WorldCAD Access

Running Linux in Windows 10/11

The tyranny of Linux The promise of Linux is that it would free us from the tyranny of Microsoft and Apple and their operating system "tax." But then the two near-monopolists broke the narrative by making their OSes (mostly) free. Instead, Linux imposed a different kind of tyranny: choice. Here's a chart from 2016 of many kinds of Linux available back then; since then, choice has magnified. Choice I was a faith-filled follower, until I wasn't. After keeping up with Mint Linux upgrades and several others (hey, they're freee!) I finally realized that Linux would never be successful as a... Read more →

Ralph's thots on Apple's new CPU

A problematic roll-out There is one reason, and one reason only, why Apple is moving to its own, proprietary CPU: to further lock in its user base. Windows and Linux can run on Apple's computers only because they use Intel CPUs. With Apple's switch to ARM, Mac-labeled laptop and desktop computers become less flexible and so far less desirable. They can no longer provide "the best Windows experience," as some enthusiasts like to put it. The experience of Google and Microsoft in using ARM CPUs (to replace Intel/AMD CPUs) on laptops is not good. Sure, they get 5G connectivity and... Read more →

foto of the sunday: frozen leaves

First frost Frozen leaves covering the ground of Canada's Bateman Park. The photo is unretouched. Read more →

Linux Grows as Free CAD Platform

News from Gudrun Tebart A press release from CAD Schroer of Germany says that downloads of the Linux version of their free MEDUSA4 Personal MCAD software nearly doubled, from 14% of downloads in 2013 to 26% in 2014. Linux users among the Top 10 download countries are... Switzerland up 48% France up 39% United States up 36% Germany up 18% Russia up 18% Canada up 16% Brazil up 12% The CAD Schroer press release is lacking in two ares: it does not provide absolute numbers, and because percentages are relative, we don't what it means for Russia to be up... Read more →

How to update Linux Mint without losing your CAD license

Tip A reader writes: Some time ago I bought ARES Commander and I use it on my Linux Mint. As the Mint upgrades every 6 months, I was asking Graebert for a new activation code every time. Well, the last time they said that I ran out of activations. Can you tell me how can I transfer ARES to the newest long-term Linux Mint 17 without this code or with the code I used before? I don't need to update or anything, just to be able to use my ARES the way it is. - N.R. Mint Linux has risen... Read more →

Which Linux?

A reader asks, I am in the process of reinstalling Windows on an older netbook computer and also wanted to partition the hardrive and install Linux. What Linux distribution would you recommend for this purpose. I'm brand new to Linux, but am trying to wean myself off of total Windows dependence. Running in the Linux environment, what word processing application would you suggest? Finally, have you ever used Oracle VirtualBox for running both OSs simultaneously? - J. R. First off, to which address may I submit my invoice for consulting? And now to answer your questions... The most popular now... Read more →

The Mac version of Briscad in ...?

It's a hard job porting CAD software to other operating systems. Indeed, the hardest job is the very first task. The CAD vendor needs to decide which way to go: #1. Give CAD software a uniform look on all operating systems. Or #2. Make the CAD software look like the operating system. There is no "And." When Bricsys ported Bricscad to Linux and Mac, they decided on #1. The result is that they had to custom-code a lot of stuff for Linux and Mac that's native on Windows. It's hard work for the vendors, but users benefit from running software... Read more →

Linux-specific sysvars in Bricscad V12

Today's the day that Bricsys (finally!) launches Bricscad V12 for Linux at www.bricscad.com. Since the Linux version is so similar to the Windows version -- 2D and 3D constraints, direct editing, quad cursor for just $675 -- I thought I'd just list for you the names of system variables specific to the Linux version: Allowtabexternalmove -- Allows a tab to be moved externally Allowtabmove --Toggles whether tabs can be moved Allowtabsplit --Split tabs Autosavechecksonlyfirstbitdbmod --Ignore all but first bit of DBMOD for autosave Middleclickclose --Close tabs with middle click Showscrollbuttons --Toggle scroll buttons Showtabclosebutton --Show Close button on tabs Showtabclosebuttonactive... Read more →

