CompuServe Thread

Cooooool…. Hey Pat… Q2 > We are using normal SVGA boards, unfornuately. The brand is ATI XL series with 1MB really a minimum board for these rendering times. It would make perfect sense to get some better boards but the dollars involved to equipt a 15 station lab and only use these for the occasional class that deals with rendering…. well It just didn't get by the administration.. Q6> On the limits question. Yes I agree you can scratch you head about that one all right. I can never remember having changed my limits to a larger size not wanting to zoom all immediately afterwards. But if it really bothers someone a simple lisp command could undefine the regular limits command and replace it with a command that would access the limits command followed by an automatic zoom all. I'll let the other questions slide OK? Roger Cusson Vanier College Montreal (Formerly from York, PA( many moons and show storms ago ) :)-)

Pat, Let's see: 1. Don't know. AutoDesk LSG should really answer this one. 🙂 2. We've standardized on the same video board that Rogen Cusson as in Montreal. We're using the ATI VGA Wonder XL24 with 1 Mb of RAM. Not the best but hey, who has the money for more? 3. Not that I know of. There was some talk about there being a R12 locked educational version, but I've never been able to find out for sure. I you find out, let me know <g>. 4. We had a triple T (TTT) here in Toronto last month. With the discussion with all the secondary school teachers, admins and so on, it seems that the Windows version is better. There were several reasons: . – GUI is the way of the future. Get the kids into it early. . – It seems many of the school boards negotiated a site licence . agreement with Corel Draw to use in their classrooms. These . school boards are trying to make it "all windows". . – More intuitive, easier to use. . – Even though the raw speed alone is slightly less than the DOS . version, that kind is not the only measure of high productivity . and is not the most important thing here. Other factors can . make up for it. . – I asked the class to use the R12/Win version throughout the . TTT. They were hooked by the time they left <bg>. . . The only bad thing that came up was the technical aspect: it is far easier to have the students mess up windows in a classroom than it is to mess up DOS ACAD. There are so many more things the students can hack, tinker with and mess up. I believe John Savage in B.C. has a good solution for this, though. 5. Sorry, no idea. 6. As Roger said, you could redefine the LIMITS command to do exactly that. However, having Limits automatically Zoom would drive many in the industry crazy. That means a Regen, and can you imagine how happy we would be if AutoCAD regened in a middle of a complex drawing? no thank you, I'd rather do the Zooming (if I want). Good questions guys, keep it up, and get on CompuServe….

Pat: I'll take a shot at some of these questions: 1) Contact Cynde Broadhurst at Autodesk (sorry I don't have her direct phone number handy). She's the Educational Grants Administrator. 2) I have Orchid VA cards in all my machines in my lab and really like them. Very fast in Windows. They have an S3 chip (can't remember which one), and come standard with 1 MB of DRAM. Also has this cute little sound option that lets you create recordings with the included mike and attach them to documents and worksheets in Windows for later replay. It's not a full sound card, though. Street price is around $200. So far the driver included with the card has been very stable (which is a severe problem with the new crop of ATI cards. Stay away from the ATI Graphics Ultra Pro!). The Diamond Stealth card is also highly rated — PC Magazine just gave it an Editor's Choice in their latest issue. 3) I dunno. 4) I'd recommend the Windows version. The key (as Mark points out) is _productivity_. Our DOS version is almost extinct here. This Fall we'll be all on Windows for our CAD classes. On the issue of "students messing up the desktop", John Savage did indeed have some excellent solutions as to how you can protect this from happening. They work quite well. 5) Same as #3. 6) I agree with Mark that I'd rather control when this zoom occurs. Perhaps a system variable (oh no, not another one!) could control this option (quick – think up a name!). But, like Roger points out, you could always redefine the LIMITS command with AutoLISP to do the ZOOM All. If you feel like owing me a favor, I might even be talked into writing up some code that'll do it for you. How'd I do? Keep 'em coming! -KLF

