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<title>LinuxCAD Impressions LG #30</title>
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">LinuxCAD Impressions</font></H1>
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<H4>By <A HREF="mailto:rwuest@sire.ddns.org">Robert Wuest</A>
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</H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<h3><u>Friday, June 12</u></h3>
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<P>I started calling Software Forge first thing this morning. NT had crashed
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yesterday and hosed it's own installation. I had no rescue disk. The day was
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starting real bad because I had an instrument design project getting behind. I
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needed to work on the mechanical layout. I'm sick of problems with microsoft
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operating system products.
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<P>I've been using AutoCAD for over 14 years and have seen it turn into a fairly
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decent CAD package. I use R13 and have used everything back to around 2.0.
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<h3><u>Getting It</u></h3> <P>Boot into Linux. It always works. There's a
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reasonably priced cad package I'd seen news posting after news posting
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advertising itself. Supposed to be like AutoCAD. I'm just going to breakdown
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and buy it and do the design in that. Start Netscape and head to the <A
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HREF="http://laulujoutsen.pc.helsinki.fi/~mjr/linux/cola.html">cola
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archives</a>. It's moved it's home, so I change the bookmark, search for
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LinuxCAD <A
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HREF="http://laulujoutsen.pc.helsinki.fi/~mjr/linux/cola.archive/1998-06/mjr.1998-06-03.010">(the
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archive)</a> and find Software Forge's home, <A
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HREF="http://www.linuxcad.com/">http://www.linuxcad.com</A>. All it has is an <A
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HREF="mailto:sales@softwareforge.com">E-mail address</A> and a phone number,
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(847) 891-5971, in Chicago, Illinois.
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<P>Screen-shots are there, check them out. I guess, from the numerous copies
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of the ad I had seen, I was expecting something that acted like AutoCAD.
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Notice the first window shows the columbia drawing, <A
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HREF="http://www.softwareforge.com/linuxcad/mini_columbia.gif">columbia.dwg</A>,
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and the <A HREF="http://www.softwareforge.com/linuxcad/avtocad1.gif">second
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window</A>, that it's title is "AvtoCAD-SoftwareForge".
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<P><A HREF="http://www.softwareforge.com/linuxcad/pricing.html">http://www.softwareforge.com/linuxcad/pricing.html</A> says this:
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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"LinuxCAD is a true open software product and as such it has been ported to all
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major UNIX platforms. The pricing of LinuxCAD for platforms other than Intel
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depends from the number of copies you have chosen to purchase , the more copies
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the lesser price. All ports retain full original functionality and are fully
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compatible with original LinuxCAD for Linux for Itnel and with AutoCAD".
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>"True open software product"? Where's the source? The license is in no way open
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and the source is no where to be found. Meaningless buzzwords.
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<P>I call and call all day: someone finally answers the phone about mid afternoon
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and sells me a copy. I'm a little confused as to who was serving who after
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that conversation, but I did manage to buy a copy and download it off of their
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ftp site with no problem. And she told me that there have been over 100 copies
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sold. So now I've forked out the $$$ for this thing and what follows is what
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I experienced.
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<P>The readme file (on the ftp server) said to put the archive in the directory
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where you want to install it and untar it. Enough for those who know their way
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around Linux pretty well. I go to the file with TkDesk and my pop-up menu isn't
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right for the file :-0. This file is unconventionally named slk96_tar.gz, not
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slk96.tar.gz like it should be, so I promptly renamed it.
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<P>Examining the contents, I see a straight collection of 25 files, no
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directories, no man pages, info pages or html docs. There are several .dxs,
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.mnu, .scr and .txt files. I make a directory linuxcad, moved the archive in
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there and run extract off the tkdesk pop up.
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<P><aside><BR>
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A lot of users will be lost from those very brief instructions. This is what I
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finally did to install properly, IMO:
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<P>As root, I made a directory, /usr/local/lib/linuxcad and moved all of the files
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there. In my /usr/local/bin directory, I created symlinks:
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<PRE>
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$ ln -s ../lib/linuxcad/lcad lcad
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$ ln -s ../lib/linuxcad/linuxcad linuxcad
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</PRE>
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<P>There should at least be a makefile included to do this as "make
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install".<BR>
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</aside>
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<P>The readme file also has this <em>bombshell</em>:
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<PRE>
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" Optional LinuxCAD extensions
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================================
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1) Print option:
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Hardcopy to DeskJet , LaserJet
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and to MSWindows based LinuxCAD printserver
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---------------------
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$100
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2) Plot option:
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To HP-GL compatible plotters
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---------------------
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$100
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3) DXF Import option
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---------------------
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$100
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4) Customization option:
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Includes
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4.1 Hot keys menu and user programmable pull down
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menu.
