Bricscad (Linux) Beta 10.4.4

Hello All,

Bricscad (Linux) beta 10.4.4 is now available.

Bricscad for Linux moved from alpha to beta stage. From now on it is possible to file support requests. Bear in mind that we cannot guarantee a quick response in this early stage.

Please check our website for updates and inspect the Release notes. During the beta stage of Bricscad for Linux, the Release notes will contain an updated list of known issues.

fixes:

- Printing is now available.
- Improved error handling for OLE objects, which are not supported on linux. An error message will now be displayed instead of silent undefined behavior.
- Improved installer: The target architecture of .deb installer is now set to "all" so it can be run on a 64bit system as well. The executable permission of bricscad and bricscad.sh is corrected in the .tgz download. The argument passing in bricscad.sh has been modified.
- The default application menu was made slightly different on linux: it contains no VBA items, no Tablet items, no OLE items.
- The 'Help' command now opens the online help url in an external browser.
- Enabled splash screen.
- Fixed recent file list.
- Fixed an issue with the toolbar and menu customization menu. This menu should appear when right clicking on a toolbar or on the application menu. However, it appeared when right clicking nearly anywhere.


known issues:

- A new pc3 file cannot be generated yet. As a result, the target Printer/Plotter Configuration "None (uses default)" cannot be used.
- When starting Bricscad from terminal, this error message may appear: "Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_drawable_get_depth: assertion `GDK_IS_DRAWABLE (drawable)' failed".
- Fonts are not yet added to the installation.
- Toolbars cannot always be properly moved or docked. The application may crash when a toolbar is undocked/docked. A toolbar may become hidden behind the main application screen.
- The background color of icons is wrong in the layer dropdown and in the drawing explorer: the icon background is grey or black instead of transparent.
- Icons of flyout toolbars are not entirely visible.
- In the settings dialog, previews are not visible and the layout of the description is incorrect until the settings dialog is resized.
- When changing the background color of the main graphics window, the background is not refreshed immediately and the foreground color may not be adjusted to differ from the background color.
- Scrollbars cannot be displayed in the main graphics window yet. When enabling scrollbars, the application can crash.
- In some cases the numpad enter key is not processed correctly. In that case, the character "Ų" may appear. This happens for instance, but not exclusively, during the TEXT command.
- The COPYCLIP window and the Bricscad Prompt History window appear as a separate application in the application bar.


To receive notification for subsequent versions, you can subscribe to the Bricscad for Linux RSS feed.
It is also possible to access the Bricscad for Linux RSS feed as html page.

Greetings
Tijs

«1

Comments

  • Looks like I'm first to reply yet again!

    Since the previous .deb didn't work for me, I hadn't tried the previous version. This one installed perfectly on Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit. Location is /opt/bricsys: good! Symlinks copied in /usr/bin, but where is the launcher? You should think of adding one to the Apps/Graphics menu so it is easy to launch.

    At least there is no more need to create a script file: a launcher pointing to /usr/bin/bricscad works fine. There's just the matter of locating a Bricscad icon. I had found mine in a previous install of the Windows version of Briscad in wine, under the path ~/.wine/dosdevices/c:/Program Files/Bricsys/Bricscad V10/Bricscad.ico. For those who don't have a wine install, the icon can be found by an internet search.

    Some remaining issues that are not on the list:

    • At first launch, the Views toolbar loads to the left of the Standard toolbar. (need to swap them manually, good thing is the settings are kept afterwards)
    • No file preview in the Open file dialog. This is an important functionality! Preview is available in a few graphics apps like Gimp and Inkscape, so I'm assuming it's possible.
    • Sometimes need to click in the CLI area to input keyboard commands
    • Mouse pointer is shown over the crosshairs
    • SHADEMODE Flat & Gouraud commands are swapped (choosing Gouraud renders as Flat, and the other way around)

    BTW the program loads so quickly that the splash screen flashes for about one second over the application window. Real-time sphere tool or CTRL+LMB drag is pretty fast on a 6MB dwg file containing a 3D model. Will a Pro Linux version with ACIS modeling be available? That would be nice.

