Here are some of the responses that Jamie received:
"I'd like to offer a list that, for the most part, are a direct result of giving up "hand drafting" (or draughting <wink>, as I am a displaced Englishman) from a 16-year veteran:
"I think the biggest disadvantage of CAD is the loss of spontaneity.
With a pencil and paper, you can scribble as fast as you can move your
hand while your mind is processing the ideas that are hidden in the scribbles.
This allows for many more design related thoughts before a single hard
line is put to paper. This process is vastly slowed down with CAD. Due
to the easy ability to 'snap' endpoints, etc., CAD almost forces you to
a level of detail that paper and pencil save till the presentation or construction
documents require."
- Robert Visser,
"One that's common to most CAD operators is that they seem to be using
CAD (expensive here in Malaysia until the introduction of AutoCAD LT and
IntelliCAD) as a "copying machine": line, trim, extend, erase -- the way
these commands are used is mimicking the manual drafting. There are drawings
completed with multi-color and in a single layer! The drafting department
does not implement strict CAD layering and procedures.
"What engineers and
architects want out of the CAD operators are the plotted 2D drawings -
the purpose? To submit for authorities approval. If only the authorities
insist on the DWG file! Do you know that over here in Malaysia, most CAD
operators find it very difficult to continue even his/her neighbour's drawings?
Because the lines and text are not organized, they rather start over again,
and plotting will even be easier!"
- J. C. Gan
"That is behind us now, and we are actually beginning to see results. We hope to have a beta this month.
"Our biggest marketing effort is still to find existing VersaCAD users. We find four or five new ones every day. We have found over 1,000 entities still using VersaCAD. They come from Germany, Switzerland, France, Asia, South America, and all over the USA. Many say they purchased other CAD, but always come back to VersaCAD when the crunch comes to get the drawings out.
"We are still hopeful that we will have enough existing users willing
to pay a maintenance fee that we will get enough revenue to pay to keep
VersaCAD up to date. We already have 80 companies that have paid "on the
come" for the new Windows version, and we have 500 email addresses of others
who said they will be interested when we are actually shipping.
The fee for maintenance is US$595 per year for the first seat,
and US$100 per year per seat for additional seats. We are looking forward
to updating them to the Windows version. The Mac version is looking good."
Also discussed were immediate plans and future directions which include hiring a team of programmers to work on further development. Martin Waardenburg of Bricsnet announced his companies desire to manage the development project. It is expected that commercial versions of IntelliCAD 2000 should be ready by the end of January 2000.
LandXML is based on the EAS-E (short for "Engineering and Survey - Exchange") Initiative, which defines an ASCII data format for highway design projects.
Technical details on the LandXML Schema are found at http://www.biztalk.org/Library/SchemaDetail.asp?SchemaID=532902%20 [I wonder why Autodesk didn't do MechXML -- or has someone already? - Ed.]
In the meantime, the aecXML initiative (started by Bentley Systems) has merged with the IAI.
16th National Computer Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: 1-4 October 2000. Papers can be in Arabic or English with a maximum length of 5000 words, and are preferably submitted in electronic format to ncc16@ccse.kfupm.edu.sa by 1st March 2000.
Third International Symposium on Tools and Methods of Competitive Engineering: Delft, Netherlands. April 18 - 21, 2000. Sponsored by Delft University of Technology.
COFES2000: The Congress on the Future of Engineering Software.
The whitepaper for The Summit on the Future of Engineering Software is now available at http://www.cadsociety.org/summit
FSP - full service providerAutodesk
BSP - business service provider
ESP - e-commerce service provider
SP - service provider
CADcard
CadCARD is now available for AutoCAD 2000.
Cadcorp
Cadcorp SIS v5.1 beta is the first release to address the needs of
users in the USA, as well as have OpenGIS conformance, Oracle compliance,
and adds new data type support. The new release includes reading of US
data formats: DLG, SDTS, DEM, Tiger, and support for ESRI World files for
raster georeferencing. US projections in NAD 27 and NAD 83 are available
as part of the projection library from the European Petroleum Survey Group
(EPSG).