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4.2 GNU C/C++ programming interface.
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---------------------
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$200
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5) 3D design option
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---------------------
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$200"
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</PRE>
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<P>This is not a $75 package, <em>it's a $775 package</em>.
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<h3><u>First Impressions</u></h3>
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<P>Double clicking (back in TkDesk) the executable I saw that it ran, produced no
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window and exited with status 0. It had spit out out an error message, which
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came out on my login vc:
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<PRE>
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LinuxCAD v 1.53
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Portable Computer Aided Design program for Linux and Unix.
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Usage:
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linuxcad <name of new or existing .dxs file>
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</PRE>
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<P>But I didn't see that until I started an xterm and ran it from there. So I
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gave it a filename this time and it ran. Here's the command I used:
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<PRE>
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$ ./linuxcad test.dxs
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</PRE>
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<P>It puts itself in the background. I exited immediately and it gave me a dialog
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asking if I wanted to save my changes. What changes? I had just started and
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exited. I'm not even going to read the docs. Just see what I can learn by
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fiddling with it a bit. I can immediately see that this needs polish.
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<PRE>
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$ ./linuxcad test.dxs # again.
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</PRE>
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<P>The "line" command worked, but "l" didn't. "Move" worked and "w" selected entities
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by window, but the "m" command didn't work. OK, it doesn't have command
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aliases. Oh, they're $200.
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<P>I draw a few lines. "line", click, click, <CR>. Oops, still drawing the line.
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OK, right click. The line is placed, but in the text area, all that's there is:
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<PRE>
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Command aborted !
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Command:
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</PRE>
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<P>There are no scroll bars and no handle to resize the command area. There are 3
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lines of command area stretching across the bottom of the window. I can scroll
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back by using X-selection, but that doesn't give very good control.
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<P>Line editing is very poor. My arrow keys do nothing, The backspace key
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works, but <HOME>, <END>, any extended key does nothing. I start a
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command and can't find a key that cancels it. The right mouse button will, but
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why doesn't <CR>, <ESC> or ^-c work. Let's try all the keys
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:-). ^-z, ^-x, ^-c, etc. ^-j causes a "point expected !" message. After a
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lot of keys, it crashes. Looks like a buffer overrun to me. Restart. It
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crashes every time and work is lost. No core dump or error to the parent
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shell.
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<P>^-m opens a command history window with both scroll bars, but I can't type a
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command in it. It just beeps at any key except the cursor control keys now
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work! The cursor is not visible, but <PGUP> and <PGDN> do what they're
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supposed to and <UP> and <DN> seem to.
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<P>That command history window insists on staying over the drawing area. I use
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my M-<PGDN> (which I have defined in ~/.fvwmrc to lower a window) and the
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window goes away. If I do any window manager operation that brings the window
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to the top, the history window ends up over the drawing area. It has an "Exit"
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button, so I press it.
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<P>There is no coordinate display in the main window. "Pline" doesn't work. "c"
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doesn't work to close multiple line segments.
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<PRE>
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Command:line
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From point:0,0
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To point:1000,1000
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To point:
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</PRE>
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<P>No way to end it with keys. Have to right click again. Too man unnecessary
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linefeeds wasting vertical screen space. No "Zoom" command.
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<P>After about an hour of playing:
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<CENTER><EM>********** This is not AutoCAD **********</EM></CENTER>
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<P>This program does not have an AutoCAD interface, which, based on all of the
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comparisons made by SoftwareForge to AutoCAD, it should have. There are
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commands to zoom: "zoomw", "zoomall". "Zoom" should use the acad interface.
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Other commands do. And there is no equivelant to the "x" option. I do this
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often in acad:
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<PRE>
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z e z .9x
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</PRE>
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<P>If you don't know acad, that will give a 90% zoom factor scaled to the display
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window (everything is visible with a little border anound the outside).
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<P>The top of the screen has six menu items and 6 buttons. Draw/line starts line
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drawing. The edit menu has no undo. "Undo" doesn't seem to work. Undo is
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under "Edit/Edit../Undo/Set mark" and "Edit/Edit../Undo/Undo to last mark" It
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looks like one has to set marks and can't just walk backwards undoing actions
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one at time.
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<P>3D'll run another $200 (item 5). Draw/Draw 3D.../Sphere gets me this message:
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<PRE>
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"This is an optional feature of LinuxCAD
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Please check the readme files to see the current pricing
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for the optional features.
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Command:"
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</PRE>
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<P>Drawing area and window display area aren't the same. You must
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"Options/Settings/Screen Extents/..." on the menu. This is something I really
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don't like right away.
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<P>No short commands. Looks like they cost $200 (item 4.1).
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<P>Bad command line area with virtually no editing in it.
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<P>Changed zoom interface.