  • I tried the printing / page setup functions.  Maybe I'm missing something - so if someone has had better success, let me know where I've missed it.

    1.  I am not able to save a page setup for a paperspace tab.  I do setup and it then reverts to defaults.

    2.  I'm not able to get my cbt plot style to appear in either preview or plot.

    3.  The paper size will hold for a print preview, but not for a plot.

    Separately I have a few general questions:

    1.  I don't know all of what's involved in establishing update repositories.  But I'm wondering if updates through the APT package manager, or other similar utility, are in the  long term plan.  I'm a 1 year ubuntu newb, so I dont know what equivalent utilties with other distros would be.

    2.  Where do I find the Release Notes that Tijs wrote about?

    3.  Does anyone else have the problem with using the <space> bar in place of <enter> crashing the program frequently?

    4.  In general it would be handy to have keyboard input be focus even when the curser is out over the drawing.

    The package continues to be very fast.  The product is great and I'm greatly encouraged.  I continue to look forward to the day I don't have to boot into that other OS to use that other CAD package to finalize output.

    brad

  • ouh first bet congradulate you :)

    looks like bricscad become more stable, and finally I can print from bricscad.

    I am set to my page print style "monochrome" and looks like it was ignored. both in preview and on the paper.

    mtext is working :) and it closed by ctrl+<enter> (this is very handy)

    but I have not see anything selected, it becomes all black. does not matter is it text,  line circle etc.

    it can be rely to my graphic card that does not have full support. ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 

     

    01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RC410 [Radeon Xpress 200M]

    many people have a problems with this chip - RC410

     

     

  • Hi.

     

    It's great!

     

    A4 printing good, but a3 printing works like a4.

  • Great :-)

     

    Few stuffs missing :

    1) ACIS editing, commands are there but do nothing. BTW, the slice command asks for 3 points and reads just 2.

    2) Plotting of shaded/hidden views

    3) A Lisp IDE would be great, at least an embedded editor, if the complete IDE is difficult :-)

    4) An image export. That's a must sometimes.... even just an hidden/shaded image, if render is still not implemented

    5) C++ Api.... ADS isn't enough :-(  Is it planned ? Don't need MFC compatibility, but DO need access to all entity data.

    6) Toolbars seems a bit space-consuming.... Space around icons seems too big.

    7) Keyboard focus should stay to command line, now you must click on it with mouse to enter text.

    8) A cross on drawing tab to close it would be nice too (now you must issue file-close)

    9) Still some crashes on big files

     

    The app works great and it's fast even with big 3d drawings.

    Is there a betatest program for the full version ? I could buy it now if needed.

     

    Ciao

     

    Max

     

  • For the 1st time i can open files without having to open the program, but i've a interesting thing, certainly a Bug...

    I noticed this after getting a drawing by email in evolution, and i opened it by clicking on attachement, and voila.... i got the bricscad window without crash and a windows saying that it is read-only, clicked yes, and drawing opened...

    So far so good, then i got into file manager and tried to open a file by double click, and as usual i got a crash....

    Wierd.... So i made that file read-only, and voila.... file opened ok...

    Then i went to command line and opened that file without read-only and got a segmentation fault...

    Hope you fix this soon...

  • a minor issue: in Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid) using default Radiance Theme, the icons on the toolbars get cut and do not display well.

  • I found out Bricscad doesn't play nice with Compiz, the OpenGL window & compositing manager. Resizing Bricscad's window shuts off the desktop effects. Since I use 4 workspaces, when that happens, all the opened windows pile up on the first workspace. It's annoying, and it's surely a bug, but I'm not sure it's Bricscad's code that's at fault. Compiz has traditionally been causing problems with 3D apps...

