I still have EP program disks (3.25 floppies I think, maybe DOS version) and a few dongles for it also. From way back when
EP was great for contouring and point creation within MicroStation before we went to InRoads and MStation.
Eagle Point now provides training for AutoCAD Civil 3D users... ironic, huh?
If you can't beat 'em...
We have since moved to Carlson as I was concerned about not having support. So far they are pretty good, but they're software just doesn't hold a candle to SMI's "surveyor friendliness". I have 7 HP 48's with anything in them from a basic SMI Cogo Card to Construction V. I also have a Jett CE running Construction V as well. Their GPS routines were simple, b/c they treated it just like total station surveying which many of us were so used to. Like I said in my earlier posts, I do not, for the life of me understand how good stuff like this just dies off. If it ever came back, I'd drop Carlson in a New York minute...
hlbennettpls, post: 359663, member: 10049 wrote: If it ever came back, I'd drop Carlson in a New York minute...
:good::good:
hlbennettpls, post: 359663, member: 10049 wrote: We have since moved to Carlson as I was concerned about not having support. So far they are pretty good, but they're software just doesn't hold a candle to SMI's "surveyor friendliness". I have 7 HP 48's with anything in them from a basic SMI Cogo Card to Construction V. I also have a Jett CE running Construction V as well. Their GPS routines were simple, b/c they treated it just like total station surveying which many of us were so used to. Like I said in my earlier posts, I do not, for the life of me understand how good stuff like this just dies off. If it ever came back, I'd drop Carlson in a New York minute...
I am never going to let anyone make me feel bad about having 4 versions of SMI on 4 HP48GXs and a couple of extra HP48GXs.
They do everything I ever need for in the field and are so easy to learn.
Only challenge has been to keep the VHS player going for newbies to learn from the training movie and a computer with a serial port.
B-)
Zoidberg, post: 359038, member: 8841 wrote: For a time I was being contacted by a company claiming to be Eagle Point. They developed an overlay for Civil3D that offered embedded how-to guides that would work with your own data. I didn't investigate it any deeper as I wasn't really interested at the time.
Right, if you had been an Eagle Point customer, they have you in their database. They have been an AutoDesk reseller, and their 'Pinnacle' system is intended as essentially a script writing program to automate daily tasks and make it easier to teach users to use Civil3D. The problem is that this takes a lot of set-up time (just like Civil 3D). They will be glad to do it for you - - - for a fee.
We started with 'EDS' which became Eagle Point when Ross Perot sued over the name. We had been using EP in AutoCAD R14 and 2002, and were mostly happy with that, but time marches on and we realized it was time to move to newer software. We tried Civil3D and Pinnacle - need I say more. We finally scrapped that idea and moved to Carlson with their Eagle Point upgrade program. The most aggravating part of the switch was that Carlson organized their routines differently than EP. We knew there was a routine, if we could just find it. Once we found where the routine was in the pull-downs, they generally work very much like EP routines did. There are actually a few things that Carlson does better than Eagle Point. If you are still on EP, congratulations. When it becomes time to upgrade definitely look at Carlson.
We have a couple of old HP-48's in the pile with TDS on them. (Now, what did I do with that old cable???) We do still have 1 computer with a Serial Port that can use the dongle. We moved on to TDS Rangers and now Carlson data collectors. Our party chief spent the first few weeks complaining about Carlson, but now that he has learned it, he says it is better than TDS.
I used SMI from the time I was a survey pup and loved it.
The other program (can't remember the name) had menus - ugh. SMI had hot keys. All I had to do to stake roads, curbs and sidewalks was to enter the road alignment - easy - and then just shoot station and offsets, either entering them or just shooting and it'd calc it for you! : Rock & Roll! !!! No point files needed (IMAGINE!), but when you took your final shot, you could record it for your cut sheet by a simple button push.
Staked out miles of city streets with it and easily kept up with the curb crews.
Wish I had it back. My current software can't even begin to stand up to SMI. The other stuff was designed from the bit-weenies on down to us, instead of from the surveyors on up like SMI was. I still have it by the way, nothing's faster on calcing curves. 2 buttons, and done!
Stan Trent even called me back from the Atlanta Airport on day to help me out with a 48-GX memory problem and got me rolling again.
He's the greatest.
wfwenzel, post: 362493, member: 7180 wrote: I used SMI from the time I was a survey pup and loved it.
The other program (can't remember the name) had menus - ugh. SMI had hot keys. All I had to do to stake roads, curbs and sidewalks was to enter the road alignment - easy - and then just shoot station and offsets, either entering them or just shooting and it'd calc it for you! : Rock & Roll! !!! No point files needed (IMAGINE!), but when you took your final shot, you could record it for your cut sheet by a simple button push.
Staked out miles of city streets with it and easily kept up with the curb crews.
Wish I had it back. My current software can't even begin to stand up to SMI. The other stuff was designed from the bit-weenies on down to us, instead of from the surveyors on up like SMI was. I still have it by the way, nothing's faster on calcing curves. 2 buttons, and done!
Stan Trent even called me back from the Atlanta Airport on day to help me out with a 48-GX memory problem and got me rolling again.
He's the greatest.
What ever happened to him?
hlbennettpls, post: 362500, member: 10049 wrote: What ever happened to him?
He was called by the surveyor general above.
🙁
Doug R, post: 358742, member: 11291 wrote: It's been years since I transferred data from my HP 48. Finally got a serial to USB cable to connect to my Windows 7 desktop but the transfer won't complete from the HP to the computer. Any adv
ice?[/QU
You most likely need to configure the ports in your computer to match the port setup in the SMI download program. This is a re -occuring problem that I not found a permanent fix for yet
You probably need a null modem cable to make transfer.
I worked for Stanley Tent for many years and miss him dearly. He was happily obsessed with making the best surveying software possible. I still have my SMI shirts too!
Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk
Howdy tamyclark, glad you have joined the site...........
I remember the times Trent would visit our office in Linden, Tx.
He would always insist that we meet him out front where he would be with his film gear and have everyone to give their input on his product.
Never saw and of what he did with the film, he was always inspired and full of motivation and would listen to everyone's input of wants and needs from his product.
:gammon:
