Very Computer

I'm having great difficulty finding a good CAD package for Linux.
I've searched for and downloaded quite a few, and most of them have
user interfaces that range from bizarre to horrendous and downhill
from there...
I'd obviously prefer a free package, but I'm willing to pay for
something.

I have a couple of different applications (I'm fine with using
different CAD packages for each, but they have to be ok):

-architectural:   2 story house, garage, workshop, yard/lot plan
   plan view, elevations, 3D views, ease of use, multiple layers,
   roofing would be a nice bonus
   can export to other formats (Chief Architect, DXF, DWG, VRML, POV,
...)

-3D parts and mechanical design
   CSG, multiple layers, materials properties, ...
   export to (DXF, DWG, VRML, POV, ...)
   export for CNC milling/machining

What would you recommend?
Are there any packages for Linux that are intuitive, easy to use, ...?
Any ports or projects in the works?
Is this hopeless and I should just buy a Windows box?
If there really is nothing out there really intuitive, what about
rolling our own (maybe leveraging an existing project)?

Thanks!
-Ralph
rpseguin AT yahoo DOT com
http://mybrain.org/~ralph

www.anim8or.com
Claims that this FREE windows package will run under Linux with some
interperator the name of which I can not quite remember but it is there on
the site.

Quote:> I'm having great difficulty finding a good CAD package for Linux.
> I've searched for and downloaded quite a few, and most of them have
> user interfaces that range from bizarre to horrendous and downhill
> from there...
> I'd obviously prefer a free package, but I'm willing to pay for
> something.

> I have a couple of different applications (I'm fine with using
> different CAD packages for each, but they have to be ok):

> -architectural:   2 story house, garage, workshop, yard/lot plan
>    plan view, elevations, 3D views, ease of use, multiple layers,
>    roofing would be a nice bonus
>    can export to other formats (Chief Architect, DXF, DWG, VRML, POV,
> ...)

> -3D parts and mechanical design
>    CSG, multiple layers, materials properties, ...
>    export to (DXF, DWG, VRML, POV, ...)
>    export for CNC milling/machining

> What would you recommend?
> Are there any packages for Linux that are intuitive, easy to use, ...?
> Any ports or projects in the works?
> Is this hopeless and I should just buy a Windows box?
> If there really is nothing out there really intuitive, what about
> rolling our own (maybe leveraging an existing project)?

> Thanks!
> -Ralph
> rpseguin AT yahoo DOT com
> http://mybrain.org/~ralph

Quote:> www.anim8or.com
> Claims that this FREE windows package will run under Linux with some
> interperator the name of which I can not quite remember but it is there on
> the site.

WINE.  it requires W.I.N.E.  it is a windows emulator that runs under
linux.  WINE stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator.  pretty cool, huh?

bob z.

--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

wait a minute!!

i believe i've caught you in a huge lie!

first you claim that WINE is an emulator, then in the next breath you
say Wine Is NOT an Emulator!

which is it?!?!?

--john
(hmmmm, is it really next _breath_ when typing?)

Quote:> i believe i've caught you in a huge lie!
> first you claim that WINE is an emulator, then in the next breath you
> say Wine Is NOT an Emulator!
> which is it?!?!?

WINE is an emulator even though it stands for what it does...
Its just a silly funny naming convention probably created to confuse.
Another example of this convention is GNU - GNU's Not Unix

Iain
--
If the brain is root, we only have a shell account.
Unless you're schizophrenic, in which case you have several shell accounts.
Savants have Superuser!

actually, according to the faq (which granted i haven't looked at in a
while) wine is truly NOT an emulator. something to do with completely
rewriting the API's or something like that.

-john

He was incorrect (or expressing an opinion?) in stating that it is an
emulator. It is meant to be something like a compatible host for Win32
programming interfaces. I probably stated that incorrectly. Anyhow, WINE
does not pretend to be a Windows box (an emulator, like VMWare). It is a
set of caompatible software interfaces, allowing windows software to run
on Linux. I am not an expert on this, so take it with a grain of salt.

Quote:> wait a minute!!

> i believe i've caught you in a huge lie!

> first you claim that WINE is an emulator, then in the next breath you
> say Wine Is NOT an Emulator!

> which is it?!?!?

> --john
> (hmmmm, is it really next _breath_ when typing?)

