Happy New Year

Happy new year to all!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.

New version for ARES CE

A new version of ARES CE for Linux is available. New commands in solid drawing/editing , a new plugin manager, and Voice notes are some of the new features in this version (2011.8.1080). You can download and test this version for free from Graebert's website.

 ARES CE

The new plugin manager.

If you want to buy ARES CE you might be interested on their Christmas offers.

This new version was installed without problems on Ubuntu 11.10 32bit.

Christmas offers from Linux CAD vendors

Graebert and VariCAD have some special Christmas offers for their products. So if you plan  to buy ARES CE or VariCAD this is the right moment. Varicad has a 20% discount until December 28, so you can buy VariCAD for 399€ (Normal price 499€) or VariCAD with one year upgrade for 479€ (Normal price 599€).
Graebert's ARES CE  now costs 395€ instead of 795€.

The true multiarch support

Ubuntu 11.10 came with multiarch support, a feature that makes easier the installation of 32bit apps in a 64bit OS. However this feature isn't yet implemented correctly and the installation of 32bit apps in Ubuntu 11.10 64 bit is a nightmare.
Another distro with multiarch support is OpenSuse. OpenSuse provides excellent multiarch support. I have tested the installation of the first beta version of DraftSight on OpenSuse 11.4 64bit and it was installed without any issues.
However, after the release of OpenSuse 12.1 I was curious to test the current 3rd Beta of DraftSight with the new 64bit OpenSuse.
I installed OpenSuse 12.1 64bit GNOME version via VirtualBox. I downloaded DraftSight.rpm and tried to install it. With the first attempt I got an error. A dependency couldn't be found. That happened because DraftSight depends on a library that isn't included in the official OpenSuse repositories. However, the solution is extremely simple. You just have to enable the Packman repository. This repository ( it's similar to the Medibuntu repository) contains extra software that isn't included for licensing reasons. After that step DraftSight was installed automatically, without problems,  simply by double clicking on the DraftSight.rpm package from your file manager.

 The warning message for the unsatisfied dependency.

After enabling the Packman repository, everything is fine.

New release for TeighaViewer

A new version (3.5.1) of TeighaViewer is available for download from here. This version comes with various improvements and a new properties pallete. It continues  having printing and font issues but it's an excellent tool for viewing dwg, dxf and dgn files on Linux. This version was installed without any problems on Ubuntu 11.10 32bit.

An unexpected solution for 3D dwg files

One of the biggest problems in computing is data sharing, meaning how to share your data between different programs. Especially if you work with CAD you need to share your geometry with raster image processors (GIMP,Krita etc.), vector graphics applications (Inkscape,Karbon, etc), 3D graphics programs (Blender,Wings 3D etc) or FEA software (Salome,Elmer,Gmsh,  etc). Proprietary formats make data sharing extremely hard.

Some tweaks for DraftSight on Ubuntu 11.10

Despite its BETA status DraftSight for Linux  is enough stable and mature for productivity work. In this post I will show you some tweaks in order to make your life easier.

VariCAD 2012-1.03 for Linux

VariCAD is a 2D/3D CAD application, that has been shipping Linux versions for over a decade. It is a powerful application, quite different than other CAD programs, with a lot of interesting features.

Playing with FreeCAD: Trapezoids and Ribs

FreeCAD is an application  whose development I have been watching closely since I first learned about it. What I like on FreeCAD?

• It is Free and Open Source Software.
• It's a feature-based parametric solid modeler. I actually believe that this kind of modeling is the best way to create complex 3D entities.
• FreeCAD has its own workflow without trying to mimic the way that other similar applications work.

FreeCAD is under active development and currently is on Alpha stage(FreeCAD's development team decided recently to remove the "Alpha" status from FreeCAD).
But despite the missing features it can create complex geometry thanks to its Sketcher which is a very good tool.

Is this how Bricscad's rendering mode will look like on Linux?

Bricscad V12 for Linux will have a lot of new cool features. One of them is a realistic rendering mode for 3d modeling. This feature isn't implemented yet but thanks to a... bug we can have a possible preview about how this feature will look like.

Bricscad's realistic rendering mode or not?

