Re: More Cad Programs from Ebay

[protek@shreve.net]

Ray,
    I really think the idea for having a "Standard" drafting and/or file
format would be a solid contribution to the Psubs site.  I hear a lot of
people talking about AutoCad but I don't feel that this is a good choice
for the format for two reasons.  First, if not a pirate copy it is far too
expensive for everyone to have a license.  It is also not something for the
novice.  It can take a considerable amount of time to learn to use in an
effective way.
    I do not know much about TurboCad but think that the price may be
reasonable.  Someone need to check it out and report back.  I don't think
that it is necessary to have a 3-D function although it would be nice to
see what the sub better.  Does anyone know if this TurboCad can create .pdf
files.  This would be a great asset because the general psubs member would
not have to pay anything for the ability to look at any drawing.  I don't
believe that bandwidth would be a problem as only the more serious members
will be downloading larger numbers of drawings.  I use WinDraft schematic
software for electronic designs and the files (in WinDraft format) are
usually 3 to 20 K-Bytes each.  This of course is not .pdf format.  For that
I do not have a feel.
    You have several people on Psubs that could work on or lead this
project.  It would be nice if you could, on occasion, have Phil look in and
comment though.  By far he is the most experienced in this sort of design.
There are so many approaches to design of a sub for so many different
purposes.  I built my sub for the pleasure of piloting a small sub, not for
observation.  Many will not want a design like mine but would gravitate to
an observational approach.  The team will have to decide which approach,
how large, number of occupants, and overal difficulty in construction
required.  You might take a poll as to what most psubbers want to see
designed.
    You might think about creating a "Design in Progress" section with tons
of disclaimers as to the fact that what is shown is not ready for use, but
preliminary thinking in regard to the design process itself.

Gary Boucher


At 10:05 AM 7/19/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi Gary,
>
>[snip]
>
>> output information into a .pdf file all can see it.  Ray may be able to
>> create a design plan page so as to allow instant download of the latest
>> plans.  
>
>[snip]
>
>I certainly can. We should make sure the design is pretty solid as someone
>may pull them of the site and go build a sub. So preliminary plans should
>protected somehow or put elsewhere for now. 
>
>Possibly I can put them on the site but not link them to the web page so
>the design team who knows they are there can pull them down but a casual
>outsider who just discovered the site won't see them.
>
>Considering bandwidth issues perhaps I should give the Team Leader the
password
>to the site so he can do the upload to site and keep me out of it. Else it
>might take a week or more before I would get around to doing it.
>
>If this sounds good I will create a directory for the Design Team.
>
>Who is the Team Leader? Last I heard there were two candidates.
>
>Regards,
>Ray
>
>