[BC] AutoCAD

[Lamar Owen]

> Does anyone know of/if there is an AutoCAD reader program available?  Much
> like MS has for reading WORD documents?
>
> I don't need the whole program, just the ability to read/display the
> contents of the .DWG file.

Autodesk has a viewer; VoloView Express I think is the name.

I personally use the open source LXviewer (on sourceforge.net) on Linux,
and then convert to DXF, where I can edit the DXF with the open source
QCAD, which does 90% of most CAD work.  I have purchased a site license
for QCAD Pro, which runs on Linux and Windows, for PARI.  Site license
cost $260; individual licenses are $28.  QCAD uses DXF as its native
format, and is much much cheaper than Visio (of course, not as powerful,
either, but yet a full-bore CAD for, again, 90% of what CAD is used for
(dimensionally accurate layered drawings).
-- 
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu