Re: gEDA-user: Open Source mechanical CAD on the horizon

[Dave N6NZ <n6nz@xxxxxxxx>]

On Feb 25, 2010, at 5:05 AM, Ales Hvezda wrote:

> 
> [snip]
>> If you are looking for 2D CAD, then go with QCad.  I've done a lot with that. 
>> It is very mature and very solid.  I use it for all my 2D CAD designs, and I'
>> ve used their .dxf I/O library in a CAM program for one of my tools. 
> 
> 	Unfortunately the current version of QCad is not free software
> and their "community edition" is a really old release which hasn't been
> updated in years (and is missing basic things like "send to back/front").
It is true that it is old.  But it is robust.  I'm not sure what "send to back/front" means in the context of a dxf file editor -- I've used QCad extensively and haven't missed that functionality, it has arbitrary layers.

> And their is virtually no development community around the community
> edition.
That is certainly true, and unfortunate.  The dxf I/O library is LGPL'd and is sound.  It certainly takes a lot of the hassle out of dealing with dxf files.

If you know of a better alternative to QCad for 2D dxf editing, I'd like to hear about it.

In any case, I think the free software community is in much greater need of a good 3d parametric modeler.  I'd much rather see someone go help FreeCAD than spend their time polishing nits in QCad.

-dave

>  I really doubt they will ever update their community edition
> as long as people are purchasing the commercial version.
> 
> 



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