Kickin around the backyard.

Ever wonder out into your back yard, take it all in, oooh, what's that?? The to-do list suddenly comes into play. Ubuntu has an assortment of apps that are pretty good but, on closer inspection (if you care to look) not up to my fussy work habits. It's a good thing it is so easy to add or remove programs. Also there are a good assortment of other programs that just might to the job. First on my list is F-Spot photo manager. What I don't like about it is the way it could generate multiple copies of photos, folders, ablums etc. Maybe I didn't spend enough time to understand how it works but, I shouldn't have that impression in the first place. So I removed F-Spot and installed digiKam and showFoto in its place. These apps are from the KDE side and are a little more predictable in how they work. DigiKam doesn't have it's own file management system, it uses the folders and such that are already in place in the system file manager. You can attach your camera and download pics, no problem. ShowFoto has all kinds of tools to tweak and fix photos. So while you folks are still figuring out F-Spot, I'm done. Then there is the famous and highly regarded Gimp. The Gimp is wonderful but not so easy to understand. So I installed Krita and mtPaint and Xara Xtreme along side it. Krita is from the KDE side, is easy to use and does a few things that Gimp does not. MtPaint is like MS Paint but for Linux and Xara Xtreme is like Adobe Illustrator. It is time consuming to get into the depths of any application and unless you really have a need or interest in using these apps you will be a hit and run user like me. Tutorials are a big help else I'd be returning to pencil and paper. One of the big lacks in graphics on the Linux desktop is CAD. Computer Aided Drafting/Design on the Linux desktop is always under development and there is none with the reputation, market presence and user base that matches AutoCad on the MS Windows platform. Linux has a load of niche market successes in various graphics industries but has not been taken seriously as of late. This is really strange because larger engineering firms all had mainframes that ran Unix and there are a number of engineering softwares that run on Unix. The engineering workstation, once supplied by mainframe application and file servers have mutated into desktops that locally host applications in MS Windows or Linux. It is hard to believe that Unix softwares were ported to the more regarded MS platform instead of Linux, the close cousin. And like with drivers and utilities, companies that develop CAD software for the MS platform refuse to develop Linux counterparts. Money is talking here but they always say "if the user base was there". Me, I've been an electrical draftsman for years, using AutoCad and have hoped for a Linux version or the ability to run the latest in Wine and am now looking at the virtual machine. I think a memory upgrade is in order. But the biggest roadblock is the price of AutoCad, it's staggering. Then, why buy the big AutoCad package with all the bells and whistles when they are not required in electrical drafting. There are less expensive alternatives and more electrical oriented applications but, AutoCad somehow hangs on as the standard. A curious thing, in the field of printed circuit board design and IC chip design, there are some very good Linux applications that have been around for years. In engineering and in my geographical area, mechanical drafters/designers are common and electrical is kind of rare. As Cad applications go, mechanical is the focus and electrical an afterthought in the whole Cad world. New electrical engineering applications strive to consolidate the whole design work flow, elimanating the number of people required. Today an engineer can design and model, prove and test and then generate all the documentation, schematics, wiring diagrams, physical wire routing and packaging, in one or two applications, no need for a string of subordinates and staff like in the old days. The only thing that saves my job is time. Most engineers don't have time to do it all. On the other hand it is kind of cool to be able to use just a few applications to get the job done. It is a terrible thing to move files from one application to another then to another, things can happen, stuff can get mangled or lost. I am very much at the crossroads career wise, draftsman or techie or both in some mutated mind melt. I am use to wearing a number of hats, being multi focused, running more that one operating system, yet I still find it difficult to multi-task and store/recall endless info and facts on demand. I'm glad I have this here backyard to kick around in, size things up, think things over. Who knows what will be the next Linuxville adventure?

Cad on the technical desktop

In my latest round of what do you get in Linux I had to let life in the real world leak in a little. I have been for many years an Electrical draftsman and the software of choice in the profession is AutoCad. Now Autocad is only on the Microsoft Windows platform and because it is the industry standard, both Microsoft and Autodesk who makes AutoCad have a monopoly on the technical desktop. This is really apparent when you realize that most electrical cad work is 2D, wiring diagrams and schematics, and have basically have no need for things like parametric dimensioning and 3D capability. So in reality AutoCad is an extreme overkill. I think Autocad is used because of the file formats, DXF and DWG are handled so well. You could get into some 3D work involved with the physical layout and packaging of electrical parts, but for the most part, 2D is the ticket. There are some new Cad programs devised to better handle some electrical drawing tasks for a cheaper cost, but AutoCad pretty much retains a lock on the industry.
What of these other Cad programs? They handle DXF and DWG files with varying degrees of success. When you transfer drawings from one program to another, you can corrupt and or change data, which is not a good thing. So why isn't there a Linux version of AutoCad? There are two reasons. First Linux does not enjoy wide spread use in the tech industry. Then it seems that people who use Linux expect low cost or free software. Of course if a Linux version were the industry standard, you could get people to pay for it. With Linux there is always the question as to whether or not you can get a return on your investment of money, time and energy, which comes first the demand or the development? There is another reason that troubles me. It seems that people who use Linux applications do not develop or support industry user groups beyond the general purpose forums. This is a somewhat fuzzy view because people in the mechanical and architectural disciplines do share lots of information compared to the electrical which is mostly not mentioned.
The question comes up, can you really do Cad in Linux? Yes, by running a MS windows Cad application in a emulator like Wine or in a virtual machine under VirtualBox or VM. And there are a couple of Cad programs that run natively in Linux, namely Qcad and VariCad. Qcad is free and VariCad is not. There is also LinuxCad but I am not hearing good things about that one. Again, what troubles me about Qcad in particular is that everyone talks about it being easy to use but no one who uses it shares enough information about it to get a practical idea about how to use it. There are no Qcad users groups and the makers have left the users to figure it out. VariCad may suffer the same fate but I don't know. To be able to trade notes, symbol blocks, scripts and tips is what makes for an active support community. Right now I question as to if the software is even being used. There are a good number of Linux tools for printed circuit boards and electronic circuit design but simple drafting tools seems to have escaped the platform. The future of Cad on Linux seems iffy.

Now I will say a word to Linux users that may sting a little. Linux is "just" the operating system and means nothing without the applications which run on it. We users need to really around, support and promote the applications that make Linux a worthwhile platform. Perhaps the developers should consider putting among their application web pages, some promotional type pages and market their wares on other web sites. Then develop the user forms into user groups to share stuff that make use of the applications more useful. Linux could be the next great technical platform.