Master CAD

A Day in the Life

Master CAD is a program by MichTron that I've had gathering dust on my shelf. I nabbed it off eBay but have never booted it up. So, I'm going to fix that and see what professional software was like in 1987.

This would have been used by anyone wanting to create precise drawings. I imagine everyone, from hobbyists and students to small businesses, could use it to produce floor plans, mechanical diagrams, architectural sketches, circuit layouts, or boring stuff that would have been tough to draft by hand.

So, after brushing away a thick layer of dust, I opened the box and lifted out a weighty manual. "Time for a good read", I thought. Well, no, it wasn't anything close to good. Yep, it wasn't long until I almost fell into a coma! Wow, such dull reading and confusing - so I decided to stop and power on the ST.

Installation was a stumbling block: it insists on using Drive C, which is doable, but means cluttering up my boot partition. The next problem was a lack of examples to work from (and yes, I meant stealing).

With little guidance, I continued the best I could. Don't laugh, but I had foolish plans to map of Doom's E1M1. I've no idea why, I just did. However, it was clear that MichTron wrote this manual for the established designer. Not somebody like me. I soon got to that stage where I wanted to pull out all my hair!!

After many hours, my map looked nothing more than a cluttered mess. In fact, it looked like something a child would have made! This program tortured me every step of the way. It wasn't fun, and I had nothing to show for the time wasted. Another day of my life gone, and I wondered why I started all this.

Absolute madness! So, do you want to see how badly Master CAD affected me?

You should scroll down then...

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