Tom Twist wrote:
[text omitted]
>
> Intergraph started out with PDP11, and moved on to VAX/VMS
> when this was introduced. About 1978.
>
> Actually Bentley started with PseudoStation, which was an IGDS
> compatible program that ran on an ordinary VAX, as opposed to the
> Intergraph VAX with it's special file processorand communication
> processor(network) boards.
> PseudoStation made use of "cheap" Tektronix graphic terminals
> connected to the VAX by RS232.
> In the beginning PseudoStation was more like a review program, but
> more drawing functionality was added later on.
>
I searched for PseudoStation on Alta-Vista.com and I found references to
PseudoStation on,
http://www.upfrontezine.com/trivia.htm
.
These are, and I quote for editorial purposes only:
.. . . . . . . . .
"
Trivia #3
Q3: What was the first name for MicroStation?
Clue: Half of the current name was part of the first name.
A3: PseudoStation.
Readers Comment
Robert Melnyk comments on last week's trivia question: "PseudoStation
ran on a Tektronix-type terminal attached to an Intergraph VAX to access
the data files. It was written by two of the Bentley boys. Of course,
Intergraph nearly had kittens when they caught wind of what the boys
were up to. It was either sue them or buy them. [Intergraph bought 50%
of Bentley. -Ed.]
"I had supper with Ray Bentley one time and he was telling the story
about drilling a hole through the concrete floor so they could drop a
dataline into the computer operations centre to connect their
development machine."
.. . . . . . . . .
"
Trivia #17
Q16. The first time Bentley displayed a product to Intergraph users in
Huntsville, Alabama:
a. What was the month and year?
b. What company name did they use?
Clue: The demo ran in a hotel room.
A16: a. May 1985.
b. Dynamic Solutions
They were located in a regular guest room at the Hilton in Huntsville.
They had a modem line dialed in to a VAX in Lionville so they could
demonstrate PsuedoStation.
PsuedoStation was over US$9,000 a pop, as I recall.
- David Greenbaum, Axiom International
.. . . . . . . . .
"
All contents copyright upFront.eZine Publi****ng, Ltd., 2001 and all
rights are reserved. No material may be reproduced electronically or in
print without written permission from upFront.eZine Publi****ng, 34486
Donlyn Avenue Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada, unless otherwise noted.
"
[Sorry, however, I understand that limited editorial excepts are
permitted under US copyright laws.]
During the late 1980s I got my first position as a CAD drafter at CRS
Sirrine in NYC. That division did highly professional multi-floor
interior architectural design for offices tall buildings in NYC. They
had four IGDS CAD intelligent terminals with dual 21" color screens
running on Digital Equipment Cor****ation's VAX VMS mainframe, model [
]. [Colors were a possible 255.] They also had a wa****ng machine-size 6
or 12-disk hard drive that held 150 or 300 Mb of data, a LAN and a
router with SW. The VAX multi-user and multi-task mainframe was itself a
server. They had a large 36" W. format Tektronix electrostatic plotter
and plotting software. There was a computer room with HVAC.
I was just starting out, and I was by no means an expert. I was learning
IGDS CAD and also making daily, weekly and monthly backups on 1/2" 20 Mb
tapes. Dave Benander, Registered Architect, was the CAD Manager at the
CRS Sirrine NY office. He answered one-thousand questions for me
regarding IGDS and MicroStation, and I owe him my gratitude for his
interest and the time he provided.
The General Manager of CRSS NY said that the complete four-terminal
setup including plotter and plotting SW cost $250K. He also said that
they were regularly achieving four times manual productivity, and that
they had paid for the system within the first year.
CRSS in Dallas ,Texas, had their VAX system connected via modems and
copper phone lines to the DEC VAX at CRSS in NYC. Intergraph-IGDS CAD
operators at either locations were alternately referencing and modifying
the same .dgn CAD files. Even though the Intergraph terminals had lots
of local display ram and some local processing power the conversations
were slow. Just a little to slow to be able to produce drawings
economically at the distance, I understood. They were demonstrating
co-designing in different engineering disciplines with the intention of
creating cooperative interactive designing at different locations.
Nonetheless, it was an exciting demonstration, and the CRSS CAD
managers, System Managers and technicians were quite aware of the
history in the field of architecture that they were making. Digital
Equipment Corp. was an expert with WAN, and somewhere they were in the
picture.
To see those referenced lines made in a design file thousands of miles
distant appear locally on the screen in a different active design file
was exciting.
Shortly thereafter CRSS got a PC that had an 80286 chip, and that ran
MicroStation PC. That was connected to the VAX VMS mainframe using
modems and Kermit SW. The uSTN PC was not up to the same production
speeds as the IGDS system. They also acquired some Unix terminals that
were as fast or faster than the IGDS terminals.
In the same NYC office of CRSS Dave Benander observed that a couple of
architects who had not been hired to work on Intergraph CAD were
interested in the free AutoCAD ver. 10 CAD program, and that they were
running it on their own PCs at home. Dave said to mark his words, that
AutoCAD would eventually become the most common CAD program in
architecture.
CRS Sirrine was at the time the largest architectural firm, the largest
engineering firm, and the largest construction management firm in the U.S.
The respective CAD Managers and Systems Managers were the real experts,
and I'm sure they have the history that they themselves made.
Well, enough of this talk. I need to get busy and continue developing
the inventions that I intend to patent.
Ralph Hertle
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