Simple freeware drawing package with scale?

[Rick Hughes]

as 2D packages go I use VISIO Professional which is very easy to use, I'm sure if you did a search around you could find a free version

[Rob]

May have been mentioned - OpenOffice Draw. Set the scale in draw general prefs, and use dimension arrows.

[Chris K]

Serif DrawPlus has a free version, also Inkscape which is a GPL program. Both are vector drawing tools though not really CAD packages.

Chris K

[Mike Clarke]

Not any more. In the late eighties they purchased Computervision but shortly after that they shut down the hardware side of the business and concentrated on the CAD/CAM software side trading as Computervision who in turn were taken over by Parametric Technology Corporation.

I quite liked the old Prime machines and much preferred working with them after the previous IBM 370 mainframe. After battling with IBM JCL I found the Primos operating system much more convenient to work with and much preferred it to DEC's VMS which we used for a couple of workstations.

A worked with the Primes until the early nineties when we migrated the CAD system to unix and I've been a 'nix addict ever since.

[T i m]

Erm, I've just upgraded to 3.2.1 and can't seem to find where you mean? ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Doh, had that (DrawPlus SE) here already but didn't think to try it for that sort of 'drawing' (I imagined it was more a freehand drawing package for some reason). I've done a simple shape with it so it passes the first test (easy to use). ;-)

Hmm, seems to be getting a bit complicated ... can't seem to instantly find a straight line tool and ended up with some of those curve things left on the page (during the 60 seconds I played with it). ;-)

DrawPlus looks like it might be worth another go, thanks. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Thanks for that Rick. Without looking 'harder' I can only find the trial version (which is quite big) and think I'm sorted now anyway.

Still didn't get my 'MS Paint with a scale', everything I've tried so far seems much more capable and hence complicated (even because of all the toolbars and boxes).

Cheers, T i m

[sm_jamieson]

I used

a bit weird in places, but I did by building reg plans with it. In the end I payed for the pro version that could do cross-hatching etc, but the free version is work a try. Simon.

[T i m]

Thanks for that. The only thing that worries me is as soon as it says 'CAD' it seems likely to be an Autocad clone (not saying this is etc) and they often boast the output 'can be opened by Autocad' etc etc.

Whilst that may sound harmless enough that seems to often mean it works like Autocad to some extent (as would make sense). Like when I try to close the app it doesn't just ask me to save my work but tells me I have to quit in a certain way, like MS Paint and Serif DrawPlus (and others no doubt) don't.

When you 'just' want to draw a simple 2D scaled shape and be able to drag the shape about and without having to RTFM most of it is far too heavy (for me).

I think this gets very close (DrawPlus SE. The download site was down for maintenance when I tried earlier).

've actually had but rarely used quite a bit of the Serif software over the years and they call me now and again to try to sell me their latest and greatest for 'much reduced prices'.

" ... so this package would be £99 but to you today, £19.99 with free shipping and a free clipart CD. If you don't like it, send it back and keep the CD, ok?"

Me. No (thanks). How about this, I'll buy it for 99p to sit on the shelf or, you ship it to me free and if I like / ever use it I'll send you the £19.99. ;-)

They work on the logic that 'We see you have a PC therefore you must do Photo retouching, DTP, Art and drawing, Web Design' etc etc. Can't blame them for trying though and they are always polite and friendly.

Saying that, daughter made use of one of their offers recently. Their WebPlusX4 software (that she can actually use as it's pretty well WYSIWYG), domain name, web space and email, for a year for £29.99. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Andy Burns]

A lot of the CAD packages you find when searching for free/cheap/demo software are based on the intelliCAD framework ...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Same hear. It's why I stick with !Draw (and its variants) on the old Acorn. Despite having tried lots of cad packages.

[Andy Burns]

Back in windows 2.x and 3.x days I used to like corel draw and visio; now for diagrams I use openoffice draw or inkscape, but my diagrams don't require any scale so I don't know how well they would cope.

[Rob]

Well, if the programme is open, go File, New, Drawing.

