Mar 31, 2011

Application Review: Bricscad V11 Classic Linux (Part II)

Continue from Part I
Performance: The big advantage of Bricscad. Currently the best of the available dwg-based AutoCAD-like applications for Linux. Very effective with large drawings.

Workflow: Easy and simple, especially for AutoCAD users. 

Features: All the things that you need for an effective 2D design. I didn't find any useful feature missing from Bricscad. Also the support for APIs like LISP and DRX makes Bricscad V11 Classic a very interesting choice.

The most annoying bugs:
  • When drawing a line or a polyline with the mouse, sometimes a white blinking appears instantly next to the cursor after the click
  • Configuring the printer isn't yet available
  • "Window tile" and "Window cascade" commands don't work
  • The attachment of images decreases a lot the performance and it's not usable
  • The menus contain some commands that are not supported (lights, materials, pdf attachment)
Conclusion: Despite the child diseases, Bricscad V11 Classic for Linux is a good and efficient CAD application. Bricsys seems to support well the Linux version and having the willingness for further improvements and bug fixes. (The PRO version for Linux that includes full ACIS modelling and the BRX API is already available as Beta for public testing.)

Rating: 4/5: Needs some improvements but I am sure that the rating will be better in the near future... At this time is a good choice if you are not affected or you don't care about its bugs.
Posted by Spyros M. at 3:56 PM
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2012 at 5:03 AM

    Today, you can download Trazar City Tools a MEP plugin for Bricscad Linux.

    http://www.trazar.com.pa/

    Enjoy it

    ReplyDelete
  2. Spyros M.January 30, 2012 at 2:15 PM

    Interesting but it doesn't work for me with the trial version of Bricscad v11

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 22, 2012 at 12:28 AM

    I have purchased and installed Bricscad V12 for Linux and I agree there are a number of annoyances but I am sure it will improve as the product matures.

    First off, I could not get it to install properly on anything without a Nvidia graphics card.

    Second, it only seems to like Ubuntu as an install on openSuse 12.1 failed.

    Thirdly, make sure that you have a local printer installed as the Bricscad initial printer setup will not function without it. I have a network printer and the software will not setup properly until it finds a local printer. Once I figured this out, all went well.

    I am still getting familiar with the program but so far it looks good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Spyros M.March 22, 2012 at 9:06 AM

    Bricscad is very improved since it's first release.
    The graphics problems are probably related to GPU drivers and RedSDK not Bricscad.
    I will take a look on the OpenSuse installation thanks for mentioning it.
    The printer issue seems to be a bug. I believe that the installation of cups-pdf will solve this problem. Cups-pdf is a virtual printer that allows you to print any document to PDF. Personally I find it very useful with Bricscad even if you don't have any issues with network printers.

    ReplyDelete

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