Things in OS X Mountain Lion that might be of interest to CAD developers

The tech world is talking excitedly about the next release of Apple's OS X operating system for its Mac line of computers. Reading through some of the articles, here's a list of new features that I think macCAD vendors might be interested in implementing: Notification and Alerts Centers - slides down notifications, like first found on Android. CAD vendors can use this to report when linked files change, updates are available, plotting jobs are finished, and so on. Share Sheets - (sounds like too many people and not enough beds, unfortunately) lets you share CAD drawings with other services, such... Read more →

Solidgraph is your open-source CAD system for OS X and Windows -- and soon iOS

Mike Whusberg over at Geometros alerted me to their C++/C# solid geometry library for CAD development. They have versions for Mac and Windows, with iOS coming soon. If your CAD system does not support the kinds of entities you need to work with, then Geometros suggesets that you write your own -- for free. Its SgCore library is free indeed, although the registered version ($500 and up) loads SHX font files, creates text and dimensions, loads and saves objects in user-defined formats, and handles DXF. They're working on adding ray-tracing. Geometros offers four products: sgCore C++/C# Geometry Library for OS... Read more →

Mobile software busting out all over, albeit in the smaller iOS sector

Back in the days of PalmOS and WinCE, there was some rudimentary CAD software, typically viewers or calculators. With today's cell phones and tablets packing the horsepower requivalent of desktop PCs, we're starting to see desktop-like software, like AutoCAD WS, TurboViewer, and Gstarcad M. But it is still early days. Just this morning, in my cramped bedroom of my inlaws place in north-central Alberta, I see mobile announcements from three very different vendors: SATFLOW1 and MOVASPEED2 from TRL's traffic engineering software bundle have been re-engineered "to run on an iPhone3, iPod touch3, and iPad3." (I think they meant iPad 2.)... Read more →

IMSI/Design powers TurboViewer up to Pro level

When IMSI/Design first told me about their DWG viewer for iOS, they promised to make "an announcement of significance every month" for the next several months. The first one was about TurboViewer, and that it displays actual vector DWG files in 2D and 3D on iPads. In contrast, Autodesk's AutoCAD WS displays 2D only, and then only a rasterized version. (You can see the blur briefly when you zoom in.) The second was releasing the same software officially on iPhone and iPod Touch. The software is free from Apple's iTunes store. The third is coming this week, with the release... Read more →

GstarSOFT's First iPad Release Creates and Edits CAD Drawings

ZWSOFT and GstarSOFT of China became successful on the back of IntelliCAD, creating me-too CAD software that looked a lot like AutoCAD. That was just the base, their warmup act. Last year, ZWSOFT bought VX of Florida, USA, and turned it into ZW3D, their 3D solid modeler and CAM [computer aided manufacturing] software. The company is busy updating the program a couple of times a year. And this week GstarSOFT released their first CAD program for iPads, GstarCAD MC, where "MC" is short for mobile client. Written in-house, it creates and edits CAD drawings, as illustrated below. You can download... Read more →

Visiting LINUXCON here in Vancouver

Well, whod'v'e thought there'd be two big significant computer conferences, one week after the other, out here in Vancouver, Canada. Last week, it was SIGGRAPH, which pulled its second lowest attendance since 1983 in its first time outside of the USA. This week, it was LINUXCON, this one put on by The Linux Foundation, who most famous employee is Linus Torvolds, who I actually got to see waiting for the elevator! When you've been in the computer biz as long as me, you get used to thinking everyone who's a founder of some sort is getting old now. Not Mr... Read more →

Chinese CAD vendor GstarCAD: Yip, we will do CAD on iPad, too.

