01101
Member
Another quirky but useful program is Rootcad pro. It is free to use but a lot of the extra features are locked. I bought a subscription for $130 for 2 years which allows me to export to DWG for Autocad.
+1 for SkyCAD, relatively straightforward for simply projects. A bit quirky, decent help videos. I don't use the layout features though, usually do that in F360.Its UI is quirky, but SkyCad is free and has a lot of features that are useful for making electrical schematics (i.e. one-line drawings). I've been tinkering with it recently. The paid versions also have panel layout features etc. I will repeat: the UI is quirky. You have been warned.
I was using autocad 2d LT 2007 for the longest time. Until we switched to a subscription, now I use 2023 or 2024 autocad LT. Not much of an upgrade but what I found very difficult with 2007 was batch plotting to pdf. It would make the document huge, where you couldn't even scroll through the pdf
Now with 2023 I can make a set of prints 60-70 pages and fly through them, no lag even on my layout pages.
So I am happy.
I'm interested to where I could buy an older version of LT like 2010 or 2012 for cheap, just for my personal use. Like Robertmee mentioned above.
Well, after posting, I did some research, and according to forum posts at Autodesk, they have now terminated licensing any versions before 2017. Doesn't matter if you're the original owner or not. I have two boxes of 2005 and if I ever had to reinstall them now, they won't work. That seems criminal. How does a company nerf a legitimate product that was advertised as perpetual and that I paid for from Autodesk. Fortunately mine is installed on a virtual machine so it will last forever, but still...
Get used to it. That's the business model that more and more software companies are moving to. Siemens is doing the same with Capital Electra. I have a perpetual license that we purchased in 2019, that I now have to install on a new laptop. I'm crossing my fingers it works without issue. Still, if I'm forced to purchase a new yearly subscription license, we'll do it. The time saved with micro-managing everything when using something like AutoCAD LT pays for the license on just one project.