Upgrade LT?

[crussell.61480]

I am the unofficical 'CAD Manager' for our office. Our office uses LT98 to draw with. We have a copy of LT2000i that I have been using strictly as a conversion tool, - to convert newer dwgs from customers to LT98, so we can open them. Our dwgs are VERY simple and don't need any of the upgrades of the newer versions of AutoCad. The problem we are running into, is the same one we had a few years ago, LT2000i won't open newer dwgs. So I talked my manager into getting a new version of LT to do the conversion with. He's not thrilled about the cost, but is willing. I called a re-seller and asked him about conversion from LT2005 to LT98 and he didn't know if it will covert back that far. Do any of you know?
What about the Upgrade option? With MS Windows, I have upgraded PCs to a newer operating system, but it has ALWAYS gone better for me if I wipe the PC and do a 'clean install'. - Is it this way with AutoCadLT also?
Is LT2005 being replaced by 2006 in a couple of months?
thanks in advance, craigr

[Wanderer]

I will tell you that it will be at least 2005 before there will be a 2006 anything since 2005 was just released this past march.

I don't know much about LT, but, I am checking with one of my users who just upgraded to LT2005 to see what his save down options are.

[Wanderer]

It looks like AcadLT 2000 is the oldest version you are allowed to save to. Let me know if you need anything else.

Tim
Reply from my user, Sorry, that doesn't look good for you.

Does anyone know if the batch converter will work in LT 2005 to save down to R14 format?

[Glenn Pope]

Check out this thread AutoCAD chokes on script file (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=4166). It has some posts about batch file converters.

[BrenBren]

How many users do you have using AutoCAD. It might be worthwhile for the whole office to upgrade. You may be surprised at what you find in there as time saving updates, as well as the fact that you will find better support for the newer versions. You are talking about 5 new releases since the last time you upgraded. Might be something to do an analysis on. Look into some of the new features of the new versions, there might be things in there that will save you a lot of time.

As far as upgrading, since AutoCAD usually installs in different folders, you can leave the old one in there, but if you are not going to be using it, you might as well remove it first, and then install the new one.

Good luck

[crussell.61480]

Okay, I'm being REALLY CHEAP here, but... could I buy one copy of LT2005, back-rev it to 2000i, then open the dwg in LT2000i and 'back rev' it to LT98? This is not my preferred anwer, but I know it is going to come up.
What about Voloview express? Are all of our Sales guys going to have to have a different viewer since Voloview Express isn't supported by Autodesk any longer? - Do any of you know a cheap / free viewer that works well?
- thanks for all of your suggestions, craigr

[BrenBren]

You can save the drawings as dwf, and there is a free viewer from Autodesk for those. You can also save them as pdf, and use Acrobat reader to view them

[Mike.Perry]

What about Voloview express? Are all of our Sales guys going to have to have a different viewer since Voloview Express isn't supported by Autodesk any longer? - Do any of you know a cheap / free viewer that works well?Hi

Check out the following threads -

2005 DWG viewer (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=4675&highlight=viewer)

Print drawings without AutoCad (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=5351&highlight=view)

+

Further searching within the AUGI Forums will return more info on "Viewers" "Voloview Express" "DWF" "PDF" etc -

Search Forum (http://forums.augi.com/search.php?)

Have a good one, Mike

[crussell.61480]

Well, sure enough, I got shot down. We can't afford to upgrade everyone to LT2005 right now. - So... per my previous post,

'Okay, I'm being REALLY CHEAP here, but... could I buy one copy of LT2005, back-rev it to 2000i, then open the dwg in LT2000i and 'back rev' it to LT98? This is not my preferred anwer, but I know it is going to come up.'

Will this work? - The only other option is to take a VERY dirty plotted dwg of a floor plan and scan it into our title block. - I REALLY don't want to put my name on something like that.

Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. - craigr

[BrenBren]

You can ask your customers to save them as 2000i files (I think 2005 will save to 2000i, but I am not sure).

[mandrews]

2005 will back save to 2000 based products. Ask your drawing supplier to always give you drawings in this format. Easy for them as a batch converter is included with 2005. Alternatively yes you could buy 1 copy & DIY.

Brenda is spot on though if you did a Return on Investment analysis you would perhaps see that the new features since 98 could make an increase in productivity which would give payback over a short period. Talk to me privately for a help with ROI - I will be out the office until 26/7 though.

Note - and here is one I've used previously to convince thrifty employers - Autodesk remove support & upgrade cost benifits periodically down the chain - every 4 years or so. Thus you can no longer upgrade your 98 or 2000i - need to buy a new product (more cost). It is always beneficial to stay within the upgrade loop - even if you miss one or two try to upgrade before your release is unsupported. If you can afford it & can prove the benefits - cheaper in the long run.
If in the US go subscription & that way you are always up with the game & have an annual cost you can budget for.

[crussell.61480]

Hey, Hey..... It works!!! I aquired a trial version of AutoCad2005, and installed it on my home machine. I used it to back rev the dwgs to 2000i, then burnt them to a CD, brought them to work, opened them in LT2000i, saved them to LT98, then opened them in LT98 without problems. - Sad thing is, now my employer will only want to get ONE copy of LT2005. - Oh well, as long as I can do my work. -
Thanks for all of your suggestions, craigr

[BrenBren]

Maybe you want to document how much time/effort you are spending doing this, figure out how much money it is costing the company to waste your time doing all this and convince them the money would be better spent upgrading your software. Look into doing a Return on Investment, like Mark says above. Presented properly, you might get lucky. You have to have solid figures, and facts to back them up. Look into some of the new features of 2005 that you might benefit from and include them in your ROI. Even something simple, like maybe smaller files means the drawings open faster, figure out how much time that will save = how much money (because time is money, you know). If you can save even 1500-2000 dollars, you can justify buying a few copies of 2005.

You never know

[snowm]

Don't know if you found your answer yet but one way I found to do the conversion is to open your 98 drawings in 2000i and save them to 2000i format. Then open the newly saved 2000i drawings in 2005 LT and then save them in that format. Cumbersome, but works. Don't know how many drawings you have to convert. Could get expensive in time spent converting drawings.