WF4 on cheap Dell Laptop

[rizzari]

I threw WF4 on a cheap Dell lap top ($600 Walmart special). I wasn't sure what to expect, surprisingly it ran very well and handled a 100 plus part assembly, shaded and spun with no problems. The only problem I have is querry select doesn't highlight the model, mouse over doesn't highlight. The only way to highlight is to select the part or pick in the tree. In addition in the Mold Design package it doesn't highlight while classifying mold volumes. Is there a config I'm missing or is this the lack of graphics power. It's running on Vista and is 64 bit. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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[Dmi3U]

Hi Bob,
I would start with graphics drivers. There are certified drivers on the Dell's web site (not always up to date though)





In Reply to Bob Rizzari:

I threw WF4 on a cheap Dell lap top ($600 Walmart special). I wasn't sure what to expect, surprisingly it ran very well and handled a 100 plus part assembly, shaded and spun with no problems. The only problem I have is querry select doesn't highlight the model, mouse over doesn't highlight. The only way to highlight is to select the part or pick in the tree. In addition in the Mold Design package it doesn't highlight while classifying mold volumes. Is there a config I'm missing or is this the lack of graphics power. It's running on Vista and is 64 bit. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[NEALROSENBLUM]

All,



I find this incredible. I have always spent GIG BUCKS$$$ to purchase a high
end laptop that will ensure that the software does what it is supposed to
do. If I had a relatively CHEAP laptop, then I could probably own a couple
of computers and have one ready for backup in the event that it breaks. For
$600, the computer is pretty much disposable.





Sincerely,

Neal Rosenblum

Geometrix Engineering, Inc.

201 N. 13th Avenue

Hollywood, FL 33019

[StephenW]

Nobody ever said pro/e wouldn't run on low end computers. What you are losing it Tech Support from PTC. If something isn't working right, they pretty much won't help if you aren't on certified hardware. If Bob called PTC tech support for help with this problem, he would pretty much be told that the hardware is not supported and there is nothing they (PTC) can do. They may make a few basic suggestions, but you won't get any in-depth help.

Steve

[wfalco]

Bob,

I have thought this for some time now. It's not your mothers computer anymore. LOL!

Please share details on this laptop. I'd be curious to see what's on it.

Wayne

[rizzari]

Hi Wayne,

It's a Dell Inspiron 17 with 4 gig of memory an intel chip and intel Media Accelerator X4500HD graphics card. It was just a laptop for the kids but I suspected that the computers today are so good, that it would do a good job. Proe wise it does, it's only the graphics issue. I think its reasonable to conclude that a inexpensive computer with a good graphics card will work fine for most applications. I had a 100 plus assembly up and it worked just fine.

Bob

[wfalco]

Thanks Bob. It's a ray of sunshine for the small business guy.

[rizzari]

Original question:

I threw WF4 on a cheap Dell lap top ($600 Walmart special). I wasn't sure what to expect, surprisingly it ran very well and handled a 100 plus part assembly, shaded and spun with no problems. The only problem I have is querry select doesn't highlight the model, mouse over doesn't highlight. The only way to highlight is to select the part or pick in the tree. In addition in the Mold Design package it doesn't highlight while classifying mold volumes. Is there a config I'm missing or is this the lack of graphics power. It's running on Vista and is 64 bit. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Response:

Most of the responses were to update the graphics card. Check the config.pro for highlighting and prehighilighting options. All of which were configured. I was just curious to see how it would work and my conclusion is that a cheap computer with a good graphics card will work fine for a lot of applications. This cheapy laptop (which is for my kids) would have worked great other than the highlighting issue. Something to think about when dolling out big bucks for a computer...........especially if you just borrowing a license to work at home.

[rizzari]

New update: I changed the graphics option to win32_gdi and that worked. You have to restart Pro for the graphics change to take effect. You cannot hit apply, which is what I was doing.

[BlaineProut]

If you must run pro on non cert'd hdwe, you often can, and this should help you survive: Two tips below, one for a windows setting/tweak, another is a ptc config.pro option

Windows Graphics Settings:

rt click on desktop background - properties - Settings tab, advanced, troubleshoot tab, this is the dialog box where you can affect performance, avoid crashes, avoid anomolies...make it peform to it's best ability. Applies to more than PTC apps as well.

Play with the Hardware Acceleration Slider bar, (None<--->Full)

Experiment with toggling off the Enable write combining check box as well.

Graphics are the biggest most single thing to make/break a good cad experience. Cert'd hardware, or otherwise.

CAD software can work on non-cert'd hdwe, your mileage will vary.

Config.pro option:

<h1>graphics</h1>

gl, opengl, starbase, xgl, x_windows

Sets the optional graphics environment used by certain platforms for running Pro/ENGINEER.

To import files in snapshot TIFF format into Pro/ENGINEER, ensure that graphics is set to x_windows on UNIX and win32_gdi on Windows.

Hope this helps!

&

Good luck.

Blaine Prout