[PLUG] Re: Only on Windoz/AutoCAD
Lancashire, Pete
plancashire at ci.portland.or.us
Wed May 10 20:17:27 UTC 2006
the one cad+manufacturing shop i've had experience with,
one part owned by a friend now used linux for everything
but cad. there is even one cad-driver (mech.eng.)that has
two boxes and displays on his desk, one box running $Soft
for cad the other linux for everything else, the 2nd
display connects to both pc's.
they were hacked by some windoz hole a couple years ago.
it never got past the webserver, but that was enough for
them.
hmmm .. how about digital version of a video editor box
that lets you overlay two feeds onto one display ?
-pete oh well, im getting way off the PLUG topics, and
need to get back to workin' for the man.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric Wilhelm [mailto:scratchcomputing at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 12:50 PM
> To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
> Subject: [PLUG] Re: Only on Windoz/AutoCAD
>
>
> # from Lancashire, Pete
> # on Wednesday 10 May 2006 11:34 am:
>
> >what advantage would there be to have a FOSS CAD
> >package, other then cost ?
I would love to be able
> >to push FOSS CAD to some of my ME - Architect - Civil E
> >- etc friends but have not found what to say while
> >on the FOSS Server/Desktop soapbox.
>
> umm. Hackability? Vendor-independent interoperability?
> Inter-office
> change tracking? Contract/working-drawings/BOM integration that
> actually works? Custom software for small businesses pushing the
> envelope? Any other number of things that Scratch Computing aims to
> enable?
>
> Seriously, the de Young cladding would been practically
> impossible and
> riddled with human error had it not been for the hardcore automation,
> and that wasn't even feasible to do as a commercial cad system plugin
> ((a) startup cost, lock-in risk, and vendor evaluation latency would
> have basically killed it, (b) the project requirements changed about
> daily (more on that at tonight's perl-mongers if you're so inclined),
> and (c) GUI-based/VB/whatever automation can really suck when all you
> need to do is twiddle an input and regen.)
>
> In the current environment, it is still really difficult to
> get any sort
> of CAD users onto Linux. QCad isn't going to do it. I don't believe
> it is going to grow out of community contribution either -- engineers
> might know how to program FORTRAN, Pascal, etc. But, even if they've
> got mad C, C++, Perl, Ruby, or Python skills, the fact is
> that they are
> way too worn out at the end of the day to try to assemble a complex
> software architecture into their head and hammer out some code. So,
> the Linux/Apache codebase growth model is looking bleak, what
> about the
> Mozilla/OpenOffice/Blender opening-of-proprietary-code model?
> Well, I
> guess AutoDesk could decide to drop that bomb whenever they feel like
> it, but my guess is that there is way too much licensed "not
> my IP" in
> there to make that feasible for them or anyone else. The government
> funding to BRLCAD is encouraging, but they are heavily focused on
> simulating ballistics and designing tanks, so usability suffers.
>
> Which brings us to private funding. I'm not seeing a huge
> list of open
> source CAD software development companies with $2M seed funding and a
> business model to make it work. I've been particularly focused on
> trying to find a sustainable-growth model involving custom
> development
> leveraging open-source, but the combined challenges of "lack of
> infrastructure, lack of time, lack of sales, and trying to get
> something in a price-point that works for small businesses" really
> stack up against it.
>
> Okay, getting closer to on-topic...
>
> How many people on this list know of engineers, architects, etc. that
> would like to be running Linux if it weren't for that sticky
> CAD issue?
> I would be happy to hear from them on or off list. I'm certainly up
> for putting together something (maybe even at OSCamp) if there is
> enough interest.
>
> --Eric
> --
> I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the
> world and a
> desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
> --E.B. White
> ---------------------------------------------------
> http://scratchcomputing.com
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