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<P>No .xyz filters.
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<P>Keyboard focus moves to buttons in menu area. You have to click in the
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command area after using a button before you can type another command.
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<P>"U" doesn't undo the last line segment while drawing lines.
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<P>"Undo" requires setting a mark.
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<P>No tooltips.
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<P>No coords display.
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<P>No coords display.
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<P>I know AutoCAD very well, but still, I have to read the documentation :-0.
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<P>Print only to a bitmap. And who wants to print to a microsoft print server?
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Another $100 (item 1) for printing. There is no postscript printing at all.
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<P>No cut, copy and paste between multiple instances of the program.
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<P>You can't edit with only the keyboard.
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<h3><U>Some Techy Details</U></h3>
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<P>I'm not sure what toolkit was used. Ldd linuxcad reveals the following on my
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system:
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<PRE>
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libXt.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libXt.so.6 (0x4000b000)
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libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x4004d000)
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libXext.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libXext.so.6 (0x400e3000)
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libg++.so.27 => /usr/lib/libg++.so.27 (0x400ed000)
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libm.so.5 => /lib/libm.so.5 (0x40121000)
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libc.so.5 => /lib/libc.so.5 (0x4012a000)
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libSM.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libSM.so.6 (0x401e6000)
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libICE.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libICE.so.6 (0x401ef000)
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libstdc++.so.27 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.27 (0x40203000)
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</PRE>
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<P>Searching the executable doesn't help, either. Searching with
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<PRE>
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$ strings linuxcad | grep -i copy
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</PRE>
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<P>only finds a couple Software Forge copyright strings (and the word "copy" a
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bunch).
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<P>Multiple instances run fine.
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<PRE>
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$ ps -m 3638 3636 # shows the memory usage:
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PID TTY MAJFLT MINFLT TRS DRS SIZE SWAP RSS SHRD LIB DT COMMAND
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3638 p6 383 195 1080 1920 3000 0 3000 2176 0 206 linuxcad cab1.dxs
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3636 p6 425 200 1140 1976 3116 0 3116 2288 0 207 linuxcad test.dxs
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</PRE>
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<P>Startup time is about 2 seconds each on P100/48 Meg. system.
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<P>Here's a link to a listing of a blank drawing file, <A HREF=cab1.html>cab1.dxs</A>
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<h3><u>Licensing</u></h3>
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<P>The license is very restrictive. It's the basic single machine/single user
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license. I'm not sure I can even include quotes from the documentation, the
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way license.txt is written. It says I can't reproduce or distribute or even
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revise the documentation. Does that mean if I removed some of the double
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spacing or add notes through out the documentation that I am in violation of
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it? In any case, I won't publish the license here. The high points:
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<UL>
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<LI> Install on a single computer for "your own individual use". Can my wife
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and children use it?
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<LI>You can make one copy for archival purposes.
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<LI>The program can be transferred. Standard boiler plate. You can't keep a copy.
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<LI>Software Forge is not liable for anything that goes wrong or any damage that the
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program does to you, your computer or your mother.
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<LI>It says there is some welcome screen with a copyright notice, but that is wrong;
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there is no startup message (and it should stay that way unless it is a window
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that pops up and then goes away once the program starts).
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<LI>The user's guide specifically calls out that it cannot be released under the
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GPL, which I think is kind-of a strange detail to add.
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<LI>You can't reverse engineer the program.
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<LI>If you violate the license, they'll try and throw you in jail.
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</UL>
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<h3><u>Conclusions</u></h3>
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<P>First, I should include this quote (double spaced and all) from the
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linuxcad.txt document included in the distribution:
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<PRE>
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" ATTENTION:
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This product is still very fresh and is under development , it may
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crash from time to time , do save often and please report all crash situations
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to Software Forge Inc. by e-mail to: unixguy@aol.com
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We add new features quickly and your input about what features you want is
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valuable. "
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</PRE>
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<P>So make a demo available and send an announcement to cola everytime it is
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upgraded. Heck, this is the demo version.
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<P>So far, only the one crash I wrote about above. But this is not a $775
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package. In its current state, it is not a $75 package, even with everything
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thrown in.
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<P>Upgrades are available for only six months. And this is by no means an
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exhaustive list of missing features. Just what I found real quick.
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<P>I'd suggest waiting.
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<P>I now must get NT working first thing Monday morning. I still don't have a cad
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package to do my work in Linux and then take it to acad to make a final drawing.
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I'm still stuck using microsoft. :-(
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<HR>
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<P> <small>
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This document is copyright Robert Wuest, PE.<BR>
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It is herby released into the public domain.<BR>
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(except those portions copyright Software Forge, Inc.)</small>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1998, Robert Wuest <BR>
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Published in Issue 30 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, July 1998</H5></center>
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