Fried Computer
Fried Computer
(OP)
So, I have been having problems lately with my computer and after trying to solve the issue for 3 weeks it was decided that formatting the hard drive was the best option. This means I might be losing my older software whose disks were lost long ago. I am going to try to get some of The software reinstalled, but I believe I will be unsuccessful as I'm not sure I have fully intact backups on my NAS.
So not I am in search of cost effective replacements for those programs. Right now i am looking for a solution to replace a isolated spread footing design and baseplate design. I used to use old versions of RISA for these, but it appears that they no longer offer these programs. Does anyone have any recommendations for cost effective replacements? These brograms would be used to quickly check footings and base plates.
So not I am in search of cost effective replacements for those programs. Right now i am looking for a solution to replace a isolated spread footing design and baseplate design. I used to use old versions of RISA for these, but it appears that they no longer offer these programs. Does anyone have any recommendations for cost effective replacements? These brograms would be used to quickly check footings and base plates.






RE: Fried Computer
RE: Fried Computer
Surprisingly, using spreadsheets and other tools I was able to remain somewhat billable. About 60%-70% of my income comes from the 4-6 large projects I design each year.the other income comes from smaller projects that don't require software (stair designs, inspection reports, repair sketches, house design etc).
RE: Fried Computer
Good luck
RE: Fried Computer
1) I believe that I have backed up copies of the install disks for certain versions of the RISA programs that you mentioned. If you happen to still have your license keys for those versions, or could obtain them posthumously from RISA, we might be able to get you back to where you were.
2) You might consider speaking to RISA about re-aquiring copies of your license keys and lost install files. Just because they no longer sell those products, that doesn't mean that they don't still have copies available that they can provide to legit owners of those products. RISA's done a stand up job, in my opinion, of retaining the option for users to own perpetual licenses for their purchases if they wish. Helping out with this kind of thing seems like an extension of that so I wouldn't be surprised if they were willing to help out.
3) RISA still has those offerings. They're just bundled up with other stuff (RISA Connection and RISA Foundation) that makes the value proposition a little harder to swallow for smaller guys. I find RISA's subscription service on the cusp of being palatable for me and one of the nice features of that is that you'd never have to suffer this particular injustice again. RISA Connection would cost you about $800 per year and RISA Foundation about $1000 per year. I know, those are still big numbers when you're operating at a modest scale. If you're a hillbilly like me, $1800 represents a "new" car every year.
4) What kind of foundation work are you doing regularly that you feel necessitates the software? Personally, I don't bother with software for foundations. 90% of my foundations are strip and isolated, concentrically load foundations. I just use out of date CRSI tables for that and the occasional spreadsheet. Fancy footings seem to either a) show up so rarely that it's not so bad doing some hand calcs and b) often be too complex for any software package to handle as I'd like. So maybe just $800 to solve the base plate thing would be nice.
5) I personally know of at least five solo practitioners that would like to be using RISA but don't feel that they can justify the cost. I've often wondered if there's a legitimate way that multiple small firms could share a RISA license somehow. I doubt I'd need RISA Connection more than once a month so, if you and I shared, I doubt either of us would ever even know the other was alive. Maybe JoshPlum can advise on this.
@XR250: you may be doing something that I've been wanting to do badly but haven't known how to do. What I do now is make a disk image backup of my entire hard drive every time that I add an important new software package. It takes about fifteen minutes and I retain about half a dozen old versions going back about 24 months. That way, in the event of Armageddon, I can just restore my entire machine byte for byte and I'm back in the saddle in half a day. I do it once in a while just to keep things clean. Data is cloud stored of course. It's worked great but the Achilles heel of it is that, as far as I know, it's machine dependent. If I'm ever unable to get my computer wiped and running again after an incident, my backups would be worthless on the replacement computer. I'd very much like to have a similar system that is not uniquely machine dependent. The ability to clone sounds good. Can you point me in the right direction?
I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.
RE: Fried Computer
The laptop in question was a personal laptop that I used at my old company, a steel fabricator (because they were too cheap to buy me a good computer). They wend belly up and I just took my laptop home and scraped together a client list and began work as a private consultant. The RISA software is very old, like version 1.0 old and ( 15 + years old). Back then you could buy these modulus for $400 or so which made things easier. I am not sure if I have a backup of those old programs here. I uses the spread footing program to design footings with biaxial moments, and as a check for a spreadsheet I wrote here that will do single/combined footings with moments in one direction. I have instances (think metal buildings with sidewall bracing) where I have shears in two directions at the base of my column. I could take shear in one direction through my 3'-0" deep frost wall, but I don't always do that.
Unfortunately I'm a Bentley guy and all of my old files use STAAD and RAM. I have contacted them to get updated pricing and for the price of a used car I can get those two programs back plus a few others (RAM connection being one that I don't have). After I give all that, I have the privileged of giving them $1,600/year to maintain the licenses. They have the network versions of their programs on lock down. Buying just doesn't appear to be a good option. These other programs I mentioned I use in conjunction with RAM and STAAD on my large projects (2-3 story buildings that I design 4-6 of per year).
One program that looked like a promising replacement for footing analysis was one from ASDIP. The cost seems reasonable, but it doesn't look as good as my old software. If RISA had their old software at similar pricing points without all the extras that would be good, but it's bundled with so much extra stuff which increases the cost it just doesn't make sense to jump into that pool.
RE: Fried Computer
RE: Fried Computer
Dik
RE: Fried Computer
I'm a mercenary so I don't have the luxury of a IT department to help me. I have to find someone local that fixes computers and the jury is still out on whether or not they are good.
My computer is back now and they were able to install the two pieces of software that I was worried about, and I did have backups on my NAS drive. My NAS drive has been downloading data for 1.5 hours back onto my computer. I am in the process of installing AutoCAD (hopefully this will go in an I don't have to call AutoDesk) and other small programs I use. I have an email into BlueBeam about seeing if I can get my Revu license back. Then it's onto the Bentley software. Not sure if this will go in yet.
At some point a new computer is in my future. So I am going to have to go through this all over again.
kipfoot,
I say the IES software, do you use it? Is it good?
RE: Fried Computer
Dik
RE: Fried Computer
Congrats on hanging out your shingle.
RE: Fried Computer
I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.
RE: Fried Computer
Dik
RE: Fried Computer
RE: Fried Computer
Was about $1200/license up front seven years ago, I'm sure it's more now. Maintenance for us is about $300/license/year.
Sorry to hear about the crash. Bluebeam is fairly reasonable, I'm sure you won't have any issues with them. Not so sure about Autodesk and Bentley.
RE: Fried Computer
RE: Fried Computer
RE: Fried Computer
another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?
RE: Fried Computer
RE: Fried Computer
and proper potato chips (not those new fangled sweet potato ones)
another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?