware & software?. I will deeply appreciate some hints from you experienced practitioners, in order to fly over novice pitfalls and bad buys. Many thanks in advance, Giordano Amparago amparo ramos gonzalez <[log in to unmask]>