[Menai-LUG] QCad - part the third

[Kevin Donnelly]

I've found another couple of very interesting apps, but I don't really have 
time to examine them in detail before I go to LAC tomorrow.  It might be that 
those who are more au fait with CAD than me (eg David Powell, Phil Thane) 
would find them more in line with what they expect/need than QCad.  I should 
say that neither of them is FLOSS, but they run fine on Linux (openSUSE 10.0 
at any rate).  Both of them do 3D as well as 2D.

The first is GraphiteOne (http://www.graphiteone-cad.com/en/index.htm), which 
seems to use Python.  The interface is a bit odd-looking (it reminds me a bit 
of Blender), but functional.  There is no help/tutorial that I can see on the 
site, but there is a pretty extensive manual in the install (click on the 
brown HELP button to get to this).

The commercial version costs €300 (2D) or €600 (3D), but the free version, 
which "provides the same functionality as the commercial version ... is 
limited to personal, educational or research use only. You may use this 
version as long as it is not used for commercial or any revenue generating 
purposes."

The second is Medusa4 
(http://www.cad-schroer.com/index.php?land=com&ziel=Products-MEDUSA&scr=1.1).  
This is an enormous download of 130Mb, and untars to something like 300Mb.  I 
don't usually like Java apps, but this is very heavy-duty software - the 
website has schematics of what seems to be an oil-tanker.  The interface is 
very attractive, and there are acres of manuals, either on the Web 
(http://www.cad-schroer.com/index2.php?land=com&ziel=Support-OnlineDocu&thema=all/DokuM4PL.php&scr=1.1)
or in the download (/opt/medusa4/meddoc/doc/english).

The price of the commercial version isn't mentioned, that I can see, so I 
assume it must be quite pricey.  But the personal version is a free download: 
"The only restriction is that no-one should gain commercial benefit from 
using it; this includes commercial training and development. If your use is 
educational, then please email us , because we have an even better deal for 
you - also free, but with more support."  The main differences are that 
printouts are marked NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE, and personal sheets can't be 
imported into the professional version (though presumably you could save them 
in an intermediate format like dxf and import them).

Activating the personal version is a bit of a palaver - you need to register 
online, and give the MAC address of the network adapter in the PC you will 
run the app on (it is therefore tied to one computer - no free software 
this!).  Then you reply to the email you get sent, and after that you get 
another email with the license file attached, which you save to your HD.  
When you run (as root) the install file (medusa4_pers_linux) you get after 
you untar the download, you give the path to the license, and it gets copied 
to the install (in /opt).  Note that I had to relax the permissions on the 
resultant csglmd.lic before I could use it as a normal user.  The actual 
thing you launch is hidden away as /opt/medusa4/master_project/startmedusa.

Both apps have a good range of export formats, GraphiteOne more so than 
Medusa4.

While wandering around various CAD sites, I also came across a LiveCD called 
CAE Linux 
(http://www.caelinux.com/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=47) 
which is mainly aimed at finite element simulation (if I knew what that was, 
I would explain it!) and computational fluid dynamics, but also contains a 
good few CAD packages (QCad, gCad3D, GraphiteOne, BRL-CAD).  That might be 
quite useful if you want a quick way of demoing these things without faffing 
about too much.

So get designing, you lot - I want complete schematics for a starship by next 
week!

-- 
Pob hwyl / Best wishes

Kevin Donnelly

www.kyfieithu.co.uk - KDE yn Gymraeg
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