Prior to the introduction of AutoCAD, most other CAD programs ran on mainframe computers or minicomputers, with each CAD operator ( user ) working at a graphical terminal or workstation.

Prior to the introduction of the ubiquitous fax machine, one of the first being the Exxon Qwip in the mid-1970s, facsimile machines worked by optical scanning of a document or drawing spinning on a drum.

Prior to the introduction of modern reinforced-soil gravity walls, cantilevered walls were the most common type of taller retaining wall.

Prior to the introduction of the Latin term, incest was known in Old English as sibbleger ( from sibb ' kinship ' + leger ' to lie ') or mǣġhǣmed ( from mǣġ ' kin, parent ' + hǣmed ' sexual intercourse ') but in time, both words fell out of use.

Prior to the introduction of plastics, it was used for billiard balls, piano keys, Scottish bagpipes, buttons and a wide range of ornamental items.

Prior to the introduction of the cannon and ships with sufficient capacity to carry the large guns, navy warfare primarily involved ramming and boarding actions.

Prior to the introduction of PostScript, printers were designed to print character output given the text — typically in ASCII — as input.

Prior to the introduction of pneumatic tires, riding over the large wheel of the " penny-farthing " gave a much smoother ride, which accounts for their popularity.

Prior to the introduction of this new technology, moving image production was only available to the consumer ( or the artist for that matter ) by way of eight or sixteen millimeter film, but did not provide the instant playback that video tape technologies offered.

Prior to the introduction of contrapposto, the statues that dominated ancient Greece were the archaic kouros ( male ) and the kore ( female ).

Prior to the introduction of standard time, each municipality around the civilized world set its official clock, if it had one, according to the local position of the Sun ( see solar time ).

Prior to the introduction of the mechanical cotton gin, cotton had required considerable labor to clean and separate the fibers from the seeds.

Prior to the introduction of specialised video connector standards such as SCART, TVs were designed to only accept signals through the aerial connector: signals originate at a TV station, are transmitted over the air, and are then received by an antenna and fed into the TV.

Prior to the introduction of the 802. 1Q standard, several proprietary protocols existed, such as Cisco's ISL ( Inter-Switch Link ) and 3Com's VLT ( Virtual LAN Trunk ).

Prior to the introduction of a new city charter on June 20, 1984, council members in Windom were referred to as alderpersons.

Prior to the introduction of fibreglass as a construction material, dories were more popular because their ease of assembly and, thereby, lower cost.

Prior to the introduction of inks made with aniline dyes in 1856, the quality of copies made on letter copying presses was limited by the properties of the available copying inks.

Prior to the introduction of the basic chromium species in tanning, several steps are required to produce a tannable hide.

Prior to the introduction of antibiotics, colloidal silver was used as a germicide and disinfectant.

Prior to the introduction of videotape in 1956, kinescopes were the only way to record television broadcasts, or to distribute network television programs that were broadcast live from New York or other originating cities, to stations not connected to the network, or to stations that wished to show a program at a different time than the network broadcast.

Prior to the introduction of the Bulletin Board System ( BBS ), modems typically operated on direct-dial telephone lines that always began and ended with a particular modem at each end.

Prior to the introduction of the term " PDA " by Apple in 1992, handheld personal organizers such as the Sharp Wizard and the Psion Organiser were also referred to as " PIMs ".

Prior to the introduction of Beta Hi-Fi, Sony shifted the Y carrier up by 400 kHz to make room for the four FM carriers that would be needed for Beta Hi-Fi.

Prior to introduction the reborn " TC1 " after a year of road testing received improvements to critical chassis components due to the harsher roads of rural Argentina and a lot of parts were re-selected for ease of availability although most of it still had to be imported from European Ford plants.

Prior to the 1950s, the various stages of the recording and marketing process had been carried out by different professionals within the industry – A & R managers found potential new artists and signed them to their labels ; professional songwriters created new material ; publishing agents sold these songs to the A & R people ; staff engineers carried out the task of making the recordings in company-owned studios.

Prior to the 1960s civil rights movement, decent affordable housing for African Americans professionals in South Florida was difficult to find.

Prior to 2005, the LPGA Championship had a " professionals only " rule.

Prior to Bronze Bully, celebrities also took part in the charity throw, albeit with a 60 point start over the professionals.

Prior to Photo CD, professionals who wished to digitize their film images were forced to pay much higher fees to obtain drum scans of their film negatives and transparencies.

Prior to the outbreak of the 1998 – 2000 Eritrean – Ethiopian War, landlocked Ethiopia mainly relied on the seaports of Asseb and Massawa in Eritrea for international trade.

Prior to this, Canada had relied on British diplomats who owed their first loyalty to London.

Prior to the late 1930s, Sevier County's population, economy, and society — which relied primarily on subsistence agriculture — held little significance vis-à-vis any other county in the rural South.

Prior to this development, people relied on either private wells or the railroad well at Mesa.

Prior to about 1970 in the United States, climbing relied mainly on pitons ; other types of gear such as nuts, Hexcentrics, Tricams and spring-loaded cams were largely unknown or did not exist.

Prior to this, the government relied on the monks from the traditional schools in Nara to perform rituals, such as chanting the Golden Light Sutra to bolster the government, but this event marked a new reliance on the esoteric tradition to fulfill this role.

Prior to its construction, the community relied primarily on water transport via Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

Prior to the advent of permanent standing committees in the early 19th century, the House of Representatives relied almost exclusively on select committees to carry out much of its legislative work.

Prior to the Solomon Islands Dollar, Solomon Islands relied on foreign currencies, namely the Australian units of pound sterling.

Prior to the war, much of Eritrea's trade was with Ethiopia, and much of Ethiopia's foreign trade relied on Eritrean roads and ports.

Prior to the breakup, the broadcast networks relied on AT & T Long Lines ' infrastructure of terrestrial microwave relay, coaxial cable, and, for radio, broadcast-quality leased line networks to deliver their programming to local stations.

Prior to this point, the fur trade had relied on Indians to do the actual trapping and hunting that produced the furs ; they were then brought to trading posts where, with increasing frequency, the Indians were given liquor both as an actual medium of exchange, and in order to render them pliant and easily cheated.

Prior to the Dust Bowl era, agriculture in this section of the state had relied upon sources such as Boulder Creek, St. Vrain Creek, Little Thompson River, Big Thompson River and the Cache La Poudre River, all of which are a part of the South Platte River basin and flow into the South Platte River before the South Platte reaches Greeley, Colorado.

Prior to the many 19th century land reclamation projects ( including The Cob at Porthmadog ) and the building of the Ffestiniog Railway, both of which spurred economic growth, the few local inhabitants relied on agriculture and small scale copper mining.

Prior to Katrina ’ s landfall in 2005, the economy of New Orleans relied heavily on its usefulness and income derived from being a port city.