AutoCAD Media

[CADTutor]

AutoCAD Media Collection

456

AutoCAD R13 3.5" Floppy

457

AutoCAD R13 CD

From memory, this was the first version of AutoCAD delivered on CD, however, it still required a floppy disk to complete the install.

Note that this is the European version of AutoCAD R13 and so you will see the word "Locked" on the CD. A hardware lock or "dongle" was required for the software to work. The lock was attached to the PC's parallel port.

Also note that this is the "C4" version of R13. This release of AutoCAD was buggy and there were a number of updates.

[rkmcswain]

Ok, I have to post mine now....

I think your are right about the CD offering. This particular media is version C4A, which is the equivalent to Service Park 5.

C1, C2, C3, C4, C4a

Also, this media disc contains both the DOS and Windows versions.

[rkmcswain]

Here is an R14 CD.


No install diskette needed
No DOS version
Windows 95 or NT required, along with a 486 and 32MB ram.
Bonus tools included.
VBA included

[rkmcswain]

Here is a special CD that most people will not have seen.

This is AutoCAD Map 6 (r2002 I believe) shipped on a special disc from Carlson Software. Carlson is a UAR and was able to burn AutoCAD and AutoCAD Map CD's as they were sold to customers purchasing Carlson Software.

This way they could ship the product the same day it was ordered instead of having to wait on the shipment of AutoCAD from Autodesk.

[CADTutor]

505

AutoCAD R14 CD

This is a UK version of the R14 media. Unlike the American version shown above, this CD is "LOCKED", meaning that it can only be used with a hardware lock, attached to the computers parallel port.

This particular media is release 14, version 14.01. I can't remember what the bug fix was but this version of AutoCAD went on to become a classic IMO. Partly due to the fact that R13 had so many problems, Autodesk really had something to prove with R14 and they just about pulled it off.

[CADTutor]

506

AutoCAD 2000 CD

AutoCAD R14 was a hard act to follow, but AutoCAD 2000 was, in many respects, what we had been waiting for. Although R14 was very popular and didn't come in a DOS version, it wasn't really a good implementation of a Windows application. Autodesk put a lot of the effort for the 2000 release into making it work and feel integrated with Windows. Largely they succeeded and this was the first AutoCAD that actually looked like a "modern" application.

Once again, this is a "Locked" UK version of the media.

[gcp310]

Geez, im feeling old now. i remember all of those dics.

14.01 was pretty "stable" compared to 13 and many kept using it untill 2002 was released as 2000 & 2000i had issues also.

i remember when i went from using version 11 at my x girlfriends work to using autocad14 and though "geezuz, how am i going to remember all these icons"

:lol:

G

[rkmcswain]

I can't remember what the bug fix was but this version of AutoCAD went on to become a classic IMO.

IIRC....

14 included VBA preview
14.01 included VBA

I was also thinking that 14.01 is when DWGCHECK was introduced, as it was about this time that some DWG clones started to appear...

[ptcboy]

i see these AutoCad "picture of different version" first...

[kevinexx]

Full-Featured, 30-Day Trial Version. DEMO CD-ROM from 1997.

[Strix]

.....i remember when i went from using version 11 at my x girlfriends work to using autocad14 and though "geezuz, how am i going to remember all these icons"

:lol:

GWas it R12 that had the first Windows environment?

[dave_in_delaware]

Here's a photo of the "Executables 1" disk from my personal copy of Release 12 for DOS:

http://home.comcast.net/%7Edave_in_delaware/Rel12Exec1-floppy.jpg

Yes, that's on a 1.2 MB 5.25" floppy!!! :shock:

No, I don't still use it, but I have all the "pieces" that came in the box direct from Autodesk: the 3 red/black/white boxes full of manuals and books, the tablet template, all floppies of both the original Rel 12 and the upgrade of 12c2. All are still in perfect shape, too. I had bought it back in Sept 1992 and used it all through architecture school.

[rkmcswain]

AutoCAD Bonus CD

From R12 (circa 1993)

[Zaid Shaker]

Very nice history for AutoCAD media

[chrisdarmanin]

what was the cost of an original acad back then? was it always very expensive?

[rkmcswain]

what was the cost of an original acad back then? was it always very expensive?

I think I remember hearing that AutoCAD 1.0 (1982) was $1000

Here is some more info and photos.
http://myfeedback.autodesk.com/history/area51.htm

[chrisdarmanin]

:O thats expensive!!

[Alan Cullen]

That's cheap. Here in Australia it has been around $8000 for the last as long as I can remember. And that's with an 80% conversion rate.

[rkmcswain]

:O thats expensive!!

I'm quite sure it was priced then as it is now... whatever the market will bear...

[riveratf]

I found my old R14 the other day but I can not remember what the password is to install the program. Does anyone remember what it was? Please help me if you can.

