Introduction to the Blog

My Cadalot web site is having some hosting difficulties so whilst I'm trying to sort them out I'm shifting what I can onto this blog.

My first encounter with Generic CADD was the very first release.

In the early 90's Autodesk discontinued support for Generic CADD and killed off one of the most popular low-cost CAD packages in the 1980 and early 90's.

I later assisted in the Beta Testing of Visual CADD the (Daughter of Generic CADD )

Jim Faliveno, Carl Ransdell, and Matt Brown, software developers well known to many Generic CADD users, assisted by loyal beta testers, have delivered General CADD Pro the (Son of Generic CADD)

CAD that Won't Break the Bank (Cadalyst Labs Review)

Review by Ron LaFon

Inexpensive CAD applications can offer significant functionality for substantially less money than top-of-the-line products.

For this roundup review, Cadalyst evaluated General CADD Pro v6.1, which was still in beta testing as this article went to press (1st January 2008).

This application fell within the review criteria of low-cost CAD applications for $750 or less.

Read the Review here

Google Gadgets ~ General CADD Indexer

The General CADD Indexer plug-in indexes text stored in DWG, DXF, DGN, GXD, GCD and VCD files created by AutoCAD, General CADD Pro and other CAD programs.

This freeware is developed by the General CADD Pro developers for easy and quick searches inside drawings. In addition to text entities, text blocks (MTEXT) and attributes are also supported. A thumbnail (if embedded) is displayed for each DWG, GXD, and DGN file in the Google Desktop Search window. DWG/DXF file versions through 2008 are supported.

Link to Download

General CADD Pro: The Return of “A Favorite Old Bicycle”

An article By Randall S. Newton Editor-in-Chief
Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 3:00 PM

Click on Link to read

General CADD Pro ~ Daughter of Generic CADD!

My first encounter with Generic CADD was the very first release.

I must confess that a friend gave me a copy to play with and look at. I found a bug in the coordinate entry process. I rang the sellers in the UK and asked if this was a known bug because I had heard of the problem and I wanted to know before purchasing. They confirmed that it was and that it had been fixed, so I sent them a cheque and order for a licensed copy.

In the early 90’s Autodesk discontinued support for Generic CADD and killed off one of the most popular low-cost CAD packages in the 1980 and early 90’s.

However they had effectivly bought the Generic CADD customer base of around 275 – 350,000 users, and killed off a rival product.

I later assisted in the Beta Testing of Visual CADD ( the Son of Generic CADD ) for the UK Box shifting distributor FastCAD. not wanting Autodesk’s AutoCAD’s LiTe product for yet another £99, having just purchased what was to be the last upgrade release, which was sold on the platform of “providing more AutoCAD Compatibility”.

I have often a likened doing business with Autodesk to making love with a condom.
“One gets a sense of security whilst being screwed ”

Support in the UK for Visual CADD was dire, I offered to start a UK Visual CADD users group, FastCAD were just not interested. There was no Internet, only a few BBS Sites, and UK users had a sense of being on the outside, far far way from the developers ( Numera Software ) over the pond in the USA.

Not enough copies of the first version of Visual CADD were sold to cover the development cost, The second version required an upgrade of operating system to Windows 95, effectively futher restricting the potential client base, for not eveyone wanted too or had the cash to upgrade operating systems at that time.

The product then bounced from owner to owner -- from Numera to Corel to IMSI (makers of TurboCAD), and finally to TriTools, who continues to support and update VisualCADD today.

I regret to say that I stopped using Generic in (1999), when it got just to much agro to get it to work on my new computer / operating system, and pressure of work forced me back to AutoCAD Products.

For those that are still persevering, I wish you well, and a glimmer of hope!.

Jim Faliveno, Carl Ransdell, and Matt Brown, software developers well known to many Generic CADD users, assisted by some two dozen loyal beta testers, will soon deliver the Daughter of Generic CADD – General CADD ( How near can you get two names, without using the original !)

Let’s hope that Jim, Carl and Matt have got their sums about right and that General CADD will not be still born.

I have been beta testing and must say that General CADD feels more like Generic CADD than Visual CADD did when I first beta tested it.

You can learn more about General CADD, and download a beta version” to help Bug Test/ Evaluate at http://www.generalcadd.com/ for one would love to see Jim, Carl and Matt succeed with a viable Windows based replacement for Generic CADD.