--
Dale Dunn
Design Engineer
www.jamestool.com
513-942-6077

It's the _authors_ made a name that claims that "WINE Is Not an
Emulator."

if anybody is to be crticized, it's _them_, not anybody here.
--

http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbbrowne/multiplexor.html
"Linux  is not  ready  for  the Enterprise.   There  is not a   single
voice-controlled app for any of the  mission critical functions of the
Enterprise. Conspicuously absent  are warp  core control, phaser  bank
activation,  interstellar  navigation,  transporter operation, and the
all-important  self-destruct  sequence. Until  these and  thousands of
other important apps are  written and deployed, Linux  will just be  a
toy in the Enterprise." -- Kevin Novak, Network Computing Magazine

spewed forth:

man guys.

take a breath.

look at my id.

sheesh.

--john

Methinks there's some "tilting at windmills" here.

To be sure, VMWare is certainly NOT a "Windows emulator;" to use it to
run "Windows" requires that you install Windows on the system.  In
almost exactly the same manner, Win4Lin provides an environment on
which to run an installed copy of Windows.

Both of those systems _do_ emulate, from a functional standpoint,
"having a bootable PC" which runs atop a Linux environment, with the
result that a gentle user might get _somewhat_ confused and say "But
it lets me run Windows stuff on Linux; what's not an `emulator' about
that???"

The poor, confused gentle user will be much more confused about WINE.

  "It runs my Windows applications (maybe not TurboTax, but that's
  life!), and I didn't install anything from Microsoft.  That sure
  _looks_ like an emulation to me..."

It's easy to explain away VMWare and Win4Lin, just as you might
explain away Yase not being a CP/M emulator...

 A: "Nope, those aren't emulating Windows or CP/M.  They're emulating
     hardware services, and you need _real_ Windows or CP/M to use
     them."

    (One might play the game of running ZCPR/ZRDOS, which are CP/M
     emulators in about the same sense that WINE is...  It still
     doesn't make Yase a CP/M emulator...)

But for WINE, they're left with the unsatisfying:

  "Well, in a sense it's not an emulation; it works differently, so
   it's not an emulation."

Which matters to someone implementing it, but surely NOT to someone
who knows that C is a computer language, but not much more than
that...
--

http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/oldcomp.html
Nobody can fix the economy.  Nobody can be trusted with their finger
on the button.  Nobody's perfect.  VOTE FOR NOBODY.

You are correct. Oops. I was thinking of it as an entire machine emulator.

--
Dale Dunn
Design Engineer
www.jamestool.com
513-942-6077

maybe i can help.
it started off as an emulator years and years ago.
it evolved into an implimentation of the win32 api
on unix in the same way that windows95 was an
implimentation of the win32 api on dos.

now it is no more an emulator than w95 or other dos based windows platform.

Quote:> > > wait a minute!!

> > > i believe i've caught you in a huge lie!

> > > first you claim that WINE is an emulator, then in the next breath you
> > > say Wine Is NOT an Emulator!

> > > which is it?!?!?

> > It's the _authors_ made a name that claims that "WINE Is Not an
> > Emulator."

> > if anybody is to be crticized, it's _them_, not anybody here.

> man guys.

> take a breath.

> look at my id.

> sheesh.

> --john

It's about as true as the notion that "GNU's Not Unix."

- Neither involve the (Windows|Unix) trademarks;
- Both involve _some_ intent that doesn't fall purely under "emulation"
- Both nonetheless are pretty incredible simulations of emulation...
--

http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbbrowne/sap.html

spewed forth:

Quote:> It's about as true as the notion that "GNU's Not Unix."

well, it's not. :)

--john

Quote:> > WINE.  it requires W.I.N.E.  it is a windows emulator that runs under
> > linux.  WINE stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator.  pretty cool, huh?

> > bob z.

> wait a minute!!

> i believe i've caught you in a huge lie!

> first you claim that WINE is an emulator, then in the next breath you
> say Wine Is NOT an Emulator!

> which is it?!?!?

> --john
> (hmmmm, is it really next _breath_ when typing?)

bob z. totally got the humour that john was expressing.  it's cool,
john!  bob z. totally loves your I.D.  william gates III is in fact the
devil.  bob z. kinda feels sorry for him.  the malcontent.  the
interloper.  the wretch.
bob z. feels better about linux more and more everyday.  bob z. is
running redhat 7.2 with the gnome desktop.

bob z.

--
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