ARCAD-C1 the new free version of ARCAD

ARCAD is a commercial 2D/3D architectural CAD package for Linux.
It comes in a variety of versions and a few days ago a free version was released.
Unfortunately it is available for older Linux versions up to 2.6.32 kernel (Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid).
I have succesfully installed this version on a Kubuntu 12.04 32bit machine but with a quick look it seems to be a very problematic installation. So if you want to test this version, it is highly recommended to use only Ubuntu 10.04.
More info and installation instructions about this release here.
 

Lost in Support: export SUPPORTED_ENVIRONMENT=?

After finishing with the OpenSource applications, I am going to continue my Lost In Support series with the proprietary CAD programs. For better results I believe that a new "variable" is needed. Which flavor of Linux does the proprietary app support officialy?
For OpenSource applications supporting every kind of Linux distros, it isn't difficult. At least, the source code is available for compiling so you can install the application in every distro.
Proprietary apps behave very differently. The CAD vendors choose what kind of distro(s) they want to support. This choice affects the overall Linux support experience.
So here it is: export SUPPORTED_ENVIRONMENT= ?

Lost in Support:LibreCAD

LibreCAD is an important piece of software for the OpenSource community. Currently it is the only available and mature OpenSource solution for 2D CAD.
Let's see what happens with its Linux Support.

How to embed the partlibrary of QCAD 2.x to the new QCAD 3

The final release of QCAD 3 is out and the new features of this CAD application like the property editor, the new scripting engine, the new library browser, .dwg support and more are available to its users.
One very interesting feature is the new library browser that can handle  different type of files like .dwg, .dxf, .svg and scripting items.
Many users may want to use the old QCAD's partlibrary with this new release. The solution is really very simple and with a few mouse clicks you can successfully embed the old partlibrary into the new QCAD3.
So the only thing you have to do is to open the application's preferences and navigate to Widgets-->Library browser. Then you have to add the path  to the partlibrary's folder and/or any other location that includes files you want to use into the Library Browser.

Save the changes and restart QCAD3 and you're ready!!!

Lost in support:FreeCAD

FreeCAD is a perfect example of a well-supported application under Linux. Also its active community provides excellent documentation and support with lots of tutorials, answers and helpful advices all accessible with a few clicks from the application's homepage.

Dassault released an updated version for DraftSight

A new version V1R2.1 for DraftSight is available for download. Nothing special at all but the 2 very annoying bugs of the previous version ( No menus and toolbars when you install DraftSight on a system with different language than the supported and the segfault when there is no Internet connection available) have been fixed. So these are enough to update your current DraftSight installation.
Download the latest packages from here (32bit only both .deb and .rpm)

A TeighaViewer Update is available

TeighaViewer has just updated today in version 3.6.0. It has various new features like toolbars and some basic design functionality (you can now draw lines, boxes and spheres with it) but continues to have printing problems. You can read the full announcement, the changelog and download TeighaViewer for Linux from here.
Both deb and rpm files are available.