Oldest Autocad Version still being used

[markcalloway]

Hi all,

Just wondered what is the oldest version of AutoCAD that anyone is still actively using?

Post your versions bellow...

[Mistress0fTheDorkness]

I actually liked the interim step, before the ribbon was fully integrated, the one release it was a 'dashboard' (is that the right term? lemmee google... ah yes, AutoCAD 2008 dashboard customization). 

I didn't really start embracing the ribbon until my company rolled out the MS Office suite with ribbons on them. Now I've gotten used to it. (I do far more support work than production work in the years since then, so I tend to leave my UI completely OOTB for ease of supporting others.)

[graemev]

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@Mistress0fTheDorknesswrote:

... I tend to leave my UI completely OOTB for ease of supporting others.

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I tend to leave mine OOTB for the ease of being supported by others.

[jwverde]

I first learned Acad with version 12.0. It was on an Apple Mac, in our university computer lab. Pretty high learning curve back then. The university might have some of these still lying around....?

[leowarren34]

Well going through the attic as you do and found this treasure:

Autodesk Inventor 2009 essentials plus book, full of surprises...

[michael.howardPRATB]

Ha Ha!  I'm still going back to my trusty Autocad 2007 Bible if I'm truly stuck for something. So little has actually changed in the mean time! I put it on the open network in work and many of my, much younger, colleagues have checked it out when in a bind too. They're great books.

[leowarren34]

That's the one good thing with Autodesk nothing much changes so going to the version is an upgrade not just a relearn.

[TheCADnoob]

This youtube channel looks great for retro CAD stuff!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apb5ayyCHaE

[leowarren34]

Wow, that's old, as a college student I haven't anything like that but that's a throw back and a half to those who have used it.

You wouldn't believe how much this has changed.

[TheCADnoob]

Ive tried using older versions of CAD before and literally couldn't get anything done haha. Guess im a high maintenance drafter. 

[rkmcswain]

You might find this interesting.

https://twitter.com/Retro_CAD

[leowarren34]

@rkmcswain Ooof, now thats going back, before I was even born.

@TheCADnoob In fairness once you get used to new features there is no going back... shortcuts and new functions have come a long way.

[rkmcswain]

@leowarren34  - were you talking about this one specifically? 

[TheCADnoob]

RetroCAD has been my new jam. Been loving the content he has been putting out!

I really like seeing all the old stuff. I played a lot on those old PCs as a kid so i love seeing the old interfaces. Good old nostalgia. 

I busted out an old Osborne and brought it to work the other day to geek out.... The POS blew a capacitor while we were in the data center. scared the crap outta me. The last thing i wanted was to bring down the company over that haha. 

[leowarren34]

Yes, the closest I get to that style of interface is powershell and CMD.

[Mistress0fTheDorkness]

Holy cow! I'm barely older than that bad boy. I've never see anything like it in person. 

Back to the disk post, I sent RetroCAD (my FM colleague, Robert Burns) an ARCHIBUS 5.1 set of disks, but, it does not look like they will be usable, sadly, but, he managed to get ahold of an ARCHIBUS 6 set that did. 

[GrantsPirate]

I am posting to a really old post of yours but I just saw it.  I have 2000i loaded on my W10 machine.  I fire it up from time to time just to be nostalgic and all.  Loads in about 1.5 seconds -vs- about 45 for 2019.  I started my career on 2.6 and got off the upgrade train with 2019 as that will take me to the end of a long career.

[rkmcswain]

@Wanderer-MOTD wrote:

(remember 2000i?!?!? 😄 no? no one does. lol)

Oh yeah. 2000i..... that's the one that brought us "Internet-Driven Design" and introduced the "Today" window. The feature you either hated or loved. 

People loved the history feature on Fridays so they could fill out their timesheet. After a few months though, this same feature would bring your AutoCAD to a crawl as it stored every single drawing you ever touched. And of course there was no UI to clear the history. You had to use a lisp function or edit your registry.

@Mistress0fTheDorkness 

[Mistress0fTheDorkness]

oh cool, that is some nostalgia right there! 

My team is using 2016 or 2017 I think, but, I am going to be piloting 2020, and see how it works (or not) with our CAFM plug-in. Wheeee. 

I learned on r10, but, I'd seen 2.something when my Grandpa was still working and brought the disks home to practice with (I remember him swapping out different ones to access different commands, crazy), 2000 was my first professional use.

[leowarren34]

What is the oldest version of CAD currently usable since ADSK effectively purged anything that requires online activation and is older than 2010.

Anything that predates online activation?

[rkmcswain]

@leowarren34  --  I can run R13 on Win10 just fine.