Status of Pro/DESKTOP 8?

[localzuk]

I have read that PTC Pro/DESKTOP 8 has been discontinued, so I'm just wondering what's the current name for whatever took over from it?

 

Someone here has said that Pro/DESKTOP 8 became shareware or free or something towards the end of its life?

[plexer]

Solidworks I believe.

 

Ben

[localzuk]

Solidworks I believe.

 

Ben

 

Different company/package. Solidworks is by Dassault, Pro Desktop is by PTC.

[plexer]

That's what has been provided to our DT dept by DATA I believe.

 

Ben

[localzuk]

That's what has been provided to our DT dept by DATA I believe.

 

Ben

 

DATA are an independent charity, nothing to do with the manufacturers of software. We have solidworks already, but we also still run Pro/DESKTOP and I'm looking at what the current version of that line of software is, by PTC.

[plexer]

Looks like their offering is now called Creo.

 

Ben

[plexer]

DATA may be nothing to do with the manafacturers directly but there was always the tie up that gained schools free 3D CAD software so I was following with what was available.

 

Ben

[plexer]

PTC - PTC Academic Program ? Creo School Edition ? 3D Modeling Software

 

Ben

[plexer]

PTC Schools Program ? CAD Education ? 3D Design Learning Programs

 

Ben

[john]

Pro Engineer replaced Pro Desktop as it were as PD was cut down from ProE in a simple terms I thought.

[36Degrees]

It's definitely CREO. Just make sure you get a trial version and test it before buying. We used Pro desktop for years with no problem but CREO is a massive PITA for our network. If you have previously run v8 I suspect that you may be OK though as we discovered that the documentation for PD8 helped us with CREO.

[TimB]

Creo is the FREE replacement for ProDESKTOP in schools.

 

PTC's Creo suite of 3D modelling tools has all new Windows 7 ribbon menus and streamlined workflow making it the most versatile and one of the easiest to use 3D modellers.

 

Key features are:

• All the power of Pro|ENGINEER parametric modelling but with all new ribbon menus making modelling much easier and faster.
  
• Freestyle sub-division modelling tools that make organic shapes really easy, a great tool for prodcut design.
  
• Creo Direct is an all new direct modeller where simple tools are used to create and modeify 3D gemoetry.
  
• A common data model allows the user to switch between modelling tools with no loss of data or model history!
  

 

Full details are available on PTC - PTC Academic Program for Schools where teachers and students can register, download and install a fully featured FREE single seat licence.

 

Schools can also get a FREE site license with network installation option when a teacher completes accredited training. A list of trainers in each region is on the web site.

 

Tim Brotherhood - Curriculum Development Manager, PTC.

[HarryMonkey]

@TimB ... Does this product install easily on an RM CC4 network?

[TimB]

Steve,

For network install we provide a product code you use to install a FlexLM license server which holds and issues up to 150 concurrent licenses dynamically.

 

During install, Creo is simply pointed to the license server so can be packaged on as many PCs as needed. The latest information I have from schools using CC4 is the Creo package is too big for the standard RM package builder but a workaround is to copy the install folders to other PCs and create a shortcut to start Creo.

 

Scripts must be enabled for Creo to Run and the default student profile has this disabled. In the six years Pro|ENGINEER and Creo has been used in schools, I have not had a single report of this causing a security problem and Becta, before their demise, were not able to give me any examples where enabling scripts had been a problem.

[HarryMonkey]

Thanks Tim, given the way our DT dept moves from one IT suite to another, copying that amount of info manually to over 200 workstations (and again each time we rebuild them) will probably mean that we won't be using it then. Shame really as it looks like a good product and I can almost hear the wailing from our DT dept when I tell them that installing it this way is not a practical solution for us.

[TimB]

Steve, I know of IT technicians who split the Creo install into three packages if that helps?

[HarryMonkey]

It might do if it means it can be deployed automatically to the required workstations.

[gumbygaz]

We've been trying to get Creo to work with @TimB's help, which we have done now.

We installed the Creo package onto a client PC 1st. Then built a clean packagebuild PC - ran the application wizard. Copied the whole of the PTC folder from the 1st PC to the packagebuild PC - ran it & did second scan and it imported fine. (2.5GB)

 

We've only pushed it out to 15 Macs (which are Bootcamped on Win7) at the moment and seems to be working fine. We had @TimB visit us beginning to the week and we've noticed a couple graphics glitches which we're trying to correct, but it doesn't affect the useability at all. Something probably due to the bootcamp mac driver.

 

You'll need to set the permissions for users to be able to run scripts. In the RMMC, under Reg policies, User Policies, select usertype you want to change, Software Restrictions and leave "Disable the command prompt ticked, but the sub option "Disable the command prompt script processing" change to No.

 

Set the shortcut properties to Start In N:\ so it'll default to their home directory first.

 

Seems to run ok for us though! Looks a very impressive & very powerful programs. Working motors/physics on models you've made.

[HarryMonkey]

Many thanks for that. I daresay it won't be too long before we get asked to look at this.

[Divaldo]

Hi,

 

We still use Pro/Desktop 8 in our school, so this question might having you reaching into the farthest reaches of your memories, but does anyone know whether the licence allows students to borrow the disk and install it on their own laptops?

 

Failing that, does anyone have any contacts at PTC? I can't get through to anyone via email, website or telephone.

 

Thanks a lot!

[john]

Hi,

 

We still use Pro/Desktop 8 in our school, so this question might having you reaching into the farthest reaches of your memories, but does anyone know whether the licence allows students to borrow the disk and install it on their own laptops?

 

Failing that, does anyone have any contacts at PTC? I can't get through to anyone via email, website or telephone.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Yes they can borrow the disk to install at home from the depths of my memory

[TimB]

I can confirm, the free school license for Pro|DESKTOP does include home use by teachers and pupils for academic use. (Former PTC Academic Programme Manager).

[MrLudwig]

Slightly off topic a bit but Autodesk have an academic program which offers loads of their packages to schools for free. Possibly a bit overkill for schools, but can't complain at the price.

 

There's a little bit of work to set up a license server, but the info on their knowledge base is excellent, as is their support.

 

The software available is really impressive, pretty much all of their range.

[howartp]

Tim, good to see you're still around - I know you're no longer with PTC, but do you know the situation with re-installing old versions on new servers?

 

PTC Support won't give me license for new HOSTID so I can move our Creo Elements to new domain and destroy old servers; they insist we need to cough up for newest version which won't run on our hardware and is significantly different for students mid-way through a 2/3-year course.

 

Does this sound correct from what you knew when you left, and/or is there a helpful contact I can ring who might be able to help us out?

 

Off the top of my head, Dmitry is the guy whose taken on our account from you, but he's going by the book which doesn't help us.

[john]

Tim, good to see you're still around - I know you're no longer with PTC, but do you know the situation with re-installing old versions on new servers?

 

PTC Support won't give me license for new HOSTID so I can move our Creo Elements to new domain and destroy old servers; they insist we need to cough up for newest version which won't run on our hardware and is significantly different for students mid-way through a 2/3-year course.

 

Does this sound correct from what you knew when you left, and/or is there a helpful contact I can ring who might be able to help us out?

 

Off the top of my head, Dmitry is the guy whose taken on our account from you, but he's going by the book which doesn't help us.

 

Peter wasn't the HOSTID just based on the MAC of NICs so a bit of MAC spoofing to get it working perhaps or a P2V or even V2V of the old box maybe if they are being painful?