GstarCAD revealed this morning that it is is developing GstarCAD M -- the M is short for "mobile" -- for viewing and editing DWG files on the iPad. Not a lot more detail available, except that this is a great time to release such software, as the press release puts it: With the advent of vehicles, variety delicious food as well as internet, etc., people’s lives become more and more colorful. Now with iPad came into being, the applications running on it is inevitable, for the work efficiency improvement turns into urgent, among which CAD software bears the brunt and... Read more →

My life with an $80 Android tablet

This tablet is named simply "MID" (short for "mobile internet device") and is based on the WM8650 chip from VIA Technologies, who designed it specifically for building the lowest-priced tablets on the market. There are a number of vendors -- Elonex, FlyTouch, HTC, SmartQ, MayLong, EPad, TomTech, InnovTek, and ViaPad -- producing tablets using this chip and they all have the same look (roughly). In fact, I wonder if the new $100 tablet from Archos is based on this design. I have no idea who made mine. ; The specs for this CPU include the following: 800MHz CPU. Android 2.2... Read more →

Tablet vs. Tablet: 7" Android ($80) vs 10" iOS ($500)

Much to my surprise, I now have two tablets -- that, after some weeks ago writing a screed about how there was no way I would buy any tablet, especially not this year. Then the 1-2 punch knocked out my anti-tablet stance: 1. A month ago, I fell for a 7" Android v2.2 tablet listed on eBay for $80, shipping from China included. (I can't tell you the brand or model, other than "MID WM8650": link.) I justified it as my Father's Day present, and last week it arrived. At $80, even my wife approved. 2. Last week, a CAD... Read more →

Owen Wengerd is programming Bricscad on Linux

Over on his Outside The Box blog, Owen Wengerd has started a tutorial on how to write BRX programs for Briscad using Linux: The next order of business was to build and load a BRX module. I started by installing Code::Blocks, an open source cross platform C/C++ IDE that can be used in both Windows and Linux. The IDE installed fine, but then things got interesting. Read it all at BRX on Linux: Getting Started. Read more →

Mmmmm... the smell of competition among Linux CAD. I'm lovin' it

CAD software running on Linux OS was a precarious thing. Yah, it was out there but none of the packages I tried were ready for Joe Headsdown Drafter who got his training at the local Autodesk-authorized Training Center. They didn't install effortlessly; maybe they read and wrote DWG files; and definitely didn't look or operate like AutoCAD. (Yah, I know Joe isn't going to be running Linux, but work with me here.) Until today, we had two flavours of DWG-based Linux CAD from which to choose: Bricsys Bricscad V11 Classic for Linux $395 (lacking 3D solids and APIs). Graebert ARES... Read more →

slash.dot readers comment on proprietary DraftSight software running on open Linux

Interesting range of reactions to DraftSight running on Linux: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/03/11/0347221/DraftSight-2D-CAD-For-Linux-Beta-Available There are 92 comments as I post this. Some readers complain it isn't open source, as Linux users expect. Others complain it isn't fully 3D. But kaka.mala.vachva responds: You realize stuff like this is the only way Linux may become popular on the desktop? We can't really expect everything to be FOSS [free and open source software]. Support this if it's useful to you, and look past the activation -- more companies may start developing for Linux then. Would hate to see the Loki* story all over again. *) Loki... Read more →

No 64-bit versions of DraftSight; so here is now how to install it on 64-bit Linux

Normand Chamberland of Courira.ca explains the steps needed to install 32-bit DraftSight on 64-bit Linux systems: http://courira.ca/en/2011/03/draftsight-for-linux-how-to-install-on-ubuntu-64-bit Read more →

DraftSight:now also available in efficient Linux flavor

DraftSight for Linux is now official, as of 10:00 pm today. You can download the Linux (or OS X or Windows) versions from www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/free-cad-software/ Of course, if you were using ARES for Linux, then you would already be familiar with it. The diff: DraftSight is free -- free, as in free Linux -- while ARES is $995.00. I've been using ARES for Linux (for the ebook I wrote about it: "Inside ARES for Linux"), and it is pretty much identical to the OS X and Windows versions -- both in terms of UI and operations. There are minor UI differences,... Read more →