Pat, Just for input to show you people really do read your email,,, Q1. If Cynde Broadhurst doen't know, then Roger Payne will… you could email Cynde with the following CIS … send mail to. >internet:cyndeb@autodesk.com This would demo CIS flexibility to go to/from Internet, MCIMail, etc. Q2. Our labs very from Big Blue VGAs, Trident SVGA 8900, XGA, XGA-2… The Trident is the best $$$ value @ $89.00 with 1MB RAM, allowing 1024x768x256. Q3. see A1. Q4. I would recommend AcadWin under OS/2 2.1,,, but that is just my opinion based on excellent performance. But for the classrooms, Windoze will be good, too. Q5. Generic CADD has a lot of modules, and the schools that I have talked to negoiate what modules, # seats, etc. Q6. asked and answered in this thread….<g> Later, Ken

How U do in Pat, Here Goes…. 1. Don't Know (off to a good start all ready huh) 2. Diamond Stealth 1 megs, STB Power Graphs 1megs, ATI Ultra Pro + VESA Local Bus 2megs. Only problem we encountered with ATI is 3DS2 preview explosions. Otherwise it's a hot fast card available in OEM cheap. 3. Contact your local AER. 4. Use Windows. 5. Don't Know 6. Just because you redefine your world doesn't mean you would want to REGEN to see it. Forget the lisp stuff. Easy menu customization (CUST101) could add any feature command you would like to create with a simple script imbeded into a command facade. IE BOX: [BOX:] line 2,2 4,2 4,4 2,4 c Enjoy See Ya Matt

>> 3) Is there an educational locked version of R12 available? If not, when will it be available and can you give a guesstimation of price? << Pat – in addition to the other answers you got, I'll try this one. No R12 Educational version now, maybe later. There is usually a lag with the Educational version from what I understand. No guess on price, but it will be reasonable. As others have said, Roger Payne or Wayne H. would know more. >> 5) What is the school price of Generic CADD? Do you recommend using AutoCAD or Generic CADD in secondary education (especially considering the price difference)? << Again, I don't know what the educational price for Generic CADD would be, but it would be a heckuva lot less than Acad. I've been playing with the GenCADMac version, and I think it's great for school use. Teaching CAD/design concepts would be very similar to Acad, and maybe easier. Comes with pre-built symbol libraries, and the 3D version does adequate 3D too. R@A

Hi Pat, greetings to you and your class (if they are still there?) from Taipei. (here to orchestrate the World CAD Contest for IYSO) RE your question #1 on grants programs. YES, we are constantly evaluating and running different types of grants programs. We just finished one of the largest (if not THE largest one) earlier this year as you will recall, Rodger Payne just finished a special GIS grant and who knows what is next. What are you looking for? Help us help you and your teachers by being a LOT more specific in what you need. What products? Why? What would your outcomes be? What types of students/programs? How would the investment of the grants be returned to others in education? (transferability), etc. you get the idea. RE the question on the student version of R12. There is a student version available for graduate students, they can check with their campus computer center/bookstore or AER. For other students and a more widely available R12 Student version we currently have about three ideas under investigation but have NO announcements to make at this time. Re pricing, we of course can't make any announcements on pricing for unannounced products. Again however, why don't you and your teachers give us some valuable feedback and tell us what some of the pricing considerations of a student product should be? While you are at it, what about features of such a product, restrictions, distribution, media, etc, etc, etc. I think you have got a good collection of answers from many others. (THANKS to all of you!) that not only give you good responses but also provide a great demo of the value of this forum. Hope all went very well with your session Pat. TaTa from Taipei! wayne

Pat, 2> The Diamond Speedstar 24X is a good buy. 4> If you've got the resources, run with Windows. 6> GenCadd will give you adequate exposure for 2D work and 6.1 lets you save in .DWG format as well. The price will give you a lot of seats that can be supported by hand-me-down hardware. As an option for a low budget installation, it's hard to beat. I'm odd man out today, sorry, only even answers. Dennis