ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/MISC/NETWORK/BLTS592.ZIP/ACAD10.TXT

Text File | 1991-11-05 | 11.6 KB | 246 lines

TECHNICAL BULLETIN
09.23.91 AUTOCAD10  MWF (update 03.25.92)
CAD SOFTWARE: AutoCAD 10 (DOS Version), Autodesk, Inc.
__________________________________________________________________
Comment:
AutoCAD Release 10 (DOS) is listed as compatible with LANtastic NOS
2.57, 3.0X and 4.0X.  There has been limited testing in-house.  The
following information has been compiled from various resources on
using AutoCAD with LANtastic.

Guidelines for using AutoCAD 10 (DOS) with LANtastic:
1.  Use AutoCAD 10 Rev. C7, if possible. If a user has AutoCAD Rev.
C2,  Autodesk will provide a free upgrade if the user takes his
original disks to the dealer he purchased AutoCAD from.

2.  Using an AutoCAD workstation as a server for sharing a plotter
or printer-plotter is not recommended since AutoCAD is a very
processor-time intensive application (and disk intensive if a
RAMDISK isn't used for .EXE and .OVL files - see note 11).
Performance of AutoCAD and/or the network can be severely reduced
by background plotter or printer-plotter despooling.  The ideal
AutoCAD network configuration would include a dedicated  server
with harddrive and ports to control the plotter(s) and printer-
plotter(s), thus allowing the AutoCAD workstations to have 100% of
their own processor time available for AutoCAD functions.

3.  Set FCBS=16,8 and FILES=30 in CONFIG.SYS on workstations
running AutoCAD 10 (DOS).  Higher values may degrade performance.
If the workstation will be running other DOS applications,  FCBS=
and  FILES=  may need to be higher.

4.  Specialty video boards on workstations running AutoCAD may
cause problems.  If problems arise with video boards, check to see
which video driver is being used. If the driver was supplied by the
video card manufacturer, change to the video driver supplied with
AutoCAD (after putting the video adapter in the default mode for
EGA or VGA). If the problems disappear, this suggests that the
manufacturer-supplied driver is at fault.

5.   Almost all CAD programs have memory resident utilities
available to speed up video display (such as Display List Drivers).
Some video utilities MUST be loaded BEFORE the network to work
correctly (they do disk access like caches).  Drivers that do not
overflow to disk have shown excellent results being loaded after
the network, even on a server.  Drivers that are removable from
memory after exiting AutoCAD can be a great benefit if  the AutoCAD
workstation is also being used for other DOS applications.

6.   AutoCAD files can be corrupted when used on a network since
AutoCAD closes the drawing file once it is loaded into RAM (like
Lotus 2.01 & below) leaving DOS and SHARE unaware another user has
the file in-use.  Therefore, users on a multi-station AutoCAD
network that share a common drawing fileserver will have to give
special attention to the issue of file sharing.

7.   If using a common drawing fileserver, configure each AutoCAD
workstation to have a unique network node name.  From the main
AutoCAD menu, select "5. Configure AutoCAD", "8. Configure
operating parameters", "6. Network node name" and enter a three
character name unique to each workstation.  If if this is not done,
you may get a system error message from AutoCAD, indicating a
sharing violation.

8.   If plotter performance is slow, or pauses intermittently, on
an AutoCAD workstation/server that is sharing a plotter, increase
the CPS to the plotter (using the max of 32767 is OK, but the
tradeoff is poor AutoCAD performance).   NOTE: The only way to
eliminate the performance degradation of an AutoCAD workstation
during plotting or printer-plotter despooling is to have the server
not running AutoCAD during the despooling function.  See note 2 on
using a dedicated print server.

9.   To share a plotter or printer-plotter, AutoCAD must output to
file.  The important item to keep in mind is that AutoCAD never
communicates with the plotter (or printer-plotter), instead, it
outputs to a file on disk.  All communication with the plotter or
printer-plotter device(s) is handled by the network.  Configure
AutoCAD to plot to a file, set the filename to the name of the
printer port that is redirected to @PLOTTER (the shared resource
plotter).  Set the LPT TIMEOUT to 0 (zero), and AutoCAD will close
the plotjob when it has completed writing the plot file to disk.

      Example:  NET  USE  LPT1  \\SERVER\@PLOTTER  and plot to a
        file named "LPT1".

NOTE: Printer-plotting is much more complex than pen-plotting
because a pen plotter can start the plot at any X,Y point on the
paper and finish at any X,Y point.  A printer-plot must process the
top line before the second line,  the second before the third and
so on until the bottom of the page.  The rasterization of the
printer-plot requires more time from AutoCAD to process the data
and the higher the resolution of the printer-plot, the larger the
file becomes.   For high-resolution printer-plots, it is
recommended to plot to a file, shell from AutoCAD and use the NET
PRINT command to copy the printer-plot file to the network spooler,
i.e.:

     1. Plot to a file named MWF (or any other filename not
        already in use).  Give a full path name.
     2. Enter "SHELL" from the drawing editor and press the
        <ENTER> key twice.
     3. CD\ to the directory where the plot file is located
        (given in Step 1).
     4. Enter "NET  PRINT/BINARY  MWF  LPT1".  Printer-plots must
        be copied in  BINARY  format or the printed output may be
        cut off, distorted and/or spread out over multiple pages.
     5. After the printer-plot is  completed,  be sure to delete
        the file from disk.
The recommended serial communication protocol for the network to
the plotter is 9600, 8, 1, N, using XON/XOFF flow control.  Some
plotters that will only accept HARDWARE flow control require a
HARDWARE cable - a straight-thru serial cable will not allow
HARDWARE flow control communications.  The next best protocol is
9600, 7, 1, E, XON/XOFF. If the plotter and @PLOTTER shared
resource are not configured exactly the same, plotting will not be
successful.