    @ Bradley Hake re: your questions

    1. Apt package manager: Canonical plans to offer commercial software in the software center. It would be great for Bricsys to get in there. As for updates, the repositories don't allow versions upgrades. I mean Karmic 9.10 has Firefox 3.5, you get security fixes but you can't install FF 3.6 through normal means. A PPA might be a possibility...
    2. The link to the Release Notes page is in the download window. Here it is: https://www.bricsys.com/common/releasenotes.jsp?p=B4L&l=en_US

     

  • @Normand

    Thanks for the data.  On the repository front I was wondering if they would be establishing a non-canonical repository architecture, similar to what is done by Wine.  It seems like that would simplify the update and notification process for both Bricsys and the users.  They don't have to notify anyone regarding updates, they could simply update the repository, and user updates are simply included with a daily update check through the update manager.

  • @ Bradley

    Exactly, that's what I meant by PPA. It stands for "Personal Package Archive". It would be a really simple way for Bricsys to add automatic updates into Bricscad without adding any coding into the UI: the user would just have to add Bricsys' PPA to his software sources, and the Ubuntu update manager would take care of the rest.

    It would give the Linux version an edge over the Windows version, since such a thing is not possible on Windows without programming it into the software's UI.

  • I'll take your word on the respository vs PPA comparison. (back to my 1 year newb comment)  All I know is that the updates process, both for canonical maintained stuff and even more for my non-canonical packages like wine, virtualbox, medibuntu, etc.  is really nice and clean.  It also seems like the process focuses down on modules that have been updated so there wouldn't have to be a complete reinstall with every update. (saves me download bandwidth - which probably shows up on the server side as well)

    Any clear advantage over that other system would be good to take. 

  • Hi all, it's GREAT to finally have a native dwg cad on Linux!! It works very well, I hope for an Italian translation for final relase...

    Some issues:

    On the toolbars flyout commands (ie Line, Polyline, Polygon, Zoom), icons aren't displayed well and the last one command is always not present!!

    On the open file window, you can visualize only .dwg files, if you have .DWG files (capital letters), they aren't displayed unless you choose "All files (*.*)". Same thing with other extensions (.dxf .dwt)

     

    @Normand Chamberland: I use Compiz on Ubuntu Lucid and Bricscad works perfectly...

  • @Pavel Chuykoan 

    I have an A3 size print on my epson stylus 1160

  • Excellent work Tijs.

    I have been trying each alpha/beta as it has become available but I haven't posted my thanks before.

    I found that the .deb package was unusable on Ubuntu Karmic Koala but works well after I updated my test PC to Lucid Lynx. It looked more like a graphics driver issue than a programming problem though.

    Running the tgz version from a folder in my home directory (on a Debian Squeeze PC) works well.

    I haven't been able to open a file from a network share on my Samba server. Looks like Ill have to mount it using NFS :(

  • @Andrey Didencool

    Hm. I printed on Kyocera km-1635 and on HP DeskJet 1220c. These printers gave me a4 format image on a3 page.

  • Hi, I'm following this forum, but it's the first time I post. The reason is, I cannot try the latest (first?) beta release of Bricscad 10.4.4 in Ubuntu Karmic. Kernel is

    Linux pc1 2.6.31-20-generic #58-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 12 05:23:09 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

    As can be seen, it's x86, so I think it runs pretty natively (I mean, no emulations in the middle). The fact is, when I run `bricscad', it shows the information dialog about the expiry time and after accepting it, the program window never finishes to get drawn. It seems to be unmaximized, with most parts grayed, and the X server turns to use almost 100% of CPU. Killing the bricscad process doesn't do anything (the X server keeps consuming over 97% of CPU), and killing X server ends with a frozen computer (no network activity either). Glxgears and compiz work both great (fairly good fps also). It has an ATI 9200. CPU is a Intel Celeron 2.66 GHz.

    Running bricscad from shell (to be completely sure I ran it from another computer, through ssh and exporting the DISPLAY variable) only shows the

    Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_drawable_get_depth: assertion `GDK_IS_DRAWABLE 
    (drawable)' failed".

    error, which was mentioned before in this topic.

     

    I would appreciate any ideas. Thank You for this great effort!

    Paul.

     

  • Hi, congratulations on the new version of Bricscad.