[ReMark]

There was no password at least not as far as I remember (unless you were a student). Commercial users of r14 were required to input a serial number (000-00000000) and a CD Key (0XXX). And that's all it took. Noteworthy too is the fact the software could be installed multiple times as long as the user had these two pieces of vital information. Perhaps that is why after 2004 all new releases required activation via the Internet and were limited to two installs unless there were special circumstances.

[CADTutor]

Commercial users of r14 were required to input a serial number (000-00000000) and a CD Key (0XXX). And that's all it took. Noteworthy too is the fact the software could be installed multiple times as long as the user had these two pieces of vital information.

Note that this is only true in the USA and Canada. In other parts of the world, AutoCAD was supplied with a hardware lock or "dongle" that was fitted to the parallel port at the back of the PC. AutoCAD would only work if the dongle was attached and so copies could be installed on different PCs but only one could be used at a time.

[ReMark]

I've only ever used one product that required the use of a "dongle" and it happened to be a program for a graphics card produced by a Texas company called nth Engine. At the time their graphics cards cost anywhere from $1800 to $3000 (U.S.). Just the same I hate dongles. In rare instances the computer would not recognize their presence which was aggravating to say the least.

[CADTutor]

In rare instances the computer would not recognize their presence which was aggravating to say the least.

Tell me about it. Just imagine you're racing towards a deadline for a drawing and dear old AutoCAD suddenly decides not to recognise your dongle. They were hated and what made it worse was knowing that you guys in the States didn't have to use them. I think Autodesk's attitude was very much "we trust our own people but we just don't trust foreigners". Having paid a lot of money for the privilege of using AutoCAD, we were treated like criminals.

Blimey, it still gets me going even this long after the event! :)

[CADTutor]

For the benefit of those of you who have never seen a dongle, the image below shows 3 examples from my collection. :geek:

The grey dongle is from a commercial AutoCAD, the red one is from an educational AutoCAD and the green is from 3DS VIZ. Note that these are the smaller Sentinel Pro/SuperPro dongles and not the earlier NetSentinel models that are about 50% bigger.

At some point I'll show you all of my dongles if you're not nice to me.

22355

The other annoyance was that the dongles were intended to be used as a "pass-through" on the printer port but it was often the case that this didn't work terribly well. Sometimes prints didn't reach the printer. Also, if you had a number of Autodesk applications installed, say AutoCAD and 3DS, they had to be stacked one after the other, this required a short printer cable otherwise you couldn't get your PC anywhere near a wall because of the stand-off. The final annoyance is that multiple dongles would only work in a particular order and you had to work that out through trial-and-error. Ah, happy days. :unsure:

[Tiger]

....

At some point I'll show you all of my dongles if you're not nice to me. ....



:unsure: I thought this was a safe-for-work-kind of place, if you start waving your dongle around, I am out of here!

o:)

[ReMark]

I had the oportunity to see someone's computer with three dongles on it and just shook my head in disbelief. I just checked my useless computer junk drawer and found another dongle. It says "MAX" and under it are the words From AspenTech. I can't recall what it was for. I'll have to check it out.

[rkmcswain]

....AutoCAD was supplied with a hardware lock or "dongle" that was fitted to the parallel port at the back of the PC..

...and AutoCAD was one of many, many applications that used this technology. And you had better insure the dongle for some apps, because that WAS your license. If it was "stolen" or "lost" or whatever, you had to buy a new license, at full cost.

[CADTutor]

I had the oportunity to see someone's computer with three dongles on it and just shook my head in disbelief.

Sure, you could easily end up with a lot of dongles. I commonly had 4 hanging off the back of my PC. Then try adding a printer and an external Zip drive and you've go yourself a real mess.

The image below shows dongles for AutoCAD, Key TERRA-FIRMA (terrain modelling), 3DS VIZ and Tree Professional (3D Trees). As RK says, Autodesk were not the only company to use this technology. Thank goodness for the internet and online verification.

22360

[ReMark]

After seeing the above image it makes me wonder why anyone outside the U.S. would use software developed in this country. I guess Americans still enjoy sticking it to Europeans. We are soooooo full of ourselves.

[Tiger]

We have a set of programs that we still have dongles as hardware locks for. If that is because that is the only way the company offers their software - or because we are too lazy to upgrade, I'll leave unsaid :roll:

[Cad64]

There's a program called UVLayout, made by an Australian company, that still requires a dongle in order to use it. It looks like a great program, and up until the recent release of ZBrush, and it's new UV tools, I was considering buying it. The only reason I didn't is because you need that stupid dongle in order to use it. For that reason, I decided not to purchase it.

[ReMark]

I have a question. In place of dongles are any software companies using flash drives instead?

[CADTutor]

I have a question. In place of dongles are any software companies using flash drives instead?

Yes, the Key TERRA-FIRMA software I use still requires a dongle but fortunately it is now a small USB stick. I just plug it in and forget about it.

[rkmcswain]

I have a question. In place of dongles are any software companies using flash drives instead?

IIRC - this one does - at least it plugs into the USB. I don't know if it's a flash drive in the sense that you could store other files on it...?