AutoCAD History - when did it become windows compatible?

[alanjt]

http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_th.../ACAD_R12.html

r12.PNG

LoL
I can't believe I was right. I was only 10.

[Coosbaylumber]

However, the part about AutoCAD being DOS only before R13 is not true. There were versions for OS/2, Macintosh, Solaris, Unix, and probably some others, mostly unix variants IIRC.

I sort of remember a version circa late 1990's labeled on the outside of the box exclusively for work on Mac, and on some H-P substitute. Each of which automatically allowed use of a server too then. I think you had to use one of the highly expensive CD-ROM drives then to load it up. These alternate operation systems were short lived though.

Wm.

[TAZIN]

As stated by others, AutoCad R12 for Windows was the first version designed for the Windows 3.1 environment. This would be cira Feb. 16, 1993 for AutoCad R12 for Windows (no C number yet, e.g. C1, C2, etc.). I think some at Autodesk refer to this version as AutoCad R11 Beta for Windows, but I'm not sure. In addition, this version was compiled with the Watcom C 386 Version 9.01d compiler which came out in late 1992. Most folks (including the people at Autodesk) refer to the first edition of AutoCad R12 for Windows as Version R12 c1 which came out in June 4, 1993, but technically this isn't correct.

[TAZIN]

Someone mentioned the AutoCad R12 for Windows software currently available on eBay.... That one for sale doesn't have the Advanced Modeling Extension with it, and is the C4 version (the last updated version of the R12 for Windows software). If someone did buy it and found and installed the AME portion of the program, then the AME Code would be: A69A3DEA. This is for one user, since the AME codes are based on the number of users for the package along with the AutoCad serial number.

[Ryder76]

The first time I ever saw a computer doing cad work was in 1978 in a civil engineering firm and they used a Wang computer! That was when I knew I wanted to learn to draft, but back then the only way to get drafting "training" was to get an engineering degree and there were only a couple of semesters of it.

Took me thirteen years to find a school/program that taught mostly drafting and cad. I got an associates and took some engineering courses, advanced math and pyhsics as well as the liberal arts stuff we have to have to graduate.

Been doing the cad drafting thing for 18 years now and I still love what I do. Funny thing in school we focused on mechanical and machine shop stuff, but I prefer electrical to most other disciplines. Can do Arch, Piping, Mech, Civil, but Elec is my favorite.

[ReMark]

The first computer I used in an engineering environment was an Olivetti-Underwood (yep, the same company made typewriters too!). Had to slide a magnetic strip through the top of the "computer" to load the program. God forbid you had sweaty fingertips or grease (butter from your toasted muffin) on your fingers as both would prevent portions of the program from being read. The program was used to layout stationing for surveying in a roadway.

[Dana W]

This ain't exactly AutoCAD history but it is CAD. Oh, and it ain't exactly accurate but it's as good as I can get it.

I had been drafting (Arch't) for 11 years and then in 1982, the first machine I ever did drafting on was a VAX midi. It was about the size of a double door refrigerator with 3 disk drives as big as a washing machine. Each disk drive held a whopping 512 K for a grand total of just over 1 and 1/2 entire megabytes of storage. They had semi-replaceable multi-layer disk packs 12" in diameter. I say semi-replaceable since the heads usually left marks on the platters when retracted and parked. The computer was booted with a metal tape. They stored all data on 10" tape reels and there was an actual model 29 IBM punch card machine that was still used for payroll.

My terminal was a Tectronics, made out of steel, yep, steel. It was so huge, it had its own legs and stood on the floor. There was no mouse, of course. The terminal had x & y finger wheels and to this day I will swear they are faster than a mouse or trackball. The only mouse in the house was on the digitizer and it was attached to one of those gynormous rail type drafting machines on a 48 x 72 board. The company had a custom proprietary drafting program called CDedit. I mostly snapped line ends and electronics symbols to the proper connecting points after the digitizer babe hacked her way through the hard copy.

There were two plotters. One, I think was a tectronics, which moved paper (on a roll) back and forth under a pen head with (I think) 6 colors. The pen head moved side to side. To load a drawing on it you had to give it one of the 10" tape reels. That one was big and it would hurt you. When I was a newbie there, one day I loaded the paper roll upside down. When the plotter started initializing and taking up slack, it shot nearly half a roll of the paper out into the room before I could hit the power switch. It couldn't take up the slack because the roll was turning the wrong way, so it just kept spinning fatser and faster.

The other plotter was bigger and would hurt you badder. It was a Kongsburg platform type the size and color of a D9 Cat, with a pen/photo head mounted on a 6" forged and machined iron "I" beam spanning the 6' width of the platform. The 300 lb beam and the drive motors would wizz up and down the 9' length of the platform on rails in about 2 seconds. It looked and worked like a rocket powered warehouse crane and weighed nearly as much. One of my supervisor's favorite hazing tricks was to sit a newbie down at the 0,0 corner of that thing by the control panel, mount the basketball sized photo head and then tell 'em "Ok we're ready. Push the green button." That beam and photo head shot the full length of the table and stopped right in my face before I could even blink. That was fine. 3 years later I had his girlfriend.

[Dana W]

The first one was a Calcomp plotter.

[Coosbaylumber]

The first one was a Calcomp plotter.

According to an old advertisement that I once had, Calcomp put onto the public market a plotter circa 1959. One or two years prior to that they had a few in private use. The originals ran on some FORTRAN language. M-s was not even thought of then, nor was the personal (small) computer.


Wm.

[Coosbaylumber]

Someone mentioned the AutoCad R12 for Windows software currently available on eBay.... That one for sale doesn't have the Advanced Modeling Extension with it, and is the C4 version (the last updated version of the R12 for Windows software). If someone did buy it and found and installed the AME portion of the program, then the AME Code would be: A69A3DEA. This is for one user, since the AME codes are based on the number of users for the package along with the AutoCad serial number.

I am thinking that AME was on my R-11 version, but unless you said to load it when new, you then never got the chance to install it via the last four disks in set. May not have even been included into the basic package with version R12. For was assumed that everyone wanted such. I see it is noted as on my preview disk sent via Autodesk in late 1995. I also got a preview disk on Microstation circa 1994. Nothing there so noted as being a standard feature.


Wm.