QCAD 3 RC1 released!

QCAD 3 RC 1 released for downloading and testing. This version has many bug fixes and improvements and it's one step before the final release. QCAD 3 tries to combine dwg compatibility without changing  the familiar QCAD interface. You can download it from here and you can read more about this version here.

QCAD 3 RC1 on Debian Wheezy 64bit

DraftSight and Ubuntu 11.10 64bit

Ubuntu 11.10 has multiarch support. This is a feature that makes the installation of 32bit applications on a 64bit OS easier. Well that doesn't work with DraftSight. The package failed to be installed correctly in every possible workaround I tried. DraftSight installed and worked after some tricks but it was marked as damaged so it had to be removed. (You are unable to update your system or install new programs if you have damaged packages).

So the only way to install and  run DS on a 64bit Ubuntu 11.10 is to completely ignore dpkg.
How to do that? Here are the necessary steps.

• Install the necessary dependencies of DraftSight: sudo apt-get install libdirectfb-extra sendmail
• Install this library from Natty.
• Extract the contents of DraftSight.deb. For your ease put Draftsight.deb file inside your home folder.Then right click on the DraftSight.deb and select "Extract here"
• Open nautilus as root ( Press Alt+F2, type gksu nautilus, press Enter, insert you password and press Enter again)
• Copy the contents of ~/DraftSight/var and ~/DraftSight/opt into you system's /var and /opt folders
• Open a terminal and type: cd ~/DraftSight/DEBIAN  then type sudo ./preinst and  sudo ./postinst

Now you are able to work with DraftSight on your 64bit Ubuntu without any dpkg problems.

 I don't like workarounds like this but unfortunately it is the only way to install DraftSight on a 64bit Ubuntu 11.10 system.

Important Update: This workaround is for DraftSight V1R1.3

The newer V1R1.4 version doesn't need any more the library from Natty and probably sendmail. Also the path to DraftSight's startup script has been changed to /opt/dassault-systemes/draftsight/bin/draftsight

DraftSight on Ubuntu 11.10

After finishing a clean installation of Ubuntu 11.10 I experienced a problem on the installation of DraftSight but finally I solved it easily.

A very quick view on Bricscad for Linux V12 beta

Today Bricsys announced some very impressive new features for Bricscad V12 and I was really very curious about these changes. So I found and downloaded the beta version of Bricscad V12 for Linux.

Gear design with Linux

Gear design is painful. The design of the involute curve is a demanding process. However there are some utilities that can make this easier.

A second beta for QCAD 3 just arrived

Ribbonsoft announced the availability of a second beta version of QCAD 3. This version comes with many bug fixes and some new features. You can download QCAD 3 beta 2 from here.
This release changed my plans of a detailed view on QCAD 3, a post that was almost ready, but now I have to   test for a while the new beta 2 and re-write the post after that, in order to include the latest changes.

Adding custom hatches on ARES CE, Bricscad and DraftSight

Adding a custom hatch on ARES CE, Bricscad and DraftSight is quite different than on AutoCAD. You cannot link a folder that contains the custom hatches in program's settings. However adding one or more custom hatches isn't difficult.

How to work with pdf files with ARES CE,Bricscad,DraftSight and Librecad

Importing PDF files is a missing feature from all Linux CAD packages. However there are some very interesting and simple workarounds to bypass this problem.

QCAD 3 Beta is available for public download

A new beta version of QCAD 3 is available for public downloading and testing. Get this new version from here.
QCAD 3 has a new polished look, dwg support, a new properties editor, and various new tools and improvements.

Drawing settings dialog

The new splash screen

The new GUI

The tar.gz version is preferable for testing, unless you want to test the installer. It's also necessary to read the notes before start the downloading process.

Feel free to submit bugs and feature requests here.

A little workaround for compiling FreeCAD dev on Ubuntu 11.04

FreeCAD is an Open Source 3d Parametric Solid Modeler with major improvements during the last months. I had posted earlier this year a how-to guide for compiling the latest development version on Ubuntu.  But now this process needs a workaround to make the Part design module to work properly.

Two quick tips for the new DraftSight version

After installing the latest DraftSight I did some quick changes that might be helpful.