Nokia sells Qt; CAD vendors' hearts go pitter-patter

Engadget is reporting that -- as part of Nokia's attempt to jump off of a burning oil platform or something -- Nokia is selling off... ...the Qt framework at the heart of Symbian and MeeGo development -- a platform Nokia acquired from Trolltech back in January of 2008. From Nokia, Digia acquires Qt commercial licensing, services business, and 3,500 customers. In its press release, Digia promises to... ...continue development of Qt desktop and embedded versions. ...implement new service models. ...open branch offices in USA and Norway, adding to existing offices in Sweden, Russia, and China, with head office in Finland.... Read more →

PTC interviews PTC on Creo for iOS

PTC runs a Weblog for the so-far-unreleased Creo software, and today they posted a coy interview with themselves over Creo running on non-Windows devices. What we get out of the brief item is (a) yes, it will run on iOS devices; and (b) no, it won't be with the initial release of Creo. You can see the teaser videos here, which show fingers zooming and rotating a 3D model on an iPhone and then on an iPad, while a BBC radio interview monologues in the background. The UI is cut off from the camera's viewpoint. If it runs on iPhone/Pad,... Read more →

Marketing puff or realistic prediction?

Nick Spence of MacWeek quotes Autodesk's Carl Bass as saying, "Very soon, users will be able to sit with an iPad at home and make a movie like Avatar." Bass added that a combination of cloud computing and 3D printers* could see home users creating products at home, with designs being produced and made available to all. Do you think his like-Avatar claim is realistic? After all, it is remarkable what phones with Android and iOS are able to do now. Or is his statement mere marketing hype, in the line of former Autodesk-ceo Carol Bartz's claim that anything not... Read more →

Emin's apps for Android

Patrik Emin has written lots of apps for Android, as you can see by searching for "Emin" among the 100,000 apps at Android Market using your Android device. Most are one of general interest and/or are in French, such as "Mark Twain Quotes" and "Quotes Cafe du Coin." Some, however, are of interest to AutoCAD users: Autodesk Blogs -- reports latest entries from Autodesk's many official blogs as a full-screen app and in a widget. Autodesk AutoCAD Forums -- as above, but for Autodesk's AutoCAD forum. AutoCAD VarSys -- displays in English a different AutoCAD system variable in a widget... Read more →

Five g-g-g-r-reat things about AutoCAD for Mac

Sure, AutoCAD for Mac has its limitations, but there are a few things that make it more interesting than the Windows version. Here are some of the things I found that you won't find in the Windows version: 1. Press Tab to show and hide all palettes instantly. 2. Hold down the spacebar, along with the left mouse button, to pan the drawing. 3. Creating tables is now interactive: instead of a Windows dialog box asking you for the number of rows and columns, you just drag the mouse to show AutoCAD. As you drag the mouse, the number of... Read more →

I (still) don't get what's G-g-g-r-reat about Macs

So I've been using this MacBook for about three months now, pretty much every day, nearly all day long. In this time, I've written three books about CAD for Mac, using software like Adobe InDesign CS5 (which is identical to the Windows version), OmniGraffle Professional (an immature replacement for Visio), FireFox (why can I not zoom the browser window with the mouse?), AutoCAD for Mac (for about six weeks), ARES for Mac (ditto), OpenOffice (once in a while), and I installed Parallels. I use the MacBook with a PC mouse (Logitech bluetooth), and an external PC monitor for a dual-monitor... Read more →

How to run Linux CAD on a Windows computer (part ii)

So I've got Linux running in a VM window on Windows. Now to fix a few things, something that Normand Chamberland of the CAD on Linux blog helped me with. For instance, the maximum resolution in the VM window is 800x600 -- fine on a cell phone, but a pain on the desktop, especially taking into consideration my main monitor's resolution of 2018x1162. Mr Chamberland answered my query with this advice: "That's because you need to install the Guest Additions" on VM VirtualBox He suggested some steps, and then I found that the following worked for my system: 1 First,... Read more →

