WorldCAD Access

Bricscad for alternate operating systems delayed 6-9 months

Just 9 months ago, I recorded Bricsys's earlier schedule for rolling out its CAD software on operating systems other than Windows:

Q4 09 -- native Linux 
Q1 10 -- native Mac

In a press release that came out earlier this week, the schedule has been adjusted by 6-9 months:

Bricscad LINUX is in Alpha now; a commercial release is expected early Q2. A native Mac OSX version is planned for end of 2010.

So a half year later for Linux and 3/4 year later for Mac.

I think the problem is that wrenching a software program away from the insanely tight grasp of Windows is much tougher than we realize. To take a simple example, how does OLE work on Linux'n Mac?

We see the same with SolidWorks. After three years of work, they were able to this week briefly show us an untethered version, sort of -- still not good enough to run it in detail to the media eager for more information. 

Bricsys releases another alpha of Bricscad Linux

Another release of Bricscad for Linux is available for download from www.bricsys.com/open/common/download.jsp?p=B4L&l=en_US&site=1

The software now does things I'd've thought would be possible in the initial release:

• DWG files can be opened, but not saved.

• Menus and toolbars added, though not flyout toolbars.

• Zooming with the scroll button now works.

• System variables now retain their values.

A user reports:

I see the new version grow quickly from the very first one. Speed is much higher than in WINE [old version of Bricscad than ran on Linux using WINdows Emmulator], and CPU load is much more affordable, main commands are efficient.

Bricscad Linux goes pre-alpha

The native Linux version of Bricscad has been greatly delayed, with the shipping date now missed by two years. 

On Dec 31, however, Bricsys ceo Erik De Keyser reported that he plans to post an alpha version by the end of January. Further updates will be announced in the Bricscad Linux forum. 

Four hours later, however, a Bricscad programmer posted a pre-alpha copy, saying...

A few stubborn guys even tried to proof [Mr De Keyser] wrong with some patches in the meantime, but that did not work out. Do not expect to do anything useful yet, but feel free to be thrilled with a first native Bricscad runtime on Linux. 

You can download the zip file  (after providing your email address) from 
www.bricsys.com/open/common/download.jsp?p=B4L&l=en_US&site=1. Unzip the file, and then run the resulting shell script, bricscad.sh. However, the result is not pretty:

About the only thing that does work without crashing is the About dialog. Opening a dwg fails since we did not manage to correctly set up the main drawing window yet. The application crashes as soon as anything is drawn on the main drawing window.

Now that Bricscad Linux has stuck its nose out of the barn, when can we expect to see Ares Linux from Graebert?

It pleases me is to see the passion of the programmers. They want Linux CAD to work!

(HT: Normand Chamberland) 

Autodesk's Sketch Mobile Among Top Apple Store Apps

Autodesk Sketch Mobile made it to Rewind status, which is Apple's name for the collection of best-selling iPhone/iTouch applications of the year. I dunno if they are listed in any particular order, but Sketch was 8th. Autodesk sez over 1,000,000 have been downloaded from the iTunes store, of which a little more than 100,000 people paid $3 for the not-free version.

Yesterday, I complained bitterly about the poor design of the iPhone/iTouch software. Here's another example. When I click See All (Rewind apps), the iTunes software complains:

(Click for larger image).

Netbooks More Powerful Than Salesmen Want You To Believe

I've overheard computer store salesmen lie to potential customers of the powerlessness of netbook computers. I've read of ceos of large computer makers bemoaning the lack of profits they make from the most popular form of computer today.

Doesn't matter what they say. I still run AutoCAD 2010 on my LG X110 netbook, albeit limited to Windows 7. To get out from under the burden Windows imposes on computer hardware, though, it's better to run netbooks with Linux. (I use Ubuntu-based Linux Mint.) Richard Smith of Symscape confirms this:

Would you believe me when I say you can install Caedium and run CFD [computational fluid dynamics] calculations on a netbook? I've installed and run modest (small) CFD calcs on an ASUS Eee PC 900 9-inch netbook (1GB RAM, 20GB solidstate drive) running Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix [Linux operating system].

The Linux installer (Autopackage) we use for Caedium should be good for any 'modern' Linux distribution. If you fancy a go, you'll need to install both Caedium and Caedium add-ons from www.symscape.com/product/downloads#linux

Then get our Caedium Professional 30-day free trial from www.symscape.com/symcom/freetrial/174

Waiting, Waiting...