Then I'd imagine there are general preferences for Draw, and you can set the scale in there. i use 1:100, works quite nicely.

I actually worked back from a Windows guide for OO - a google search for 'OpenOffice Draw set scale' should help. That's why I assume Draw is within the OO Windows package.

Dimension arrows is just a sub-set of 'lines and arrows'.

Or cut your losses and get a Mac :-)

Rob

[T i m]

Ok.

Nope, still can't see it but don't worry (thanks).

I just Googled on the same, found a guide followed it, nothing.

Ok.

Got one (well, several actually), I'm using it now (1.5G Solo Mini), just can't stand OSX and would rather run Linux than that (at least windows close when you click close). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Rob]

That's interesting. I understand you don't want to wade through reams of technical data. The first hit gives the official manual with about 200 words of dense text - but the answer's within. I'm used to reading that sort of stuff. The second link gives you:

a look at the first picture on that page. Does that help? I know it doesn't tell you *how* to do anything, but it does show you that it is there. I'm afraid you'll have to read the text to learn more.

I would be interested if you still can't see any reference to scale - I teach this from time to time and I've never come across this issue before - odd, because i can see you're quite a prolific computer user.

:-)

Windows close on a Mac when *I* click close. It's the little red button in the top left of the window. Can't think of a single exception offhand, except if you're trying to close a window without saving work, for example - then I get a dialogue box advising me of same. I haven't used Linux for a while and don't remember this behaviour - I consider 'uncritical' window closing to be a bit daft.

Rob

[T i m]

I'm not and it get's me very frustrated very quickly when I try. I can read an article in a magazine (technical or otherwise) and the info sorta wafts in (and I could repeat it to you days later) but I can't read novels or technical stuff.

Erm, I don't know. I did see that setup page when I looked previously but I can't seem to make the connection between what is on that page and what I (would) see in real life. That may be partly down to the fact I also couldn't easily see how to draw a simple straight line and had I done it might have displayed the length as I did so ...

Thanks again (genuinely) but anything that requires any sort of reading or configuring to do what I would see as a 'simple job' either isn't the right tool or isn't for me.

(Thanks) Quite a long term computer maintainer maybe but not so as a user as such. 53 years old and never created a spreadsheet for example (even though there might be instances when one could have actually been of use ... like turning my car fuel consumption logs into a chart of some sort. However, it was never of sufficient interest for me to bother to look into doing so).

Sorry, where were we, , spots line drawing icon at the /bottom/ of the screen , draws line and note it has dimensions. ;-)

But often / randomly leave the app running (which is what I guess I meant to say).

We all work in different ways I guess. I typically single task and full screen (currently only have Thunderbird on the taskbar). Part of that is why I haven't found a newsreader replacement for Agent on OSX or Linux (Pan get's close but has at least one dealbreaker for me). I use a tabbed format and go (fullscreen), from Groups, to headers then messages because I can only deal with one thing at a time.

Most of the OSX newsreaders were a myriad of disconnected windows displaying all sorts of trivial and (typically) non critical information. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

p.s. I was helping someone sort out a WiFi connection the other day and I must have closed what seemed like 3 weeks worth of open windows before I could get back to a safe position to re-boot the thing!

[Rob]

snip

Goodo - might be worth a go then.

Ah yes, that happens, and there doesn't seem to be any reason why some do and some don't.

Of course - I can happily have six programmes open at any one time, and very rarely run a programme full screen (27" iMac to blame - most just look silly full screen).

Choice of news reader seems to be the most discussed topic on the UK Mac group. Thunderbird works fine for me. Don't think it's Mac enough for some tho :-)

rob

[mick]

Doublecad XT - free version

's very much like AutoCAD LT. Not so many bells and whistles as the full AutoCAD. Very nice and no silly restrictions on it.

[Tim Lamb]

I have just read it and reminded myself why I stick to pencil and paper:-)

Excellent, concise instruction, though.

regards

[The Natural Philosopher]

I still use pencil and paper. Then when the idea looks right, I start to turn it into proper drawings.

THATS when CAD comes into its own.