RPsx94The better programs are the bigger the investment in time, people and money the cost of which of course must be funded from somewhere. Solidworks looks impressive but I think also needs to be looked at as a program you use to earn a living, ie you put a lot of your lifetime into it. Personally I over estimate my own capabilities every time I get involved with new programs so I try to ensure that I really really really want to start. Keep your dreams and expectations as who knows if something comes along and you get a chance.
I probably would have stayed with Google Sketchup even it is very basic but I have an aim to transfer my computing skills to Linux, I now no longer have an 'obligation' to stay with MS. Unfortunately I have not found anything like GS in Linux and I do not want to run programs under Wine if I can avoid it.
Further the program I am looking for ought to run under PClinuxOS where i have spent a lot of time trying to come to grips with basics, all those things one does no longer think of as difficult under Windows. It is enormous frustration sitting looking at a problem knowing the solution is simple but you just can't see the next step. I recognised this when I was faced with the simple problem of the 'True Color', I can fix this in my sleep on Windows but here all of a sudden something just went blank in my brain.
Getting help on a Forum very quickly is great encouragement especially as the VariCAD install process seemed a bit truncated. I was not really surprised to see an error message. I am however getting a bit sidetracked and may come back and explain a bit more in details when I have tested more of VariCAD to see if it is stable, so far so good.
NealI think you have it right. I went there to have a look, I may even go back and try CyCAD out just to see how it works in PCLinuxOS but will have to wait as all my effort has to go into VariCAD as the limited licence period is now ticking.
livram79From above you will have guessed that I have not tried CYCAD, I probably would have missed it in my search as I focus more on the mechanical engieering aspect right now.
GeneralStarting a new program even when you know the principles is a bit daunting, this happened to me again when VariCAD started up, lots of familiar looking items and yet still you simply don't know what all the icons do. I tried to jump ahead right into to 'extrusion' of 2D objects, splat. The Google Sketchup experienced was not much help so I am back at starting from the beginning, running the quick VariCAD tutorials, which I had already looked at via Windows XP. What I saw made me decide to have a go using PCLOS though it is not mentioned specificly to run VariCAD.
The tutorials for me are good as I can step back and find exactly what I did wrong and at the same time forced to look a bit closer at the individual steps. I will be spending a fair time in the 2D re-learning while I will sneak into the 3D bit by bit 'just to see'. One thing I need to test out is how well I can use my existing AutoCAD LT drawings as I have a considerable number. representing manny many hours of work.
VariCAD presently is started from terminal by 'varicad' call and it takes about 12 seconds to start up, long enough to get a bit itchy. I know that it is simple to make a shortcut icon but I have been away from Linus for a number of weeks and it just doesn't jump to mind yet, wheras using terminal is only seconds, to some of you it must seem silly.
Have not done any customisation to the program yet, such as setting up templates. I know how time consuming this is. Aiming to get very quickly to see a 3D model of a solar energy collector, big heatbank, and associated piping and pumps plus a small plate heat exchanger. Was dead simple sketching out by hand, took longer in GS to find it was not so smart at running pipes.