NOTE:  If the plotter does not automatically go OFF-LINE at the
completion of a plot, it is recommended to edit the SETUP STRING
for @PLOTTER (located in NET_MGR, Shared Resources Management) to
include the ASCII or <ESC> codes needed to take the plotter off-
line at the start of a plot to allow for paper changes.  If this is
not done, it will be possible for multiple plot jobs in the spooler
to be plotted over the same sheet of paper.  If the plotter has an
automatic paper feeder/cutter, this may not be necessary.

10.  If you get an error when trying to load the NET MENU when
SHELL'ing  out of AutoCAD such as "ERROR: The memory limit has been
exceeded, can't load NET MENU module.", edit the following line in
the ACAD.PGP file (in the C:\ACAD directory):

         SHELL,,220000,*DOS  Command:  ,0

this will allocate 220K memory, which is enough to run the NET MENU
program.

11.  Using a cache, and/or a RAMDISK, with AutoCAD will improve
performance.   On a computer having 4 Meg RAM, try a cache size of
512K leaving 2.5 Meg of extended or expanded memory available for
AutoCAD.


DOS Notes:
1.   If you are saving drawing files across the network (to a
redirected drive) and using DOS 4.01 or higher on the workstation
that is sending the file, load FCB.EXE after the REDIR command line.
(This file is available on the Artisoft BBS or by calling Technical
Support.)  NOTE: FCB.EXE is not to be used with NOS 4.10!

2.  If using DOS 4.01, SHARE.EXE must be loaded if extended DOS
partitions are used on the harddrive (partitions greater than  32
Meg).   Set FCBS=48,8 in CONFIG.SYS.


Memory Managers:
1.  AutoCAD can be configured to use  Extended memory,  Expanded
memory or a combination of both memory types.   Expanded memory
must be VCPI compliant (QEMM or  386 to the MAX  are VCPI compliant
memory managers that are compatible with LANtastic).    HIMEM.SYS
that comes with MS-DOS 5.0 creates XMS which is not VCPI compliant
and should not be used with AutoCAD without also loading
EMM386.EXE, which converts XMS into EMS.

2.   Most of the network drivers can be successfully loaded into
high memory using utilities that come with the above listed memory
managers.


Sample BATCH files:
AUTOEXEC.BAT:
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;\BATCH;C:\UTILITY;C:\LANTASTI
AEX                                 :REM Load the netbios drivers. Can be
                                    loaded high.
AILANBIO
REDIR  ALEX1  LOGINS=5              :REM  Can be loaded high.
LANCACHE  CACHE_SIZE=512  TYPE=EMS  :REM  512K cache.  Can be loaded
                                          high.
SERVER                              :REM  Server is optional.  Can be
                                          loaded high.
NET  LOGIN   \\ALEX1  ALEX1         :REM  Login to servers as
                                          needed.
NET  USE  LPT1  \\ALEX1\@PRINTER    :REM  Redirect LPT1 to the
                                          shared printer-plotter.
NET  USE   COM2   \\ALEX1\@PLOTTER  :REM  Redirect COM2 to the
                                          shared plotter.
NET  LPT  TIMEOUT  10
NET  QUEUE  HALT   \\ALEX1   COM1   :REM   If a server,  halt
                                    QUEUE for mouse/digitizer port.
PROMPT=$P$G
MENU


LOADACAD.BAT:
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\BATCH;C:\UTILITY;C:\LANTASTI;C:\ACAD
NET  LPT  TIMEOUT   0         :REM  Set  LPT  TIMEOUT  to zero.
CD\ACAD\DWG
REM   Set the environments.
SET  DLDCFG=C:\ET4\
SET  ACADLIMEM=220
SET  ACAD=C:\ACAD
SET  LISPHEAP=nnn             :REM  Set  "nnn"  according to application.
SET  LISPSTACK=ppp            :REM  Set  "ppp"  according to application.
SET  ACADFREERAM=30
C:\ET4\DLDVG256               :REM  Real-mode Display List Driver.
ACAD
C:\ET4\DLDVG256  -U           :REM  Unload the DLD from memory.
REM   Clear all environment settings.
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\BATCH;C:\UTILITY;C:\LANTASTI
SET  DLDCFG=
SET  ACADLIMEM=
SET  ACAD=
SET  LISPHEAP=
SET  LISPSTACK=
SET  ACADFREERAM=
NET  LPT  TIMEOUT  10
CD\



FINAL NOTE:
This document has been designed to provide a guideline for con
figuring AutoCAD 10 (DOS version) with LANtastic.  Additional
configuration may be necessary to accommodate your specific network
setup.   If a unique problem arises which we are unable to resolve
either through phone contact with our technical support or through
this bulletin, a problem report can be filed through our technical
support staff.

ARTISOFT, Inc. makes no warranties as to the completeness or
accuracy of this document.   LANtastic is a trademark of ARTISOFT,
Inc.   Brand names and products are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective companies.

Any questions or suggestions on this bulletin may be mailed to our
offices:

Artisoft, Inc.
575 East River Road
Tucson, AZ  85704
ATTN: Compatibility Department / AutoCAD Support

Vendor Info:
Autodesk, Inc.
[phone]
(Contact your Autodesk dealer for questions concerning AutoCAD.)