Program similar to AutoCAD or Autodesk

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#1

Is there a program for Linux which can be used instead of Autodesk or Autocad (program to draw constructions, plans and so on).

#2

sufranz wrote:
> Is there a program for Linux which can be used instead of Autodesk or
> Autocad (program to draw constructions, plans and so on).

one or more of the following should be helpful…at least 16 different
programs (some free, some commercial) are mentions in just one of these:

http://www.osalt.com/
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html
http://jjmacey.net/blog/?p=179
http://sourceforge.net/search/
http://forums.opensuse.org/search.php?searchid=929060
http://forums.opensuse.org/search.php?searchid=929064
http://www.google.dk/search?q=“autocad+for+linux”
http://www.google.dk/search?q=“autodesk+for+linux”

i can’t comment on any of them…but, i can note that the often told
tale that one MUST stick to a particular operating system is highly
questionable…

welcome to Linux, open source and free software…

–
duo

#3

Well, many fall under that category. In 2D AFAIK the most familiar (and supported) is QCAD. There’s both a paid and a community edition (packman has this last one, I think).

That said, no unspecialized CAD software comes near AutoCAD functionality. One workaround is to run AutoCAD in a XP VM. The performance penalty is not unacceptable if you don’t care for the directx accel stuff in the later versions.

Things I learned are after much googling and testing are:

  1. there’s no equivalent in linux to AutoCAD, in the sense that OpenOffice is an equivalent to MS Office.
  2. AutoCAD development platform is tightly attached to MS Windows, so there will be no AutoCAD for linux in a foreseeable future (or until linux has, say, half the desktop share).
  3. Those programs that claim to work like AC in linux are just scams, some are real ugly scams…

Exception to the last point above was bricscad. I had great hope in bricscad, an Intellicad-family CAD that supposedly would run under linux (a mandriva+wine combination IIRC) with support from bricksys, but it seems they dropped it due to no market (not enough sales). The linux version in their site is obsolete (6.0, versus 9.x for MS windows). A few years ago I tried to run it in opensuse, but couldn’t.

P.S. In the MS world IMO Intellicad-based CAD software (like cadopia, bricscad, etc.) is a viable AutoCAD replacement, in terms of cost/benefit.

#4

I don’t. It ran under RH 9 or fedora 1, 2 or 3.

#5

I played with a demo version of VariCAD (back with OSS 10). Have a look here:

VariCAD | VariCAD - 3D/2D CAD system

I’m not sure that it could be considered affordable unless you can make a living from it. I wish they had a simplified user addition available for us amateurs… :slight_smile:

#6

Qcad is a nice 2d programme, if you are looking for a full 3d modeler, check salome (www.salomeplatform.org)