CAD Studio
CITin (US$99) extends AutoCAD
raster capabilities with CIT raster format support. CITin supports AutoCAD
and R14 (MAP or Mech/Arch/Land Desktop) running on Windows NT4 or Windows
9x. CIT files are widely used in the MicroStation community; CIT is special
case of Intergraph Raster File Format (a 1-bit version with CCITT G4 compression).
CMOLD
C-MOLD debuted a new version of 3D QuickFill for SolidWorks. New features
include sink mark prediction, and evaluation of melt delivery systems for
specific gate dimensions, number of gates, runner layout, runner types,
and cross sections -- on single cavity, multi-cavity, and family molds.
Diehl Graphsoft
VectorWorks ARCHITECT
debuted at Macworld Expo 2000 and is being called "the CAD industry's first
definitive integration of CAD with project management." ARCHITECT, formerly
codenamed "Armadillo," is Diehl Graphsoft's architectural module for VectorWorks.
It is the first of six add-ons due to be released over the next 24 months.
drcauto
LT3D 2000 (US$195) adds 3D surface and solid modeling to AutoCAD LT
2000 with menu, toolbar, and command line invocation of commands. It includes
commands such as 3dmesh, revsurf, box, sphere, extrude, union, and section.
A help file and tutorial ship with the software. Drcauto also plans to
ship LT Toolkit 2000 with LISP (US$195) and Smart Architect LT 2000 (US$595).
Framework Technologies
ActiveProject now offers easy integration with Perceptual
Robotics' Telepresence technology to power on-site Web cameras, providing
project teams with the ability to see and discuss schedule-threatening
issues from anywhere in the world via a Web browser.
Geometric Software Solutions
This provider of software technology and related development services
for CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM vendors worldwide, recently opened a sales and marketing
office in Tokyo, Japan in response to expanding business opportunities
in the Far East.
GeomWare
The Nlib software libraries represent a platform-independent NURBS
geometry kernel, available in royalty-free C source code form. The current
version, 5.0, consists of over 1000 functions. Version 6.0 is scheduled
for release in the first quarter of 2000. Approximately 62 of the 100 companies
licensing Nlib are software vendors in the CAD/CAM/CAE and graphics industries.
Graphisoft
Design/Build Series has been integrated into ArchiCAD v6.5 (US$4,295)
to speed production and simplify presentation for builders.
HP
Hewlett-Packard announced its latest line of Pavilion PCs are available
in cobalt blue, krypton green, and xenon purple.
Intel
Its line of non-PC Internet appliances will use the Linux operating
system, rather than an operating system from Microsoft.
Microsoft
Windows 2000 will begin shipping approximately three weeks before the
official launch date; these copies of the year-late update to the NT operating
system are only available on specific computers from Compaq, Dell, etc.
Novel
NetWare v8.0 software includes IBM WebSphere Application Server v3.0,
a five-user version of Oracle's 8i database, NetWare's Enterprise Web server,
and support for the HyperText Transfer Protocol. Five-user license starts
at US$1,345.
SGI
Alias|Wavefront, an SGI
company, collaborated with automaker Renault to produce an automotive design
visualization project called Escapade, a high definition in-context visualization
project that uses animations of a photorealistic 3D model in combination
with live action film footage of scenery. A virtual Renault model was designed,
modeled, animated and rendered using Alias AutoStudio software.
Unigraphics
Unigraphics Solutions has been awarded STEP AP203 Certification.
SDRC has laid off approximately 100 employees just a day or two before announcing the purchase of Sherpa.
The Brazilian legislature is proposing a law that would require the use of open source software in government.
In the United States, the proposed Uniform Computer Information Transactions
Act would legalize shutdown code (triggered remotely by the software vendor);
inside-the-box contracts (cannot be read before purchase); transferability
restrictions (a company that acquires another must buy a new set of licenses
for the new acquisition); and restrictions on reverse engineering.
