Back in 1999, FIT, Inc re-released Cadvance v6.5 as a free download from the Cadvance web page. In nearly five years, some 30,000 copies have been downloaded. (The original 1995 price was US$1,950.)
Is this "old" software for you? It is, afterall, a CAD software system written for Windows 3.1, but runs on Windows 95/98 and NT. When it's a free download, you can check it out for yourself. Often, I find, the user interface matters more than the feature set.
Cadvance has a long history, just predating AutoCAD. It was launched in 1982 as CADplan by P-CAD of San Jose CA USA. The plotter manufacturer CalComp bought it, then later sold it to ISICAD -- which is when I became aware of it. I recall Yoav Etiel coming by my office (1993) to show me this CAD package that ran on Windows -- unusual at the time.
Being one of the first CAD packages ported to Windows, however, didn't make Cadvance a winner. In 1995, Furukawa Information Technology of Anahim took over the the business. Today, the current version of Cadvance is 2002 with Service Pack 6.
As for CalComp (also located in Anaheim), it was bought by Lougheed, but later went out of business and was subsequently purchased by GTCO.
serial number for v6.5b (free version)
Posted by: coman | May 02, 2004 at 11:07 AM
Greetings!
I would like to try the Cadvance 6.5 free version. However, I need a product serial number. Where can I obtain this?
Posted by: Steve Shimic | May 21, 2004 at 05:41 PM
SEÑORES
WORLDCADACCESS
TENGO COMPUATDRO DE POCA CAPACIDAD Y
DESEO PROBAR ESTE SOFTWARE.
GRACIAS
Translation by moderator: "I HAVE COMPUATDRO OF LITTLE CAPACITY And DESIRE TO PROVE THIS SOFTWARE."
Posted by: JOSE | Aug 20, 2004 at 05:25 AM
Hi...I have downloaded the 6.5 vesrsion and have found that a lot of the functions do not work smoothly. I have XP??...for example I cannot use the texture function to import hatching into a drawing???..also I am haviung trouble adjusting the line weight and switching from a solid line to a dashed or ddash dot type of line....Also is there a freehand function. I Need to trace over imported BMP files of engineer type drawings???...any help would be apprceiated
Posted by: Slaughter | Nov 30, 2004 at 01:24 PM
gostaria de poder esperimentar este programa, pois parece ser muito bom!
Posted by: luis | Jul 08, 2006 at 09:36 PM
I have downloaded the Cadvance 6.5 free version. However, I need a product serial number. Where can I obtain this?
Posted by: Harry Smith | Dec 11, 2006 at 02:36 PM
I have downloaded the free version of cadvance 6.5. How do I obtain the serial number?
Posted by: Fred Siebrecht | Feb 23, 2010 at 08:12 AM
I have cadvance 6.5 an very glad with it.
But now i moved to a 64 bit windows7 computer that does not support 16 bit programs.
Is version 7 a 32 bit program?
Posted by: Jaap Breetvelt | Jan 19, 2011 at 03:41 AM
I have cadvance 6.5. Can I run this on windows 7?
Posted by: William Chandler | May 02, 2011 at 05:56 PM
Just try it!
From my experience, it could be that a few features might not work. Here are examples of problems I face with older software programs running in Windows 7:
PaintShop Pro 6 and 8 cannot specify the printer in print layout mode. (Workaround: set the printer as the default in Windows before entering print layout mode.)
Eudora: Cannot select the last item in a mailbox with the mouse. (Workaround: select the second-last item, and then use the cursor key to go down one.)
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | May 02, 2011 at 06:29 PM