DraftSight and 64bit Linux

I have decided to write this little comment because of the great interest of people to run the current versions of DraftSight, which are 32bit only, in 64bit Linux installations. First if you want to run DraftSight in a Linux box 32bit OS is preferable for some reasons, but if you continue wanting  a 64bit OS you have to keep in mind some difficulties:

1. Do not use unsupported distros, different packaging may cause problems that are more difficult to solve
2. Linux has various package manages which may have different behavior. For example dpkg doesn't add automatically 32-bit dependencies but yast does
3. Ubuntu 11.04 has a bug that breaks the installation of 32bit packages in a 64bit system. There are various workarounds but I think that, update your dpkg package via apt-pinning, is the best.
4. A quick tip is to start DraftSight for first time via terminal, so you can see any error messages. You can start DraftSight with the command

/opt/dassault-systemes/draftsight/bin/DraftSight 

Little things that make linux powerful and effective

 Linux is famous about its fancy Window managers. Compiz, Kwin and e17 are some of them with different capabilities each one. But these fancy things are only for fun??

Back to reality

After some days without PC and Internet, but with a lot of sun and sea, I have returned home. Well I lost some interesting news like the new DraftSight release, but my batteries are fully charged. Time for changes on this blog I think... I have some ideas in mind but nothing is certain yet. I will post more in a few weeks, probably before autumn.

Update for TeighaViewer available

A new version 3.05.0 of TeighaViewer,  a free CAD files viewer from ODA, is available for download.
This version has some fixes but continues to be buggy.
Despite the bugs, it deserves some space in your HDD, only for the great dwg/dxf support and the capabilities of saving in plenty versions of these formats.

Both 32bit .deb and .rpm files are available here 

New FreeCAD module

A new module named "Ship" is available for FreeCAD. It aims to be a user-friendly module that will add ship modelling functionality on FreeCAD. I downloaded it and installed it after some tricks (I had to define the correct installation path in the makefile) into my FreeCAD dev installation but I didn't make it work
(Or I didn't understand how it works).

Enabling Global menu support for DraftSight on Ubuntu 11.04

A few days ago reader Toni left me a comment asking if I know any way to enable global menu support for DraftSight on Ubuntu 11.04.
I am an Ubuntu user and I use Natty as one of my OSes ( My other OSes are Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and Debian Wheezy ). I have never thought to enable global menu on DraftSight before. I use DraftSight and I find it great but  I never missed this feature.

Blast from the past

When I was trying to cleanup the mess of my home folder a few days ago I discovered an archive named Cycas4p2.

This was an early pre-realease of CYCAS 4 back on March 2010. Since there are no more news about this release and the project seems discontinued or frozen, I really like the idea of posting some screenshots of this.
This pre-realease can only draw lines and boxes but can load sucessfully older cycas sample files.

DraftSight for Linux update will be available on July

An update for the Linux version of DraftSight will be available on July.
DraftSight is an AutoCAD-like 2D CAD from Dassault.
The first Beta version of DraftSight Linux was released on March.
The updated version will continue being marked as "Beta".
The first beta version of DraftSight Linux works really good.
I hope that this update will fix some minor bugs but I don't expect radical improvements.
I also hope that the final version will be available soon.

GNOME 3 and DraftSight

I was very curious if an existing proprietary CAD program integrates well with the new GNOME 3 environment. So I created a Fedora 15 LiveUSB stick and I installed DraftSight on it.

As you can see the new GTK+ 3 theme cannot be applied correctly on a Qt app like DraftSight. However the application runs great and works well with the new environment. The right click--> "Open with DraftSight" option works with Nautilus and the .dwg and .dxf files have icons with the DS logo.

Several different ways to do the same thing

You may have noticed that,while using a CAD program, there are several ways to get to the same result. Also different programs use different techniques to get to the same result. What's the point of this post ? To prove that CAD is much more than a single program or only one drawing technique. Let's create a very simple 3D object, a pipe with 100mm height,outer diameter 20mm, inner diameter 15mm, by several different ways and programs.

