Does anybody here use Bricscad on Linux for doing real work?

Steve Cole

 I am going to buy new cad software soon so I have been evaluating many different packages for a few weeks and Bricscad is the only one that I have got absolutely nowhere with when I try and produce proper engineering drawings from a 3d model. Is the Windows version any more functional than the Linux version? 

Knut Hohenberg

Good question, sometimes wondering about that, too...

I am using bricscad for linux as my main professional tool for almost two years now, but for me as an architect, it is the 2d part that counts most, and my 3d needs might well be different from what an engineer expects.

I have removed access restrictions from some drawings on my website that venture a bit into the mechanical domain, so you might see for yourself :
http://khad.eu/node/37
http://khad.eu/node/38
http://khad.eu/node/40

I am also holding a rhino license, which I use from time to time, when I need to work on (free form) geometry that bricscad can't handle, or to convert from 3d formats that bricscad doesn't read. Rhino has served me very well for quite a while and a variety of uses, and my reasons for switching to bricscad were mostly of personal kind:
- the possibility to ditch ms windows in favor of linux
- a somewhat nostalgic love for lisp (I used AutoCAD for many years a long time ago)

On top of that, I found the ACIS modeler more appropriate for most geometry that you commonly encounter in the AEC field than McNeel's NURBS based kernel, and using dwg as native format somewhat facilitates collaboration.

In the past, I also purchased licenses for varicad on linux (which I liked, but found not flexible enough) and Alibre on windows (bought bundled with rhino, but never used - just made me realize that mcad is quite different from AEC).

As to the differences between the windows and the linux versions:
bricscad on windows has a much wider user base and is definitely more mature and feature complete, so it needs a bit of enthusiasm or some good reason to go for the linux version. This is already true for the classic version, but increasingly so for the professional (which I use) or platinum versions.
However, as to the deriving of 2d drawings from 3d models, there is no big difference that I know of - hide/shadeplot of mviews is probaly working on windows, but should also work on linux soon - anyway (as can bee seen in the drawings linked above), I prefer creating 2d-projections in model space, so I'm not waiting for this.

Andrey Gavrilov

I am using bricscad for linux (V10, then V11 and I plan to upgrade to V13). I make drawings for CCTV, fire alarm and access control projects.

Steve Cole

Thanks for the replies and links, It does give me some hope. 

I haven't used Windows for many years now, but a company I work for as a freelance engineer want me to produce a series of drawings for a future project and I would like to stay with Linux if possible. Their in house software is SolidWorks which I have tried, and if a version was available for Linux I would happily pay for that. 

I have a similar feeling about Varicad, it is a very nice program but limited in what it can do.

John Hersey

 I do all my architectural drawings with Bricscad and think it's great. I have no issues at all with sending drawings back and forth to engineers who use AutoCAD although I did have a little problem in the past with Microsoft core fonts. I stopped using them and don't know if that problem's been fixed or not. I don't do any 3d so don't know how good (or not) Bricscad is at it.

Peter Kells

We do mainly 2D drafting in our small office and it is all performed on Linux Bricscad .

Brian Marr

Certainly. We have generated several hundred 2d civil drawings on this elevated roadway project. System is Fedora 17 Virtualbox VM with the XFCE Desktop. Linux host is Mandriva 2011. It has been very stable and fast for this 2d work.
I found Varicad to be a good tool for 3d mechanical drafting. Autocad by comparison seemed hopeless and convoluted when it comes to generating 3d drawings. For many years it was downplayed as they pushed Mechanical Desktop and then Inventor. In recent years this has changed, but in the meantime many of us went on to other programs that we could use for 3d. I will continue to watch Bricscad for 3d drafting but it will have to be superior to Autocad and include features of Inventor for me to consider using it.
To promote Bricscad on the Linux Platform I would
* Liberalize the Licensing - get more users trying the program.
* Introduce a release candidate, while supporting a stable version.
* Drop version compatibility with Windows. We know they are not the same.
* Drop the price relativity with windows. We are not the same.
* Release the preferred 64bit version for Linux. This is native to Linux these days. Forget Windows 64bit for the time being. Push Linux.
* Show some courage and vision by creating a Solutions Portal for Linux.

Despite many choices for Cad Software, Windows users still want Bricscad to spend all of their development time and effort creating features for their platform. This will go on indefinitely. It becomes a vicious cycle which only encourages a singular platform for all cad work.

Steve Cole

 I can understand the slow pace of development for software to run on Linux because development is expensive and there is a very uncertain market for the software when it is offered for sale, so I think Bricsys are to be congratulated for making the effort that they have done so far. But maybe the documentation could be improved a bit so that when people like myself come here ready to buy software, we are given a more realistic idea of the shortcomings of the product and are not left to find out the hard way.