The Bricsys Web site tantalizes:

The Linux world is desperately looking for a strong, affordable DWG-based CAD solution. Bricsys is fully committed to serve the growing Linux community. A native Linux version of the Bricscad V10 technology is in its final stage of development.

Source.

Installing MEDUSA4 on Linux

MEDUSA4 Personal is the only commercial, free CAD for Linux that I know about, and so I went through the process of installing it on my netbook running Linux Mint. After all, the specs say that MEDUSA4 needs just 512MB RAM, and this netbook boasts 1GB.

Before downloading, you have to fill out a registration form with an extra: your computer's network (MAC) address. The address can be determined automatically if your computer has Java v1.6, or you get it manually like this:

Open a terminal window, and then run ifconfig -a

After filling out the registration form, the license number is eventually emailed to you, following a double opt-in: respond to one email from CAD Schroer in order to receive a second email with the license number -- a license that's valid a mere six months (after which it has to be renewed).

The license arrives quickly, in a .lic file, which is read during the installation process, like this: "Once you receive the file, simply rename it to csglmd.lic and copy it to the
following folder: <medusa4_InstallDirectory>/medsys/med/license/.' I really don't like it when the word "simply" appears.

In the meantime, the 190MB download takes place.

In the meantime, read the installation instructions. For Linux Mint, follow the instructions for Ubuntu:

1. Open terminal.
2. Install the needed libraries with sudo apt-get install csh
3, Run the installation shell script file sudo sh medusa4_v3_1_1_linux_personal.sh from the folder to which you downloaded the software 
4. The remaining installation steps are the same as for Windows.

The software is installed to /opt/medusa4_pers_v3_1-- if it would could. The installation stalls with a Error! Folder is not writable message.

Sudo It is

Update: Readers told me to use the sudo utility (which I have added to the instruction above). The software finished its installation correctly. It runs, but is not suited to a netbook, since the minimum screen size seems to be 1280x1024.

First CAD Viewer for iPhone

Now that the iPhone's operating system supports 3D, I was wondering when the first CAD applications would appear. Today Halabe & Han tells me about NaviCAD for searching and viewing the Google 3D Warehouse on the iPhone. Warehouse models are created with SketchUp.

You control the view of the loaded model by moving the iPhone. Tipping the phone down rotates the model so that you see its top, for instance. More details here.

Purchase from the Apple Store, which requires iTunes installed on your computer. (I don't.)

10 Reasons to Prefer 7 (or Mint)

Over on Silicon Valley Insider, Preethi Dumpala gives Ten Reasons Why People Will Upgrade To Windows 7. As I began reading the list, I realized many of these reasons already exist in Linux-based operating systems, like Mint (my current favorite). Let's go through the ten reasons, and see whether they apply to 7 and/or Mint:

10. In 7, users click an icon on the taskbar that shows available Wi-Fi networks, and then choose the one to which to connect. Linux Mint has this feature, as well.

9. System messages will appear as notifications on the taskbar.Linux Mint has this feature, as well.

8. HomeGroup makes it easier to share files, music and pictures among computers on a home network. I have been running 7 since last fall, and was unable to understand how HomeGroup differs from Vista's limitation in sharing only Public and some other folders among networked computers. (Also, HomeGroup is really hard to set up, and most home users will give up on it.) Microsoft created the problem of limiting access to drives and folders on my networked computers, and HomeGroup is a poor solution to a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place; in contrast, Linux doesn't condescendingly decide which of my folders I should be allowed to access among my computers.

7. Device Stage is a dialog box that lists all peripherals, like cameras, printers, BlueTooth. In my experience, I found it useless for fixing problems. It's just Device Manager for Dummies, without the tree and with really big icons.

6. BitLocker support for removable storage. Now that's scary: encrypted drives. That's one feature that should not exist on home versions of OSes.

5. Faster boot-up -- 30 seconds flat! Faster than Vista, but definitely not 30 seconds, because once 7 appears to be finished booting, it continues loading stuff, slowing you down in doing things like watching a video smoothly or opening a large app. Linux has a true 30-second bootup, where video plays back smoothly.