Pin FreeCAD development version to the Unity Launcher

When you test the development version of FreeCAD on Ubuntu 11.04 you will probably need to pin it to the Unity Launcher. Unfortunately when you open FreeCAD from Nautilus, the right click--> Keep in Launcher option doesn't work.
The FreeCAD icon will be kept in Launcher,
but you cannot start the program by clicking it.
So how can you start FreeCAD from the Unity Launcher ?
Here is a simple workaround:

QCAD 3 TP1 available

Ribbonsoft released a Technology Preview version of QCAD 3 Proffesional, available for download only for users that have bought QCAD 2 during 2010 and 2011.
QCAD 3 has many improvements, DWG support and a polished interface.
You can read more about this release here.

Debian 6 Squeeze

Q: Can I use DraftSight or Bricscad V11 with Debian 6 "Squeeze" ?

A: Of course. Debian is an excellent distro and works well with these CAD packages. The screenshots below show DraftSight and Bricscad V11 running on Debian 6 "Squeeze" 32bit in a VirtualBox installation.

 Bricscad V11 on Debian 6

DraftSight on Debian 6

Tip: If you want to use Debian 6 as a CAD workstation for professional use you will probably need a more modern web browser. You can try Chrome or ,better, install Iceweasel (Firefox) 4 by following these instructions.

Unity or not Unity

Ubuntu's 11.04 new interface, Unity,
has received both bad and enthusiastic comments for its usability.
Is Unity useful for CAD or, at least, better than the classic GNOME Panel?
See the screenshots below.

Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS with Classic GNOME

Well, as you can see Unity offers you more drawing space. I believe that this is enough for a CAD user to love Unity.

VariCAD Viewer for Linux

VariCAD viewer is a freeware CAD files viewer from VariCAD. Supports various well known formats like STEP 3D, IGES 2D, DWG/DXF 2D and DWB 2D/3D ( this is  the native VariCAD format).
VariCAD Viewer comes in both .deb and .rpm packages for easy installation on the most Linux distros

VariCAD viewer on Ubuntu 11.04

The latest version comes with some interesting performance improvements,
especially in .dwg support.

Now VariCAD Viewer can handle larger drawings faster,
 with better pan and zoom performance.

You can download it free of charge after a simple registration from here

Tip: Zoom works with the mouse wheel and pan with Ctrl + right mouse button.

New VariCAD release

Just a few days ago a new release (2011-1.04) of VariCAD came out. This version brings various improvements, better dwg support, improved 2D functionality and more. You can find more information about this release here.
VariCAD is a well-known program for Linux users because of its Linux support for over a decade. It has plenty of features and very cheap price (499€ / 599€ with 1-year upgrades). It's a very good and affordable choice for mechanical design. It's available for both 32bit and 64bit architectures. VariCAD also provides both .deb and .rpm packages.

LibreCAD adds .dwg support via LibreDWG

".dwg" is a well-known, proprietary CAD file-format. Originally developed by Autodesk and commonly used, it's a headache for other CAD vendors and a big obstacle for the creation of a good Free and Open Source CAD application. CAD vendors have a very good solution called ODA, but the libraries which are provided by ODA are proprietary software so they cannot be used on a Free and Open Source project like LibreCAD.

LibreCAD's partlibrary workaround for Ubuntu 11.04 Natty

After testing Ubuntu 11.04 with the new Unity Shell for some time, I realized that the old way to embed QCAD's partlibrary in LibreCAD via the creation of the .librecad folder inside your home folder doesn't work anymore.
I have found a better way to use partlibrary with LibreCAD which I expect that works in all distros and OSes.

TeighaViewer for Debian/Ubuntu 64 bit workaround

TeighaViewer is a free CAD files viewer from ODA. It has a Linux version but it's only for 32 bit rpm based distros. Using alien you can easily install it on a 32 bit deb-based Linux system. However alien has a big disadvantage: cannot convert packages with different architecture than the system's one. So if you have a 64bit system with Debian/Ubuntu you cannot install TeighaViewer with alien. Is there any other way?? I found a quite simple workaround...

Why I will not use AutoCAD WS

AutoCAD WS is a web application that allows you to create, edit and share dwg files. That sounds really good to you, doesn't it? Well I will never use this application and I have plenty of reasons.

