TECHNICAL BULLETIN 09.23.91 AUTOCAD10 MWF (update 08.24.92) 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 (generally seen as slow or jerky crosshair movement). 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 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 key twice. 3. CD\ to the directory where the plot file is located (given in Step 1). 4. Enter "NET PRINT/BINARY MWF.PLT 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 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, AND using a REDIR.EXE earlier than 4.10, you must load FCB.EXE after the REDIR command line. (This file is available on the Artisoft BBS or by calling Technical Support.) FCB.EXE is not 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. 3. If using MS-DOS 5.0, SHARE.EXE is not required for large disk partitions. NOS Notes: A new feature in NOS 4.10, called IMMEDIATE DESPOOLING, can reduce printing and plotting time. To enable this new feature, run NET_MGR, select "Shared Resources Management" and enable "Immediate Despooling". Set "Despool Timeout" to 0 (which will display as "DISABLED"). It is important to set the despool timeout to zero for plotters and postscript printers. This must be set individually for each postscript printer or plotter device under "Shared Resources Management. 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. 691 East River Road,Tucson, AZ 85704 ATTN: Compatibility Department / AutoCAD Support Vendor Info: Autodesk, Inc. (415) 332-2344 (Contact your Autodesk dealer for questions concerning AutoCAD.)