Screenshots of old Mastercam releases

[Thad]

 Pretty sure toolbar across top started in v9 (didn't use v8 so not sure on that), rarely used it.

 

It was definitely in V7. Not sure if that was the first version. I heard V7 was also the first version of the Ops Manager.

 

 

 

File ext. was ge3 up until v9 when it changed to putting version number (or a derivative) in it; ie mc9 was for v9., mcx was v10. That lasted for a version or two, then they started using mcx-*(2nd digit of version number).

 

 

V7 files were .MC7, V8 were .MC8, V9 were .MC9. With the release of the X, were they .mcx? Not sure when the name .mcx-? started.

[gcode]

Started on v5.5 myself. Don't think I still have the install disks for v5.5, but I believe I have v7 and/or v9 installs. Pretty sure toolbar across top started in v9 (didn't use v8 so not sure on that), rarely used it. Loved the menu on the left side. V7 is where association started, and boy did that take some getting used to. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it also v7 where they started controlling lead in/lead and CDC in the toolpath parameters? I remember in v5.5 I had to create geometry needed to turn cdc on and off (wasn't bad before association because you could just delete the geometry once you created the toolpath) and extend the geometry so you didn't plunge or rapid into stock. I also believe it was v9 (could have been v7, it was a long time ago) when MC became stock aware on lathe only IIRC. It was neat because instead of having to create every DOC when roughing a forging (so you could trim every line to the stock profile so you knew you weren't rapiding into stock) MC just used the stock clearance you set it up with and wham bam thank you ma'am you were done.

 

Those early versions required you to really know what you were doing and you had to mentally keep track of stock shape. File ext. was ge3 up until v9 when it changed to putting version number (or a derivative) in it; ie mc9 was for v9., mcx was v10. That lasted for a version or two, then they started using mcx-*(2nd digit of version number).

 

Ohhh the memories.

 

 

V7 lathe was stock aware,  but it took some work to get good results sometimes.

I remember I was calling customer support so much they gave me a copy of V8 beta to shut me up.

Back then they mailed you an install package cause a 32k modem and phone lines couldn't handle it.

I think a V8 install package was 5 or 6 3.5" floppies in those days.

 

Edit .. V5 was 5 or 6 floppies ..  V7 came on a CD  ( I think).. It's been a while

[David Colin]

V7 files were .MC7, V8 were .MC8, V9 were .MC9. With the release of the X, were they .mcx? Not sure when the name .mcx-? started.

I think .mcx files were for X to X4 and X5 was the first one to use .mcx-? extension.

[Sticky]

I'm pretty sure I used a dos version of MC in the late 90's while I was in high school. So far none of the pictures in this thread ring a bell, but I am pretty sure I would recognize it if I saw it.

[compressor sam]

actually my first CAM system was an HP rpn calculator .

I wrote a bunch of macros to solve bolt circles and solve arc endpoints for

endmills machining outside radii.

Twenty years of CAM systems has made me stupid and lazy

I couldn't write those macro's today to save my life

 

Who's old enough to remember trig and log tables ???

and slide rules   

Yup, i used log tables, my first cam system was Anicam, then around 1987(bit fuzzy on the timeline), i moved onto version 3 (mastercam), one of the shops i worked at, still uses V5 & 7, i try to sub contract work their way sometimes, my favourite version of mastercam was X6, loved it, refused to move onto X7 & X8, my employer forced me onto X9 at the time. So that is 30 years using mastercam, really showing my age here !

[Thad]

Bernie, you old fart, I see you lurking! 

[Bill Craven]

I think this is around V3.21

 

Link says it was shipped with centroid controls between 1994 and 2001...

 

http://www.cncsnw.com/MCTutor1.htm

 

I remember this.  

No Icons.  The icons didn't show up until Version 4.

Everything was non-parametric.  You couldn't go back and edit an operation. 

 

To put things in perspective:

The VGA standard  was released in 1987: 640 x 480 resolution

Toolpath verification was by wireframe back plot only. No shaded surfaces

Modems were communicating at 1200 baud

 

 

I became a Mastercam reseller in 1987.  Version 3.21

It was shipped with blue three ring binders with 5 1/4 floppies.