Ubuntu Software Center's error on 11.04 Natty Narwhal with DraftSight

Starting with 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, Ubuntu uses by default Ubuntu Software Center for the installation of standalone deb packages instead of the traditional gdebi application.
This causes an error when attempting to install the DraftSight package. Ubuntu Software Center complains about "bad package's quality" by preventing DraftSight's installation.

Forcing 32bit packages on 64bit Debian/Ubuntu/Mint

A very common problem for someone who plays with CAD on Linux is the mismatch between the package's and the system's architecture.
My suggestion is to use 32bit OS with ARES/Bricscad/DraftSight
but this is not always possible.
Some reasons are:

• You have already installed a 64bit OS and you don't want to perform a new clean install of 32bit OS
• You have already bought a commercial application that is 64bit only like Abaqus, NX, Maya.
• Your common tasks include stuff that perform much better on 64bit architecture, like rendering, and you don't like to loose this benefit.

So let's take a look how to fix this simple problem:

Bricscad V11 Pro special offers

The new Bricscad V11 Pro for Linux has some special offers until 30/04/2011.
You can buy a single license for 315€/395$ instead of 450€/505$
Also consider the all-in version which includes:
1-year upgrades, 1- year technical support via e-mail and an e-book*
 with a discounted price of 450€/555$ instead of 560€/665$
There are also special offers for multiple licenses.
Visit the Bricsys e-store for more information

*Customizing Bricscad by Ralph Grabowski

Bricscad PRO released for Linux

Today Bricsys has released the PRO version of Bricscad Linux. The big differences with the Classic version are the support for the BRX API and the full ACIS modelling. Interesting features, but for being really useful, we must see some of the 3rd party applications being ported to Linux

(Almost an) Application Review: Graphite One 3D CAD

GraphiteOne is a 3D Parametric Solid Modeler. It uses the Parasolid kernel which is used also in various well known similar packages such as NX or Solidworks.
GraphiteOne provides packages for various Linux distros: Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, OpenSUSE, CentOS.

A full list is available here. 

30-days trial versions are available with no registration.

LibreCAD released for the Cloud !!!!

LibreCAD is a 2D Open Source CAD that today made the big step. Just a few minutes ago released a version that runs on the Cloud, so it became the first CAD ever that has an official Cloud version.

Application Review: Bricscad V11 Classic Linux (Part II)

Continue from Part I

Application Review: Bricscad V11 Classic Linux (Part I)

Bricscad is well known on Linux world. Not only for being the first native dwg-based CAD, but also for the support of the Wine version some years ago. Bricscad Classic is at the moment the only product of Bricsys that runs on Linux. Pro version with support of full ACIS 3D modelling, rendering and BRX, will be released later.

Bricscad V11 vs DraftSight

After the release of the first Beta of DraftSight a few days ago, it's inevitable a comparison between DraftSight and Bricscad V11 Classic. Both products have similar functionality and target group. Also both have benefits and disadvantages.
For better understanding I will present the results in categories.

Other Useful Software

The most common question for someone who wants to migrate to Linux is:
OK seems good but I don't use only CAD, how can I get all my work done with Linux.
The truth is that Linux supports a wide range of software (Free/Open Source or not) which can be very useful and productive
In this post I present advanced software that might be useful for engineers and designers for professional/productive use. Very common applications like Office Suites are excluded

How to fix the problem of DraftSight's Getting Start Guide on Evince

I downloaded the Getting Start Guide of DraftSight from here and I experienced problems when I tried to open it with Evince. Most of the content wasn't visible

I finally discovered that the installation of the poppler-data package solves the problem...

So if you want to use this document simply install this package...

Draftsight for Linux finally available

Finally, after a long period of waiting, Draftsight for Linux is available for public download.
Free -as in beer-, full dwg compatible 2D CAD with the benefit that it's based on Graebert's ARES, Draftsight Linux is definitely the best solution for a low cost, long time, stable and secure 2D CAD workstation.
Download it for free from here
P.S. Give it a try with Debian Squeeze or a RHEL 6 clone like Scientific Linux. Otherwise you can use Ubuntu LTS or OpenSUSE.