How to run Linux CAD on a Windows computer (part i)

The first question being, why would you want to? In my case, I use InDesign to write and typeset the books, ebooks, and manuals so that limits me to Windows or OS X. Since I have a contract to write a book about a Linux-based CAD package, that means running Linux in a virtual machine on the most convenient computer, my desktop Windows 7 computer. Normand Chamberland of the CAD on Linux blog recommended I try Oracle's free VM VirtualBox software. I downloaded and installed it, and then found that it is pretty good for free, but has a few... Read more →

What's inside DraftSight for Mac (beta) -- a running commentary

I've downloaded and installed the beta Mac OS X version of DraftSight, the free DWG-based 2D editor from Dassault Systemes (OEM'ed from Graebert of Germany). I'm going to run through all the menu items to see what's new or different from AutoCAD for Windows... Application Menu All Mac apps share the same menu bar (bad design, in my opinion), and all have an application menu that's made from the name of the app. In this case, it is DraftSight. This menu item holds the Preferences (Options) command, as well as system commands, such as About, Hide, and Quit. File Menu... Read more →

CAD Schroer reminds us, "Hey, we do cheap 2D CAD on Linux and Windows, too!"

And yes they do, now. CAD Schroer is launching STHENO/LX ­ Intelligent for 2D drafting on Linux and Windows, compatible with DWG R12-2010. From the "LX" portion of its name, you may have already guessed it doesn't work with add-ons or APIs. Or, as managing director Thomas Schubert put it, "It's a 'shrink-wrapped' solution with no add-on modules or design automation capabilities." So what do you get for your e799 (approx. US$1,000)? Quick sketches, Smart Drafting tool, flexible dimensioning, dynamic editing, symbol creation, 35,000 symbols, customizable user interface, DXF export, and works with five dialects of Linux (CentOS, Fedora, RedHat,... Read more →

Forget AutoCAD WS; "run" real AutoCAD on iPad

Parallels is well-known for its software that lets you run Windows apps on OS X computers. Now they are showing a free version that lets you run them on the iPad -- remotely. Dean Takahashi of DemoBeat explains: The free Parallels Mobile app will let you log into a Parallels account and then browse your Parallels-equipped computers at home. You can run the applications on those computers remotely, using the Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac software, which lets you run Windows or Mac apps simultaneously. You could, then, in theory, "run" full AutoCAD on the iPad. (While Parallels Mobile is... Read more →

Installing Bricscad for Linux, step by step

Now that Bricsad for Linux is official, and not just beta, I thought I would try it out again. As I noted in yesterday's post, the software is officially supported for specific dialects of Linux. That's because there is a different installer for each: Ubuntu uses DEB installer Fedora and OpenSuse use RPM All others use TGZ This does not mean you are limited to these brand names of Linux. For instance, Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu (which in turn is based on Debian Linux), and so uses the same installer. Just download the one whose installer matches the... Read more →

Bricsys the first to ship an AutoCAD workalike running on Linux

(What is this, Labour Day? CAD vendors are making me labour at blogging their new releases.) Graebert may have been the first to release an OS X version of an AutoCAD workalike, but Bricsys is the first for Linux, with support for Fedora 12+, OpenSuse 11.1+, and Ubuntu 9.10+. The company writes: The Linux community so far had no access to .dwg based CAD, commonly accepted as the standard CAD file format. With Bricscad V10 for Linux that problem is solved and people don’t have to stick with the Windows OS just because they need .dwg based CAD. The included... Read more →

Twenty years on, Autodesk rediscovers that Apple thing (Updated)

Miguel Helft of The New York Times is reporting this evening what was pretty much an open secret. It was just the timing we weren't sure about. Tuesday Autodesk has all kinds of media events planned for announcing AutoCAD's return to the Macintosh, this time on the OS X operating system. (Image from Autodesk; click for full-size version.) Mr Helft quotes Amar Hanspal, senior vp of platform solutions at Autodesk: This is an endorsement from our side that design and engineering customers are taking the Macintosh seriously again. Heh. Try telling that to companies like Nemetschek Vectorworks, Graphisoft, and Siemens... Read more →