- http://www.lwn.net/2000/0113/a/ucita.html
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/news/msnw/LinuxMyths.asp
Microsoft
"The Five Linux Myths"
http://www.lwn.net/1999/features/MSResponse.phtml
Linux Weekly News
Response to Microsoft's Linux Myths
http://www.y2kmistakes.com/biglist.htm
This site archived Y2K goof-ups in Web sites, including official Web
sites declaring that there is no Y2K problem! They have dates like 32 Dec
99 and 01 Jan 100.
Wed 6 Jan -
I finally receive an email reply from corel@techwave.com:
"We are not currently showing a charge against your credit card for an
order placed today nor can we find any order information." They seem disinterested
in the bug I found on their Web site that prevented the order from going
through.
I spend the morning reading the User Guide. I spend the most time reading and re-reading pages 22-28, which describe the four installation options:
Options 1 and 2: Install Linux as the only operating system. Option 1 is for when no operating system exits; option 2 replaces the existing operating system by reformatting the drive.After spending all morning mulling over the options, I decide option 4 is for me. Trouble is, the other three options warn of full and complete data loss; option 4 fails to make it clear that it involves no data loss. Option 4 is the best if you just want to experiment with Linux.Options 3 and 4: Add Linux to an existing operating system. Option 3 requires the hard drive to have at least two partitions; option 4 allows co-existence without a partition.
The manual fails to make clear what I later found out: option 4 installs Linux in a subdirectory called CDL. Among other files, the directory contains a pair of IMG files (root and swap), which I assume simulate a drive partition for Linux. To start Linux, you first start Windows; exit to DOS; then start a batch file that launches Linux. To remove Linux, you simply erase the CDL directory.
From my experience, these are the steps I took to install Corel Linux using option #4:
Step 1. Confirm that my computer meets the hardware requirements. These include a Pentium CPU, PCI graphics, minimum 500MB free disk space (a couple of GB is better). Check for hardware compatibility: Corel has a 55-page list of compatible hardware products at http://linux.corel.com/products/linux_os/hardware.htm . While Corel Linux works with most common hardware out there, it does not boot with some important drives, such as PC Card drives, parallel-port CD-ROM drives, and ultra DMA 66 hard drives (the UDMA 66 can be used as a non-booting drive with Linux).
Step 2. Decide if Linux will replace Windows or co-exist with Windows. Back up all data on the hard drive.
Step 3. Use ScanDisk to remove any errors from the hard drive.
Step 4. Use Disk Defragmenter to defrag the hard drive. For a multi-GB hard drive, this can take several hours.
Step 5. Reboot the computer, pressing DEL to access the BIOS setup:
That's how installation would work in a perfect world. Next week, in part III, I describe how the installation went for me. For example, I found the progress meter unreliable. If it appears that installation has stalled, it hasn't: somewhere between 10% and 50%, nothing may appear to happen for as long as a half-hour. But eventually, installation is completed.
For a review of installing the beta version of Corel Linux, see http://www.lwn.net/1999/features/CorelLinux/
The editor replies: "Actually, it is viewable in only selected
areas of the USA. As the Web site notes: 'Since Avatech Solutions is only
authorized in certain areas of the continental United States, we regret
that according to the terms in our reseller agreement with Autodesk, we
may not market into your area. We thank you for your interest in participating
in our program, however your area is not covered under our agreement.'"
"I received a little plastic bag from the US Postal Service today. Inside was:
"I have been receiving your electronic magazine for a while now, and
find its information useful in tracking the directions of the CAD market.
Thanks a lot for your efforts to get this information out."
- Steve Hudson
"As a new reader, and a long-time AutoCAD user, I find your newsletter
constantly interesting, useful, and informative -- as I have found your
frequent contributions to other publications, such as 'Cadence' and 'AutoCAD
User'."
- Christopher Dye