Installed just before a few seconds on Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 3 with the new Unity Interface

Bricscad V11 Classic for Linux: First Impression

I'm currently testing Bricscad V11 Classic. Unpolished, unfinished, powerful and fast, wannabe the best but currently lacks. These words can describe perfectly my first impression of Bricscad V11 Classic for Linux.
( a complete review will be available soon...)

Compiling FreeCAD on Ubuntu: The easy way

If you are curious about the progress on FreeCAD's  development you will probably like the idea of installing the latest development release from source. Let's do that step by step on Ubuntu following the instructions of FreeCAD's documentation

Draftsight Windows vs Bricscad Linux: Cost Comparison

As you already know Draftsight -the free 2D ARES-based AutoCAD clone from Dassault- has released the final version for Windows a few days ago. Linux version, although it had been announced, seems to be delayed for unknown reasons and I didn't find any information about the future. So the user who wants a free dwg cad system has to use Windows? I don't think so...

Application Review: ARES Commander Edition for Linux (Part II)

Continuing from Part I

Application Review: ARES Commander Edition for Linux (Part I)

ARES is a newcomer in Linux world. Released on October 2010 is one of the two -the other is Bricscad- Autocad-like .dwg based applications that are available on Linux.

When we will see Draftsight for Linux?

Draftsight released the stable version for Windows,
Mac version still beta but is out there.
What about the Linux version?

FreeCAD 0.11 is almost ready

FreeCAD is an Open Source 3d Solid Modeler based on OpenCASCADE.

5 Reasons to use 32bit Linux with ARES and Bricscad

ARES and Bricscad are the 2 dwg-based Autocad-like programs that are available for Linux. Both are available for 32bit OS. It is easy to install a 32bit application on 64bit Linux but I believe that using a 32bit OS is better.
Some reasons are:

Installing GLC_Player on Ubuntu

If you ever wanted to view some Dassault's 3dxml files on Linux probably you already know about GLC_Player
It's a small app that can handle those files and more 3d formats like 3ds,dae etc

How to unlock the power of Linux (Part II)

Continue from Part I

How to unlock the power of Linux (Part I)

Well I decided to write a few posts about how to unlock the power of Linux while you are using it for productive purposes. Linux has the benefits that is highly customizable,stable, secure and can run well on older computers.

CADopia moved from ITC to ARES. May we expect a Linux version ?

CADopia, an old member of IntelliCAD Technology Consortium, moved  to ARES as base for their products.
As you already know ARES is available for Linux. May we expect a new entry on Linux CAD software?

Tip: Change the toolbar's icons size on ARES

Well the first thing I dislike on ARES is the size of the icons. I think that they are too large. I don't know why they choose to use so large icons
but I think that is a very bad idea.
Let's see how to change the icons size to normal.

Application Review: LibreCAD (Part II)

As I wrote in Part I LibreCAD is primarily focused on occasional and amateur CAD users.
That doesn't mean that you cannot use it for professional purposes.

Application Review: LibreCAD (Part I)

LibreCAD is a fork of QCAD Community Edition. It has a new GUI based on Qt 4x and some new features

How to install Graebert's ARES Commander Edition on (K)Ubuntu 10.10 64 bit

Well as the title says here you will learn how to install ARES on a 64bit Ubuntu system

Screenshots of CAD apps

Here are some screenshots of CAD applications running on Linux (Ubuntu 10.10)

Trying to decide about the first review...

Well I try to get a decision about the first application review in this blog.
Major candidates are LibreCAD and ARES.
ARES as more powerful app has a benefit but I would also like to begin with an open source application such as LibreCAD
The decision is difficult but you will learn it in a couple of days

TeighaViewer for Linux

TeighaViewer is a .dwg .dxf and .dgn viewer from Open Design Alliance.

You can download it for free here
Unfortunately for Ubuntu users it comes as .rpm package (32bit only)

Let's see how to install it in Ubuntu and other .deb based distros

This blog is dedicated to the combination of the Linux (or GNU/Linux if you want it) OS and Computer Aided Design (CAD). In the future you will find here reviews of Linux CAD applications, news, tips and tricks and - I hope- much more interesting things.

Hello World !!!

This is my first post!!!