The last time I was in Tolland, I saw some of the old blue binders in the basement.  Later they changed to black binders with 3.5 floppies

 

Like some of the other CAM software vendors, they licensed companies like Centroid for their older versions to be included with the machine tool.  That is why Centroid was shipping this in 1994.

 

Oh, and Lathe and Mill were separate programs.

[Bill Craven]

 

 

Who's old enough to remember trig and log tables ???

and slide rules   

 

I remember programming an old Bostomatic with an Icon (I think) control that didn't have arc commands  (G2 and G3).  I had to use my orange trig book and calculate a lot of points to "chatter" mill the arcs.

 

Noah kept pushing me to get done:  "The rain is coming"   lol

[MIL-TFP-41]

This thread made me go digging. I have a set of 5 1/4 floppies with version 3.21. Any chance it is compatible with Windows 10? Finding a 5 1/4 drive is another problem. Then this place never throws anything out....There are a few old Packard Bell computers I could fire up. Or not.

[Newbeeee™]

I remember programming an old Bostomatic with an Icon (I think) control that didn't have arc commands  (G2 and G3).  I had to use my orange trig book and calculate a lot of points to "chatter" mill the arcs.

 

Noah kept pushing me to get done:  "The rain is coming"   lol

Micron controller? Same that were fitted to Shizuoka Knee and Bed mills over here (sold by Fadal UK)?

[Bill Craven]

This thread made me go digging. I have a set of 5 1/4 floppies with version 3.21. Any chance it is compatible with Windows 10? Finding a 5 1/4 drive is another problem. Then this place never throws anything out....There are a few old Packard Bell computers I could fire up. Or not.

I doubt if a current dongle would allow that version to run.  That version looked for a dongle on the parallel port for activation.

 

 

Micron controller? Same that were fitted to Shizuoka Knee and Bed mills over here (sold by Fadal UK)?

I was wrong, it wasn't a Bostomatic, it was a Burgmaster.  It was an NC and ran off of tape only. No memory.  This was an early one.  The later ones used the GE 550 and 1050 controls.

[htm01]

i still have a working v3 at home on an old computer, i'll se if i can fire it up

[David Colin]

I recently had success using a sentinel dongle on parallel port. It ran on windows 10 but inside a DOS virtual machine (it was an old software to program a wire EDM). Of course I needed to install a PCI parallel adapter card (USB adapters don't work with dongles). I tried several virtualization softwares but VMware was the only one to make dongle to work.

[Tim Johnson]

V3.1 was my first MC version along with a brand new shiny 386-33 computer. I forget what version DOS we had on it. I do remember we got DOS4 about the same time we got MC V4. With the new DOS shell I no longer needed PC Tools.

 

 

Who's old enough to remember trig and log tables ???

and slide rules   

My dad was a hired gun engineer and the slide rule was practically our dinner table center piece.

I still have my trig and log tables. I was also going thru a calculator a year by wearing the numbers off the keys. I'll more than likely retire with my current calculator.

[gcode]

V3.1 was my first MC version along with a brand new shiny 386-33 computer. I forget what version DOS we had on it. I do remember we got DOS4 about the same time we got MC V4. With the new DOS shell I no longer needed PC Tools.

 

My dad was a hired gun engineer and the slide rule was practically our dinner table center piece.

I still have my trig and log tables. I was also going thru a calculator a year by wearing the numbers off the keys. I'll more than likely retire with my current calculator.

 

I used to live and die by an HP calculator, but the ones they make these days are junk

The last one I had took $30 a year in batteries to keep it running.. and I had one at home and one at work

Now I just run an HP emulator on my PC

[Thad]

My dad was a hired gun engineer and the slide rule was practically our dinner table center piece.

 

[gcode]

V3.1 was my first MC version along with a brand new shiny 386-33 computer. I forget what version DOS we had on it. I do remember we got DOS4 about the same time we got MC V4. With the new DOS shell I no longer needed PC Tools.

 

My dad was a hired gun engineer and the slide rule was practically our dinner table center piece.

I still have my trig and log tables. I was also going thru a calculator a year by wearing the numbers off the keys. I'll more than likely retire with my current calculator.

My dad was a petroleum engineer

I remember going to his office where they had these huge mechanical calculators with a 10 x 10 matrix of numbered buttons and a big

arm like an old school cash register.

