Ashlar Vellum (1990) 2 Graphics Engineering Windows

Ashlar Vellum is a CAD package for mechanical engineers and designers, that includes the ability to intelligently predict where the user wants to connect the next object. There were both "2D" and "3D" versions.

• 1.x (Win)

Autodesk AutoCAD (1984) 29 Graphics Engineering MacOS DOS Unix

AutoCAD, from Autodesk and first released in 1982, is a powerful Computer Aided Design tool. It was, and still is, often considered the standard for CAD tools. Primarily for the IBM PC platform, it was ported to x86 machines with higher video resolutions such as the Zenith Z-100 and NEC APC. Intermittently, versions for the Macintosh appeared. Later versions use a dongle copy protection.

• r10 (Mac)
• r10 (DOS)
• r10 (Unix)
• r11 (DOS)

CADKEY (1988) 3 Graphics Engineering DOS

CADKEY is a 2D/3D mechanical CAD (computer aided design or computer aided drafting) software application released for various DOS, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Originally released for DOS in 1984, CADKEY was among the first CAD programs with 3D capabilities for personal computers.

• 1.x

Claris CAD (1989) 2 Engineering MacOS

Claris CAD is a computer aided design program developed in 1988 by Claris Corporation in a joint effort with Craig S. Young of Computer Aided Systems for Engineering (CASE). It was based on MacDraw II and Young's earlier CAD application, EZ-Draft. Version 1 was released in 1989 for Macintosh computers running System Software 6 or later. The initial releases were plagued with bugs, especially with the bundled plotter driver.

• 1.0
• 2.0

DesignCAD 2D (1988) 7 Graphics Engineering DOS

DesignCAD is a low end, but well featured, drafting program. It was sometime a companion product to DesignCAD 3D.

• 3.x

Drafix (1990) 4 Graphics Engineering Windows

Drafix is a powerful, high performance, and feature rich 2-dimensional computer aided design tool. Despite being a 2-D CAD program, it had many features of high end 3-D CAD software, and competed directly with AutoCAD. Drafix was first was fist released in 1986 for DOS, and was the first professional CAD program released for Microsoft Windows.

• 1.0 (Win)

Generic CADD (1987) 4 Engineering DOS

Generic CADD, originally from Generic Software, Inc., was a popular low-cost 2D CAD program targeted at casual drafting users. Initially it competed against AutoCAD, and the budget TurboCAD. The original version offered a number of separately purchasable modules.

• 5.0

IBM Architecture And Engineering Series (1989) 2 Engineering Unix

The IBM Architecture and Engineering Series (AES) is a complete, high end, integrated, 3D drafting and information system. Developed by the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) for IBM, this 3D Computer Aided Design system meets the needs of architects, engineers, and builders.

• 1.x

VersaCAD (1988) 3 Graphics Engineering DOS

First released in 1983 by T & W Systems Inc (later Versacad Corporation) and based on their earlier T-Square product, VersaCAD is a sophisticated professional object design and drawing tool for the IBM PC. It competed heavily against AutoCAD. A very in-depth history of VersaCAD can be found on Cadhistory (PDF Link)

• 5.3