    I started checking my Lisp.
    I found an obstacle with the windows "DCL"
    When I try to open a window "DCL" gives me this error
    ""
    can't open file '/opt/bricsys/bricscad/v10/ERROR.LOG' (error 13: Permission denied)
    ""

    This is my DCL file:

    miaprovadcl : dialog {

            label = "Prova"; 

     
                : edit_box {      

                    label = "mis 1";

                    key = "m1";

            edit_width = 10;

                   }

                : edit_box {      

                    label = "mis 2";

                    key = "m2";

            edit_width = 10;

                   }

     
                   

    //                         Pulsanti OK Annulla                               \\     

     
    : row {          // definisce la riga di pulsanti OK/Annulla

            : spacer { width = 1; }

            : button {    // definisce il pulsante OK

                label = "OK";

                key = "accept";

                width = 3;

                fixed_width = true;

                     }

            : button {    // definisce il pulsante Annulla

                label = "Annulla";

                is_cancel = true;

                key = "cancel";

                width = 3;

                fixed_width = true;

                     }

            : spacer { width = 1;}

     
          }

     
    }

    This is my file LISP

    ( defun miaprova ()

     
    (setq dcl_id  (load_dialog "/home/franco/miaprova.dcl"))

    (if (not  (new_dialog "miaprovadcl" dcl_id))(ex))

      

    (set_tile "m1" (itoa (fix 100)))

    (set_tile "m2" (itoa (fix 100)))

    (action_tile "cancel" "(done_dialog)")            

                

    (mode_tile "accept" 2)

      

    (action_tile "accept"

     (strcat

       "(progn (setq m1 (atof (get_tile \"m1\")))"

       "(setq m2 (atof (get_tile \"m2\")))"

       "(done_dialog))" ; CHIUDE LA FINESTRA

     ) 



     
    (start_dialog) 

    (unload_dialog dcl_id) 

     
    )


    Excuse my English translation.
    I hope to overcome this obstacle, thanks to all

     

  • Good morning
    I tried to create the file on_start.lsp to /home/franco/Bricsys/Bricscad/V10/en_US/support.
    But with the presence of this file Bricscad does not start, even if the file is empty.
    Thanks

  • Dear Franco,
    I can reproduce the problem ... and will investigate and fix.
    As I accidentially found, adding a
    (alert "Done")
    at the end of the 'on_start.lsp' file solves the crash ... at least, a temporary
    workaround.

    Many thanks for your help !

  • I got segfault error on move toolbar over another one (I draged toolbar not by handler, but by toolbar window caption):

    (bricscad:2330): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_drawable_get_depth: assertion `GDK_IS_DRAWABLE (drawable)' failed
    The program 'bricscad' received an X Window System error.
    This probably reflects a bug in the program.
    The error was 'BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)'.
      (Details: serial 448656 error_code 3 request_code 18 minor_code 0)
      (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
       that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
       To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
       option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
       backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)
    Segmentation fault

  • Hello!

    I installed the beta on Fedora 12 x86_64. The first impression - it is nice and responsive with big files. But then some notes...

    64 bit build would be very appreciated.

    Please make distribution more friendly to SELinux. Almost any dynamic library produced an error like that "SELinux is preventing /opt/bricsys/bricscad/v10/bricscad from loading
    /opt/bricsys/bricscad/v10/liblispex.so which requires text relocation."

    Always when I double click on a block to edit its attributes the application crashes with segmentation fault. While in properties bar attributes can be edited fine.

  • Some unicode characters are substituded with others on display, for example ö becomes ^, ² becomes ≤ (or ? with txt.shx).

  • Some problems with dimension lines.

    Open Bricscad, draw a linear dimension and place anywhere, select it, click on one node to move the dimension line, move the dimension line and click again to place it. Then Bricscad pause for four or five seconds. Pauses if click and zoom, or if chage the dimstyle.

  • -draw a rectangle

    -select it

    -pick on of the grips and drag

    -press the spacebar

     

    It should flip through the menus - sometimes it does, usually the program crashes with a segmentation fault (not sure if thats just me or what...)

