[Tfug] CAD software that is friendly to Linux

[Bexley Hall]

--- Anthony Hess <runenfool at gmail.com> wrote:

> Raytheon has a few thousand engineers .. the UA
> graduates a ton of
> engineers ... thats perhaps what Walkup is calling
> "heavy" (his
> background as a hughes exec probably influences that
> view as well).

This is true of most big "college towns/areas".
The 128 beltway had lots of military-related
employers/jobs.  *But*, it had an even *greater*
number of non-military employers *and* jobs (in
high tech).  That seems missing, here.

> If you want to move a company to this town that
> needs engineers we
> have them - although typically they are coming out
> of college or they
> are baby boomers with less than 10-15 years till
> retirement.
> Definitely a big gap in the middle (this exists
> everywhere, but its
> worse here because we don't have much besides
> Raytheon when it comes
> to big companies - we lose the talent to other
> places).  I guess we
> could blame our leadership - they just don't seem to
> be focused on
> luring some of the big southern California companies
> here that would
> love the lower cost of living (they can pay less). 
> Instead we get
> fairly low tech service jobs.  Who knows - maybe
> once Tucson got that
> reputation it was just too hard to change?
> 
> Anyway - CAD on Linux.  Pro/E?  I haven't used it in
> a few years, but
> I really enjoyed it once I got to learn it (this was
> back before it
> was so menu driven).  A couple people use that ....
> no its not open
> source and its nowhere near cheap but I don't think
> that was the
> original question.  Good luck getting schools to
> teach something other
> than AutoCAD though - education has to a large
> degree morphed into
> vocational training at the UA and Pima as well as
> the high schools.
> "Windows is what they will use at work" ...
> 
> Its funny though, because knowledge gained in one
> CAD program is
> typically highly transferable.  I first learned

Well, "sort of".  I think if you are talking about
the "high end" CAD tools, that is true.  But, if,
for instance, you try comparing some "toy" CAD
software with something like ACAD, SolidWorks,
etc. there's a big gap to span.  For example, any
2D tool just misses a whole boatload of issues that
3D tools address -- and, the skills (and mindset)
required to use them.  E.g., it is *much* harder
dealing with 3D models than it is with a nice
*flat* 2D drawing.  Just the skills required to
*visualize* what you are drawing/building are
a step above, etc.

For example, I can drive a car as bad as the next
guy.  :>  But, I wouldn't even *try* to fly a
fighter plane!  I could probably keep a small
aircraft airborn without any real problem but
the reaction times for a fighter thinking in
3-space are just beyond me!

> drafting on paper
> before the UA moved to Microstation (I think they
> use AutoCAD now in
> the Civil Engineering department).  Later on I used
> AutoCAD,
> Solidworks, and Pro/E and didn't have much trouble
> moving between the
> three (learning on paper helped me with
> understanding how you draw the
> lines in the first place).

This *is* an advantage.  Many people don't know how
to "build" a drawing.  And, when it comes to things
like manufacturability and making sure you're
correctly specifying tolerances (so errors don't
accumulate, etc.) is something that you really
can't pick up "from a book".


       
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