In message <z9OdnaI2atyvcUneRVn-sg@comcast.com>, Nico Kadel-Garcia
<nkadel@comcast.net> writes
>"John Beardmore" <wookie@wookie.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:0bOS8QhIkK1DFw5c@wookie.demon.co.uk...
>> In message <pan.2006.01.23.05.07.23.855608@invalid.yahoo.com> , imotgm
>> <imotgm_REM@invalid.yahoo.com> writes
>>>On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 20:20:55 -0800, Levin wrote:

>>>> I am going to college to learn CAD and I need a linux distribution to
>>>> run free (or reasonable)CAD on. What would be a good choice?
>>>
>>>Any Linux distro will run any CAD program written to run on Linux. Your
>>>question should be which CAD program, and the answer is seek, find,
>>>install, and try, until you find one that meets your needs.
>>
>> And I for one would appreciate it if you'd let us know what you find too
>
>I helped write the old SunOS ports of the "chipmunk" suite, and have worked
>with a number of CAD packages in Windows/DOS/Solaris/Linux. My experience
>looking around has been that the major CAD packages, such as AutoCAD and
>PowerLogic, have only recently moved to Linux. They're also provided, or
>tested, only with specific Linux distributions.
>
>There are lots of reasons for this: the X libraries, the versions of OpenGL,
>the glibc itself, and lots of other tools may vary between distributions.
>Saying it will "work on any Linux" is like saying that a battery "will work
>on any car". There's occasionally some weird battery with the posts on the
>side designed for a certain set of cars, and some car where the mounting is
>such that the cables can't reach that far and it can't be mounted. (I own
>such a car and an unused battery due to that.)

Yes - I know that feeling !


So what CAD stuff free or cheap and good under linux ?

I'm interested in 2D, 3D, and possibly circuit board design. Ability to
read autocad files would be an advantage as people keep sending them to
me.
Doesn't all have to be done from one package.


Cheers, J/.
--
John Beardmore