  • BricsCAD beta notes

      - Running Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit on AMD. Installed with the .tgz file.
        Using Nvidia 185 driver with on-board GeForce 8300 video. The driver is set
        for performance rather than appearance. I am generally impressed with the
        performance of the program. I was able to produce a good drawing in very little
        time.
     
      Three inconveniences, two of which have been previously noted in this thread :
      - Command line focus frequently lost.
      - <Enter> key at far right not useable.
      - Prompt history doesn't toggle with F2.
     
      Some questions.
     
      - Lisp function grvecs is apparently not working. I can use grdraw, which does work,
        but requires some rewriting that I would rather avoid. Is grvecs fixable?
     
      - On_start.lsp loads with unnamed (first) but not with subsequent opened dwgs
        though the command line displays some data that suggests the lisp files did load.
        However, no lisp commands are recognized until I manually load with Load Applications
        under the Tools menu. In previous alpha versions this worked for me.
        The file is in the support path. I have tried several locations.
        The check box is checked to load for every drawing. Is there some standard location?
        Is there some particular format required for the on_start.lsp?
     
      - Can the function keys be (re)defined? They don't seem to appear in the keyboard
        settings list.
     
      - Apparently, Mark and Undo don't work within a lisp program. I have not spent time
        investigating this. Maybe it's a syntax issue. All my lisps were written for
        Intellicad 4 Standard. I have noticed quite a few syntax details that must be fixed
        to run in BricsCAD. I have noticed that many of my old lisps need rewriting anyway,
        so I don't much mind the work.
       
        My compliments to the programmers. I'm looking forward to the released version when
        I can declare my independence from MS and Windows, at least on my own machine.
        Thanks.

  • Hi, Randy,
    many thanks for feedback ... and at least, some answers.

    - command line focus lost : yes, same problem as under Windows
    - F2 works when cursor is inside drawing window (not working when focus is in command line)

    - (grvecs) : seems to be a Linux graphics problem ... should be fixed here
    - On_start.lsp : did you verify ACADLSPASDOC=1 ? Ah, yes, just read ...
       I will check the problem ...
    - Undo from inside Lisp programs : yes, as we also found, there is a minor logical problem;
      just under fixing.

    Many greetings, Torsten

    • (grvecs):  this usually works for some invocations, and then just stops producing visible output - I couldn't figure out yet what triggers the change
    • Undo: Undo grouping inside LISP is functional, but a (command "_U") after (command "_.UNDO" "_E") doesn't undo the group; instead you have to use Undo with an exact number of steps (in my case (command "_Undo" "6")) to do the job, which may require a bit of try and error - problem is that this will probably break once the behavior gets fixed...
    • international characters in dcl files still give an error, even if they are commented out

    Probably stupid question: what happens to the .mnl file when you load a partial menu? Should it still get loaded with the .cui file (apparently it doesn't), or is there another mechanism to load the LISP associated with a menu?

  • @Randy

    I have tried the startup Lisp file load with "on_start.lsp", ACADLSPASDOC=1 setting :
    here, it loads fine with every new or opened drawing ...
    BUT : there has been a strange effect detected which could cause a crash in Bcad
    GS (graphics system) module, depending what the Lisp file makes - and only during
    startup/opening ...
    I found a workaround that issue : add (alert "***") at beginning of the "on_start.lsp"
    file ... I know, no solution, only workaround to verify ...
    This could explain that some part of your "on_start.lsp" seems to be loaded ...

    @Knut
    Yes, the Undo problem with Lisp is exactly as you described - and it is the same under
    Windows ... it is currently under fixing.
    MNL files : yes, those mnl files should be loaded together with full/partial menus ...
    you might also try to add (alert "***") in beginning of the mnl file ... maybe, loading
    of mnl file is also interrupted by same issue as above;
    beside this, please check filename upper/lower case - might be relevant.
    I will also check *.mnl file loading ...

  • Can someone please reply and tell me if they are having the same "segmentation fault" as i listed several posts above?

  • Daniel,

      When I follow your example, it works for me, that is, it cycles through the options. No crash, no fault.

     

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