Navigating the MacBook's non-standard keyboard in ARES

For Linux and Windows users, the QWERTY part of the MacBook is the same; your fingers, however, need to think different around the edges. Some keys have different meanings or are outright missing. Here's what the MacBook keyboard looks like. Take particular notice of the quartet of keys in the lower left corner (fn, control, options, and command.) Command is the Macintosh equivalent to Control (Ctrl) in Windows. To save a file in ARES (and any other Mac software), you press Command+S -- instead of Ctrl+S. Another change is that the Command key is located next to the spacebar, instead... Read more →

For Windows and Linux users: how to install (ARES) Mac software

Windows has a messy variety of ways to install software. Linux has its rigorous method. And OS X has yet another method, one that initially will seem quite foreign to Windows and Linux users. Here is now to install ARES for Macintosh: 1. Download the 30-day demo software from the Graebert Web site: here. Notice that what you are downloading is an 84MB DMG file, short for "Disk iMaGe." (To OS X, DMG files look like virtual disks.) 2. When the download is done, open the downloaded file. OS X spends a few seconds checking the file. (Notice that a... Read more →

Printing wth ARES for Macintosh

In my previous post, I mentioned that the plot dialog box in ARES for Mac is quite different from the Windows version. At first, I had no idea what was going on, but then figured it out. I'd like to share my findings with you: 1. Enter the Print command, and you get this barebones interface. If you want to output the drawing as a PDF file (instead of printing it), click the PDF button and then choose an option: 2. To see printing options, click the blue arrow (across from Printer). 3. To switch between options, choose among them... Read more →

Greabert wins! First to ship AutoCAD-compatible CAD for Mac

Bricsys of Belgium, Graebert of Germany, and a third, unnamed CAD vendor (of another country) were in a multi-year race to see who would ship the Mac version of their AutoCAD-compatible software first. Today, Graebert won. ARES for Macintosh is available for download from here. 30-day demo is free, naturally. Price is US$995 in North America and e995 in Europe; half-price until 1 October. I have been beta testing ARES for Mac, and found that it is identical to the Windows versions, except in these areas: - Installation is Mac-style (drag the DMG file to the Apps folder.) - Macintosh-style... Read more →

What I like about the MacBook

After venting my fury at the MacBook's hardware design failings, I should admit that there are things that I do like about it. Here is the complete list: 1. It is utterly silent. No fan, no sound of the hard drive. That's all. Quiet computers are, however, no longer a big deal. My desktop computer is an HP Slimline; its hard drive is silent, and its fan is quieter than the many ticking clocks I have in my office. My Linux netbook is also nearly silent, having an SSD drive and a tiny fan that I normally only notice when... Read more →

Solutions to Mac problems

Readers are submitting solutions to the problems I found with the MacBook and its OS X software. Thank you for those. I should add that I have found solutions, too, such as remapping the keyboard, finding utility programs, and so on. Here are two substitutes that I found that are pretty good: - For creating annotated diagrams in my books on my Windows 7 computer, I use Visio 2000(!). Visio is not available for Mac, and so I tried out a couple of substitutes. I finally decided on (and paid for) OmniGraffle Professional. http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnigraffle/feature_comparison/ - For doing screen grabs on... Read more →

The Apple hardware & OS X software: How dreadful they are (part i)

I recall being surprised when I "upgraded" from a 1996 Chrysler mini-van to a 2002 Honda mini-van. The Chrysler was just about bottom of the line; I had to pay extra for the cassette player and cruise control. The Honda cost nearly twice as much and should have benefited from a six-year development advantage. Yet I was dismayed to find it lacked nice touches, like when I turned off the windshield wipers, the wipers didn't park themselves, as they did on the Chrysler. There were more severe problems in the design of the "highly rated" Honda: visibility for backing was... Read more →