4. Libraries collate files from similar folders, like all videos from Public/My Videos, User/My Videos, etc. This fixes a problem that should not exist, what with Microsoft scattering those My Video folders all over the hard drive with apparent abandon. 

3. Less annoying User Account Control. UAC? Doesn't exit in Linux.

2. Multi-touch screens. Grease on my screen. No thanks. After owning an HP TouchScreen notebook computer for three years, i find touching the screen annoying compared to using the touchpad. 

1. It's not Vista. But neither is Linux Mint. 

- - -

The differences between Windows 7 and Mint are (1) Mint 7 is released now, with 8 coming in October; and (2) Mint is fre,e and Windows 7 is not. 

What Potential Mac Marketshare for CAD?

Interviews over at Develop3D give a pair of data points useful for the likes of Bricscad, Graebert, and Autodesk, who will be entering the Mac market with their CAD software over the next year or two.

Siemens PLM Systems (nee UGS) is the only big CAD vendor with Mac experience. They found that Mac types tend to be creative types, which is why Siemens has not ported their engineering analysis software to Mac. 

Autodesk makes a similar statement:

But based on our data, and talking to a lot of customers over the years, we believe roughly 30% of creative professionals prefer the Mac platform over Windows.

The key word is "creative." 

So, the key to marketing CAD to Macheads is to position it as creative-aided design software. 

Source.

The True Windows Tax

The Windows tax usually refers to the higher price that computers cost because of the amount we unknowingly pay for the Windows license. With computers being so cheap these days, we tend to not care; the higher Windows-induced price tends to show itself in the realm of netbooks, which offer Linux as the alternative.

The true Windows tax, however, is in how the bulky operating system taxes computer speed. This effect is clearly seen on dual-booting netbooks, such as my 1GB LG netbook. Presto Linux boots in 35 seconds; Windows 7RC boots in three minutes, and even then continues to operate sluggishly -- in contrast to the snappy performance of Linux.

This line of thinking was sharpened by a press release headline that read, "Autodesk Increases Moldflow Performance Two Fold." The increase stems from hardware: multicore CPUs, and GPUs specific to certain nVidia graphics boards.

It certainly takes a lot of hardware to run today's Windows snappily; I inherited a recent model of a dual-core 64-bit computer with 4GB RAM and a very fast hard drive. Vista runs well on it, but poorly on other computers with lower specs.

I wonder what speed increase could be accomplished if MoldFlow relinquished the Windows tax and ran on Linux?

Converting Windows CAD to OS Independence

To learn what it takes to wean a CAD program away from Windows, I visited two software companies who are nearly finished with the process. Bricsys of Belgium and Graebert of Germany will be releasing their CAD programs for Linux and Macintosh within the next 6-24 months. I found it fascinating that both followed a nearly identical deweaning process, completely independent of each other.

Step 1

Rewrite all portions of the source code that depend on Microsoft APIs. Bricsys used wxWidgets, while Graebert used Qt. This rewrite takes 1.5-4 years, and affects 95-98% of the code.

Step 2

Customize the program for each of the three operating systems. The remaining 2-5% of code is OS-specific, such as the user interface, file operations, and device communications.

At this point, the programming problems that remains differ:

• Linux users are unconcerned with the user interface, so the Windows GUI does not need to change much. Problems specific to Linux include deciding on the installers, and interfacing with printers.

• Mac users are obsessed with the user interface, so the GUI needs an extensive rewrite. The particular problem is in getting the Mac mouse to handle CAD operations. (Installers and printer interfaces present no problem.)

Step 3

Alpha and beta test, and then ship. In this step, the two companies took different approaches:

Bricsys is concentrating on shipping the Linux version first, because it already has customers demanding it; development of the Mac version will begin after Bricscad/Linux ships early next year.

Graebert is developing all three versions of their new Ares CAD software at the same time: the Windows version this summer, with the Linux and Mac versions later in the year.

- - -

I suppress a chuckle watching this seachange in operating system support. In the early 1990s, many CAD programs ran on many operating systems -- DOS (predecessor to Windows), varieties of Unix (father to Linux) and in some cases, Macintosh, Atari, and other minor segments.

Then, CAD vendors poured expensive resources into converting their programs to Windows, which at the time was dead-slow for running programs as compute-intensive as computer-aided design. 

Today, CAD vendors are repouring expensive resources to undo their actions of fifteen years ago.