TIL the first AutoCAD version needed a whole extra computer just to run

I was cleaning out a storage room at the shop and found a stack of old trade magazines from the late 80s. One article was talking about the early days of CAD and mentioned that AutoCAD Release 1.0 in 1982 needed a separate IBM PC just to act as the 'file server' for the drafting workstation. It blew my mind. We complain about software being a resource hog now, but back then you literally needed two entire machines, each the size of a small suitcase, just to draw a line. I started on a much later version in the late 90s and it felt slow, but at least it was all on one tower. It really makes you appreciate how far the basic tools have come, even if the new yearly updates can be a pain. Has anyone else run across weird old tech setups like that from before their time?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean_ramirez1mo ago

Man, that makes me wonder what they did with all that extra hardware after it got replaced. Like, was there just a room full of old file server PCs collecting dust?

grantcooper1mo ago

Yeah, that "room full of old file server PCs" you mentioned is too real. At my last job, we finally cleared out a storage closet packed with old towers. We wiped the drives, pulled the RAM for testing newer machines, and recycled the rest. Some of the cases were so old they still had floppy drives, just sitting there for years. It felt good to finally deal with it, sean_ramirez.