One day in 1967, he brought home an electronic calculator

It was the size of a paper back book and could add, multiply, subtract and divide.

and he had to sign for it to take it out of the office.

It cost over $1k... back in the days when $2k would by a new car

[jmfrank]

This thread made me go digging. I have a set of 5 1/4 floppies with version 3.21.

Yep I have some 51/4 floppies around somewhere. Old dos for sure . I remember up grading from 20 to 40 MEG , Yes MEG hard drive. WE were big time back then. LOL

[gcode]

Yep I have some 51/4 floppies around somewhere. Old dos for sure . I remember up grading from 20 to 40 MEG , Yes MEG hard drive. WE were big time back then. LOL

Yeah.. the first IBM clone PC I bought had a 10 meg hard drive running DOS 2.0

I thought, Man, I'll never use all that space.. and I was right I never came close to filling that hard drive

[jlw™]

man, you old timers are making me nostalgic for my wee years. I got my first computer in 86, an amiga with amigaos and 7 blazing mhz. I built my first computer in 89, it was a 386 and a gaggle of used parts i bought/bummed and i put pcdos on it and it took me a month to do it. Then in 1990 i built a 486 and i put 8mb ram in it in thos little risers that let you put 2 in one slot. 8MB and i thought i was boss! Then later i put windows for work groups 3.11 on it. Then I went and tried an amd around 94 and then sometime in 96 i got my hands on a copy of windows 95 that was on about 100 3.5 floppies and had actually just come out a few months earlier, if i remember right it was late which hurt my feelings. I loved windows 95, it got me into programming and i wrote a punter for aol and promptly got the boot from aol and had to get it in my mom's name since i ruined my dad's name. then windows 98 came out and i built another amd i think it was a k7 with an ati gaming graphics card that cost as much as the k7 and mb together.

 

 

 

Speed up to this year and i just let awbade talk me into building an i7 4ghz, 32gb, 256gb ssd and 5tb hdd and gtx1080. Me is pleased!

 

The first hdd i bought (not bummed or borrowed) was a wopping 100mb and after formated in ms dos 6 gave me an unbelievable 84mb and i never thought i'd use it. Next thing i know i was playing wolfenstien and doom and using drvspace compression.

 

Boom, childhood to today.

[Jim at Gentex]

This thread made me go digging. I have a set of 5 1/4 floppies with version 3.21. Any chance it is compatible with Windows 10? Finding a 5 1/4 drive is another problem. Then this place never throws anything out....There are a few old Packard Bell computers I could fire up. Or not.

 

I actually have a few floppy disks from around version 3 as well.

Some have old *.ge3 flies on them according to the labels.

But nothing to open them with.

[Mick]

Someone said the icons arrived in V4, which isn't true.

 

I started with Mastercam V4, which was DOS based. Black background, with yellow menu text down the LH side of the screen. And a big a$$ mouse cursor. The next major release was V4.11, and that was the most stable, and also the last of the DOS versions. That was delivered on 3.5 or 5" disks....

 

The first "Windows" Version was V5.0, and this ran in Windows 3.1. It was a bug fest, and I recall we got to V5.5, which got pretty stable. V6 came along, which also started out buggy, and I recall V6.13a was the most stable of the V6 runs.

 

I've worked with Mastercam from V4 right through to present day, and I've never missed a version. Beta tested for a while when I was in favour up at the head castle. I actually recently threw out all my disks and manuals going all the way back to V4. No need for them any more.

 

When I was up at Tolland in 2009, they had room in the reception, that was like a "museum". I believe there is an old PC there that still runs one of the first versions.

[AMCNitro]

V4 Wire screenshot:

 

I remember this one V4 I think.  DOS based.  

[Jayson Kramer]

Gcode,

V7 was the intro to Solids. remember the Solids super hero poster they used to have..

 

V5 was the intro to the newer GUI of what we all got to know till the end of V9. Also in California the first release of Mastercam was called quicksilver. Now to see screen shots of the early versions we need some like Aaron Eberhard to take shots from the display room down stairs at his work.

I remember making a lot of waxinvestment tools using V3.11.

[Jayson Kramer]

Here is the super hero guy. lol