Inventor for Mac on Firstbase

[Zach O]

I was looking download a Inventor version for Mac off Firstbase but I cannot do so. Any ideas as to what I can do, or where I can get a free version for Mac?

[Pat McCarthy]

Autodesk does not produce a Mac version of Inventor.
My suggestion would be to get Bootcamp, Parallels, VMWare, or VirtualBox (free), a copy of Windows XP or Vista, and install Inventor on the Windows of your choosing.

[Zach O]

I really don't have the time or the disks to do that, but thank you.

Is there an alternative for Inventor for Mac that is VERY similar?

[JagWire]

The only mainstream CAD software for mac that I know of is VectorWorks. The last version I used was around version 9 though, and at least then, it wasn't much like Inventor at all. It wasn't nearly as intuitive and easy to model things as inventor; but again, I haven't used it in quite a few years, so that may have changed.

The CAD/CAM software industry is pretty well dominated by windows. If I ever found a good combination of CAD and CAM for mac, I'd buy it in a heartbeat; dump windows and never look back.

For now though, the best I can do is just run windows through bootcamp on my mac. It runs pretty well, and since I don't use my windows partition for anything other than CAD/CAM, it doesn't get viruses so it stays in pretty good shape and hasn't given me much trouble.

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by JagWire

The only mainstream CAD software for mac that I know of is VectorWorks. The last version I used was around version 9 though, and at least then, it wasn't much like Inventor at all. It wasn't nearly as intuitive and easy to model things as inventor; but again, I haven't used it in quite a few years, so that may have changed.

The CAD/CAM software industry is pretty well dominated by windows. If I ever found a good combination of CAD and CAM for mac, I'd buy it in a heartbeat; dump windows and never look back.

For now though, the best I can do is just run windows through bootcamp on my mac. It runs pretty well, and since I don't use my windows partition for anything other than CAD/CAM, it doesn't get viruses so it stays in pretty good shape and hasn't given me much trouble.

I would so dump windows, but since windows owns the monopoly. I am stuck here with windows. But if you want a good virus protection it is AVAST. It works and is better than any other, plus itz free. TRY IT GUYS.

[Zach O]

I will look into VectorWorks, thanks I just need something for now. I think F.I.R.S.T. should have offered some sort of software for Mac for CAD. If there offering one for Windows for free, why not one for Mac? That's like taking out a whole group of people.

[sdcantrell56]

Originally Posted by Zach O

I will look into VectorWorks, thanks I just need something for now. I think F.I.R.S.T. should have offered some sort of software for Mac for CAD. If there offering one for Windows for free, why not one for Mac? That's like taking out a whole group of people.

They don't offer one because one really doesn't exist. I wish one did as that is the only reason I'm sticking with a PC but currently there are not any good CAD offerings for Mac.

[gorillamonky]

have you looked for a Linux version of inventor, people usually put them out, they use the same file system look the same and so on, yes a linux program will work with MAC, (MAC is based of Linux which is based of Unix and so on.

[artdutra04]

Just use Windows in a virtual machine or separate hard drive partition.

If you don't want to pay, just get the free Windows 7 Beta. It'll expire in August though.

[richalex2010]

Originally Posted by gorillamonky

have you looked for a Linux version of inventor, people usually put them out, they use the same file system look the same and so on, yes a linux program will work with MAC, (MAC is based of Linux which is based of Unix and so on.

Not the case. Apple uses the HFS+ file system, while Linux uses EXT3. Linux programs do not necessarily work on Mac, as there are major differences due to the different heritages of the operating systems. OS X is based on NeXTSTEP, which is a Unix/BSD-derived system (using the Mach kernel). Linux is an independently, openly-developed Unix-like system. Linux is Unix-like, OS X is Unix-derived, meaning that they are not inherently compatible.
EDIT: Also, the biggest difference to end users with Linux/Mac is the UI; OS X uses the proprietary interface that Apple developed, while Linux uses one of many desktop managers, including GNOME, KDE, and XFCE to name the three most popular (to my knowledge).

As far as compatibility goes (I don't know anything about actually using the software), there are several solutions that are available for OS X. FreeCAD, BRL-CAD, QCAD, and Form-Z all look like they could be used. There is no Unix-like version of Inventor, though. I'd suggest Bootcamp and either a demo version of Windows (borrow a CD from someone, just don't register it - that'll last for 30 days) or the Windows 7 beta, as stated above.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Just throwing as an option, Google Sketchup. It may not be as powerful as Inventor but for quickly visualizing a concept it can be pretty decent.

[dani190]

Originally Posted by rc_cola1323

I would so dump windows, but since windows owns the monopoly. I am stuck here with windows. But if you want a good virus protection it is AVAST. It works and is better than any other, plus itz free. TRY IT GUYS.

avast used to
be good, kaspersky is were its at now...

[Zach O]

Thank you all for the good ideas.
I've looked at Graphite but I'm looking at someone giving a review on it first before I go downloading it.

Edit: I did try it. Not so great also.

[gorillamonky]

Originally Posted by richalex2010

Not the case. Apple uses the HFS+ file system, while Linux uses EXT3. Linux programs do not necessarily work on Mac, as there are major differences due to the different heritages of the operating systems. OS X is based on NeXTSTEP, which is a Unix/BSD-derived system (using the Mach kernel). Linux is an independently, openly-developed Unix-like system. Linux is Unix-like, OS X is Unix-derived, meaning that they are not inherently compatible.

sorry, every time i have tried it, it worked fine,

Also, the biggest difference to end users with Linux/Mac is the UI; OS X uses the proprietary interface that Apple developed, while Linux uses one of many desktop managers, including GNOME, KDE, and XFCE to name the three most popular (to my knowledge).

And the GUI for the kernal shouldn't effect how individual programs look right?

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by richalex2010

Not the case. Apple uses the HFS+ file system, while Linux uses EXT3. Linux programs do not necessarily work on Mac, as there are major differences due to the different heritages of the operating systems. OS X is based on NeXTSTEP, which is a Unix/BSD-derived system (using the Mach kernel). Linux is an independently, openly-developed Unix-like system. Linux is Unix-like, OS X is Unix-derived, meaning that they are not inherently compatible.
EDIT: Also, the biggest difference to end users with Linux/Mac is the UI; OS X uses the proprietary interface that Apple developed, while Linux uses one of many desktop managers, including GNOME, KDE, and XFCE to name the three most popular (to my knowledge).

All true, except you forgot about X11 Unix applications. That's how you can run MATLAB on a Mac.