Experiencing CAD on the Mac

Several CAD vendors are on the verge of releasing the OS X version of their software for the Macintosh line of personal computers, and I've been able to try out some of them on a new acquired MacBook. If you are used to only CAD on Windows, I thought I'd give you a head's-up on what will be different. (Let me get out of the way my impression of the hardware and operating system produced by Apple: both are truly dreadful.) Anyhow, back to CAD on the Mac. None of this will come as a surprise to those of you... Read more →

Graebert's ARES works on Linux just fine

I run Mint Linux on most of my computers, and so I was pretty interested in Linux versions of ARES and Bricscad. I haven't gotten ahold of the big B but Graebert sent me a link to download the Linux and Mac versions of ARES, both of which are in beta right now. Linux faces two problems in getting mainstream acceptance: equivalent software that people are used to from Windows. (Non-WINE version of Picasa for Linux, where are you?) And easy installation. Some OS vendors -- like Mint, Ubuntu, JoliCloud -- have nearly taken care of the problem by creating... Read more →

Italian Mac site posts screen grabs, video of Autocad 2011 apparently running on Mac OS X

AutoCad Per Mac Beta Nativo!! Vivo!! cries Italiamac with the first screengrabs proportedly of AutoCAD running on Mac OS X -- no Parallels. To read the page in English, click here. Brief video tutorial on using the touchscreen and Apple's Majikmouse is on MacRumours.com Is it faked? I think so. Autodesk alphas and betas are in English, with other languages coming out around FCS. The Getting Started dialog box contains mostly placeholders, which I find odd, since it is done in Flash, thus OS-independent. The screen grabs are easily faked. The 3D rotation in the video is very rough, and... Read more →

Specs for native Linux, Mac versions of Graebert's ARES

Graebert releases a second beta of its DWG-based ARES CAD software for Linux and Macintosh. (The Windows version is already shipping.) ARES boasts the same user interface for all three operating systems. In addition, they are looking at getting it running on iPad. The Linux version runs on 32-bit Ubuntu v9.04+, while the Mac version needs OS X 10.5.8+. Source. Read more →

Perhaps, one day, you will run AutoCAD natively in Chrome Web browser

Google's The Chromium Blog is reporting the beta release of its Native Client SDK [software development kit]. Known as NaCl (ie, sodium chloride, salt) for short, it is a compiler for generating x86-32/64 binaries from C/C++ source code. Here is how a CAD program could be converted to run in the Chrome Web browser: 1. Take the core code of a CAD program, such as the solid modeling kernel and the constraints manager, and then recompile the source code into Native Client code. 2. Rewrite the UI interface in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS [cascading style sheets]. 3. Combine the two... Read more →

Bricsys releases Bricscad for Linux beta

There are plenty of CAD systems that run on Linux, as this list shows. But the list also features phrases like "It is not really ready to public use yet" and "It is still in its early development stage." Not all are academic exercises and hobbyist projects still under construction. Here's examples of some up-to-date, professionally programmed ones: VariCAD -- 3D/2D CAD system for mechanical engineering (last updated 22 March 2010). QCAD -- 2D AutoCAD-like systems (last updated April 2010). MEDUSA4 -- 2D/3D design for mechanical, plant, construction and automotive (last updated recently). CYCAS -- design and visualization for architectural... Read more →

Serious CAD will never appear on the iPad because prices are too low

You can get viewers and some simple sketching software for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad, but you will never get a real CAD package. That's because the Apple Store pricing structure is w-a-a-y too low. Sure, there are some high-priced apps, like the $1000 one for studying for law exams. But it's one thing to flash questions and answers from a database; quite another to operate solids and surface modeling with hardware accelerated graphics and floating-point operations. 99-cent pricing doesn't work when there's the cost of royalties to D-Cube, Spatial, Microsoft, and others + the 30% Apple takes for itself.... Read more →