Autodesk released AutoCAD 2018 last month. You should see the product now in your Autodesk account, and probably you already installed it. The 1st version of AutoCAD was released in December 1982; it means 2018 version released 35 years after the 1st version.
What is the oldest version of AutoCAD that you ever used? I started using AutoCAD since R14, but I’ve seen R12 and R13 on several occasion back then.
Shaan Hurley managed to run AutoCAD 2.18 (not 2018) on a virtual machine. It is interesting to see how the software that is used by most engineers 30 years ago. Probably we can appreciate how the software works now. This version doesn’t even have UNDO! (it was introduced in R2.5)
If you can’t see the video above, watch in directly on YouTube here. If you are interested to see the complete AutoCAD release history, you can see it on Shaan’s blog here.
I don’t remember well if the dwg “demo” was the “space shuttle”. They were beautiful days. How many memories
I am not a CAD draftsman but I use Autocad in my work as an HVAC professional.
I started with version 2.18.
Version 2.18 had the Apollo 11 LEM as the sample file. You could zoom in and read the plaque. It also used a serial dongle to help prevent piracy.
My memories are of trying to get a plotter to work with it properly as everybody used a different driver system for the printers, plotters, drives, mouse, screens etc.
I started with 2.51.
I learned on R12, the DOS version. I did get a copy of the Windows version but never used it. I also saw R11 once, but that was looking over someones shoulder.
I started using AutoCAD 2.15 in 1985. The firm I was working for had bought a nice, new IBM AT and didn’t know he also got AutoCAD on the computer. We were using some design software over a 2400 baud modem that would constantly kick me out causing me to lose work and required me to recreate work. It was $70/hour plus file storage after midnight. So, I stayed late for several weeks and found a COGO program that I could use to layout the subdivision and create a dxf file that I could import into AutoCAD. I showed the owner and he said to make the change and that’s when I started using AutoCAD on a daily basis. No undo/redo, xrefs, extend, trim…. just good, old fashioned, ‘heavy lifting’.