is there autocad for linux/ubutnu ???

[odin1965]

The only good Autocads you need to shell out some cash for. If you mom still has a copy of the Autocad she runs. As mechen above it seems to run ok in Wine. A old friend of mine has a sunspark Unix machine and he ran Autocad on that. Pretty slick I thought.
Gobby

Up until about release 11 or 12, Autiodesk produced a native Unix version of AutoCAD.

I have tried some of the intelliCAD based programs on Windows and was very impressed. I have not been able to get one to work on Ubuntu yet, hopefully I will when I get more time. I downloaded the BricsCAD linux trial as a RPM an converted it to DEB with alien and it installed fine. Problem is, I couldn't run it. It would not accept my authorization code for the free trial. It semmed like an issue with root on Ubuntu.

[francisco.colaco]

As it was yesterday an holiay here, I have had a bit of time to dig in the problems. It seems that vba6.msi (visual basic for applications 6) does not intall at all. It is at the end of Intellicad installer. The rest installs well.

The DWG explorer window IS the trouble here. So much for wine running, long live the virtual machines!

As to Inrellicad, it IS an impressive piece of work. It does what AutoCAD does, if not better, just as much. I just wish there was a supported way to get python as a scripting language of Intellicad. As you can model for povray, there is an end-to-end CAD and rendering package with ProgeCAD and others.

What is missing in ProgeCAD I could do myself with python, which is the parametric choice of parts (nuts, screws, etc), and design dimentioning. Since I tend to say with Linux, I have bought a ProgeCAD license for Windows two years ago, but will only renew it AFTER ProgeCAD for Linux is launched.

[impeteperry]

Hi all AutoCAD refuges. I am a CAD user from way back. (MicroStation, GenericCAD, DesignCAD, and the worst of all AutoCAD).
Currently I am modifying AutoCAD 2006 drawings for a client. (My last AutoCAD is 14 which doesn't cut the mustard.).

I get my client to e-mail their drawings as "dxf" which my Qcad opens accurately. (very slowly of course). I do what I have to do to them, but unfortunately their AutoCAD doenn't like Qcad's dxf files (I hope Qcad corrects this is near future, a must). I have a backup computer with windows 98 2nd on it. I bought (ug) TurboCAD v12 from IMSI for $49.00 which likes my Qcad dxf and saves it to dwg which AutoCAD 2006 loves.

A note about Qcad from a long time cad user and Parametrically driven graphics programmer. It's fundamentals are about the best I've seen. Because ,at any given time, the only "icons" on the screen are the ones you can use! There are several other unique features as well. All to the good. It is programed in Qt (which I also use) so the future is unlimited.

[jkzubu]

Hey Maxddark-

There is also program called Codeweavers "Crossover" that is available that should let you run windows proprietary software (like MS office, AUTOCAD, etc.) on a Linux machine. Crossover is a Linux program and is available for a modest fee, and is based on the Wine program, which is free in Linux. Using either Wine or Crossover should allow you to run the Autocad that you already own on a Linux machine. I have been reading up on Wine and Crossover, but am yet to use either. That is all the info I have.

[pmasiar]

windows and autocad costs money.
so if I'll manage to run autocad on Linux I'll save 50% , ...
I want a FREE alternative to autocad that runs natively on Linux..

Free software has hard time to compete feature to feature with proprietary programs in narrow niches, like AutoCAD. Why? because development does cost money (or time), narrow niche restricts pool of interested users.

If most people find PythonCAD or QCad "good enough", there might be not enoug pressure to add last missing feature. PythonCAD or QCad might have some other nice features which AutoCAD is missing - my bet would be PythonCad is scriptable in very nice little language called python. AutoCAD was scriptable in Lisp years ago, not sure if it is still true.

Summary: you can bring horse to the river but you cannot make it drink. You can promote Ubuntu but you cannot force people to make change if they don't want to.

There is no free lunch. No pain, no gain. If boss of your mom's office is interested in saving money, she should be flexible what they use. If PythonCAD or QCad or any other candidates has all the features they need, they need to look into the mirror and ask: Do I want to pay X dollars for AutoCAD? Or I will accept shortime inconvenience while learning new tool, to save money in the long run? And answer might be not obvious. Will it affect customers? Business partners?

If one of the CAD candidates is 99% good, your mom's boss may consider to post bounty: we will pay you X dollars to add this feature. And then they get 100% features they need. Not for free, but boss will save money in the deal.

Changing people's habits is hard. What if office boss pays 50% of money saved from to Windows->Linux move as bonus to employees? Will they be more open to the change? Just an idea...

[emrextreme]

Here is howto;

Autocad on Ubuntu

http://doctus.net/showthread.php?t=17006

[odin1965]

Up until about release 11 or 12, Autiodesk produced a native Unix version of AutoCAD.

I have tried some of the intelliCAD based programs on Windows and was very impressed. I have not been able to get one to work on Ubuntu yet, hopefully I will when I get more time. I downloaded the BricsCAD linux trial as a RPM an converted it to DEB with alien and it installed fine. Problem is, I couldn't run it. It would not accept my authorization code for the free trial. It semmed like an issue with root on Ubuntu.

I have since had time to get this working. You simply need to copy over the .wine directory from root to your user home directory. It will then allow you to run the 30 day trial.

I must say I am very impressed with Bricscad and have since shelledout the US225 to buy it.

[Matthew Wiebelhaus]

Go to add/remove and Qcad 2 appears free i guess i installed i needed a program for a drafting class and it looks good

[Matthew Wiebelhaus]

Here is a couple HUNDRED links

http://www.tech-edv.co.at/lunix/CADlinks.html

[crouton976]

Hi all... I'm looking to makethe jump to ubuntu from windows, and one of the main things I need to be able to use is AutoCAD. I did some searching on google, and found this. I know ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING about how this guy did this, or what version of AutoCAD he's using, but it might be worth checking out. Also, if anyone knows how to get the same UI he's got, PM me... It's the sweetest UI I've EVER seen.

Check this Out..."AutoCAD / Linux / XGL" on YouTube (click here)

EDIT: I found out from reading through the comments on the video that he is using Autocad 2000 and Wine. But, I wonder if 2004-2008 would work as well. I can get by with 2004, but it'd be better to run at least 2007.