windows 7 and autocad 2008

[civeng80]

Just wondering if anyone knows if autocad 2008 runs smoothly on windows 7 (beta version). I know that windows has new feature of XP mode but I have some reservations about setting it up etc.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[francesca]

AutoCAD products run in "compatibility mode" on post-XP systems. "Compatibility mode" has been around for a very long time; at least since XP and is supported in Vista and should be operable (as much as you can trust functionality of a Beta version) in the Windows 7 Beta you have.

 

[civeng80]

Thanks fancesca

im still operating with windows XP not vista but will be upgrading to Windows 7 pretty soon after it comes out probably towards the end of the year.

So its possible to run any autocad version on ms vista in compatibility mode? I didn't think vista had the feature just the new windows 7 that can run on virtual XP mode thats why its so popular, means we don't have to upgrade.

Correct me if Im wrong.

 

[francesca]

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=9217791&linkID=9240617

 

[civeng80]

francesca thanks for the link!

However all I can see from this is that ms Vista supports autocad from 2007 onwards. But apparently windows 7 supports anything that windows xp supports thru xp mode and thats something ms vista has not got.

 

[francesca]

I've always seen Vista as a latter-day Windows ME anyway.

 

[civeng80]

If thats the case Im glad to miss out completely with vista. Windows ME was pretty hopeless. XP wonderful!

 

[WL123]

I've never ever had a problem with Vista or any programs that I have installed on it. It runs about as fast as the XP machine I had at work, with the same components. I've had this Vista box for 3 years now. Vista is nothing like ME.
I think 7 is more like Vista than Microsoft is willing to tell anyone, it just has most of the fancy doodads turned off.

 

[atook]

I've been running r2008 on Windows 7 since the beta came out with no issues.

Tim Grote - The Irrigation Engineers.

http://www.irrigationengineers.com

 

[civeng80]

Thanks atook ! Is that running on XP mode or just normal windows 7 ?

 

[atook]

Just normal Windows 7.

I should mention that it is 32-bit, not 64-bit.



Tim Grote - The Irrigation Engineers.

http://www.irrigationengineers.com

 

[francesca]

With 32-bit you're limited to 3 GB of RAM. (You can have more, but Windows will only recognize 3 GB.)

 

[Gator]

Here's an explanation of the 3GB limit:

http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm

 

[civeng80]

So correct me if I'm wrong !

There would be no point in buying a computer with greater than 3 GB of Ram (assuming 32 Bit computer!) with windows 7 as an operating system ?

 

[Gator]

No 32-bit Windows computer is able to "see" more than 4 GB of system RAM. Hardware addressing issues eat into available system RAM (a video card with one GB of memory, for example).

I don't pretend to understand all the details and apparently some software is written to only be able to use 2 GB per session anyway.

Windows 7 is/will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions apparently, so if you want to use more than 4 GB of RAM buy the 64-bit version of XP, Vista or 7.

Warning: Your Mileage May Vary and all standard disclaimers apply. And I've been a Mac user for a couple of years.

 

[Gator]

My quote above: "And I've been a Mac user for a couple of years."

I should have added, "after using AutoCAD since before it ever ran on Windows."

I remember feeding all those floppies into my IBM 286 PS2 which needed a math co-processor to run ACAD.

 

[looslib]

Gator,
It isn't the software that limits applications to 2GB of user memory per application but the way Windows itself allocates process memory. the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file gives more memory per process.
An example: Running a system with 4GB physical memory but without the /3GB switch, Pro/Engineer Wildfire CAD program will load its files into memory until ~1.68GB of memoey is used by the process, as seen in task manager, mem usage column. At the point, the application will fail and abort. With the /3GB switch, You can get to ~1.98GB or sometimes ~2.1GB used before the process will die. The difference depends on which modules of the application itself you have started. The software developers have included a check for memory usage in the latest versions to warn you that you are almost out of memory.
Microsoft API documenetation details the per process limitations for software developers.



"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli