I have been tasked to design a network for my church and right now the only diagrams that exist is hand drawn so I'd like to computerize the layout. I'd like to do it not only for presentation of where I'd like to place network ports but eventually electrical & telephone lines.
So I need something fairly simple to use for a person who has never used a cad program, but with reasonable accuracy. Also, free and/or cheap.
I found Archimedes on SourceForge, but I don't know of its capabilities or how well it works.
qcad should be ok for you, but I'm not sure about the windows version - it may only be a demo (can't check at the moment as I have no web access here). The community version works very well under linux, anyway! It is also cheap. :-)
This is AutoCAD compatible but VERY basic in functions. That may be an advantage at first. Will there be a need to modify the drawing? If not, it might be better to draw it on a drawing board that has at least a T-square, and use disposable drafting pens. CAD drafting involves a steep (or long) learning curve, and the 'unlearning' of some techniques of pen-and-ink drafting. Some people pick it up very quickly, but it took me about five years to be faster with CAD. If a9cad doesn't drive you up the wall then the next step might be to track down a free version of IntelliCAD.There's at least one currently available that's not time-limited, but some earlier versions (eg Cadopia) were robust enough.
Thanks Mick. I'll take a look at qcad. Your suggestion helps filter out the hundreds of links from a google search. It's price is reasonable enough for me to consider.
Hi Troppo... Thanks for your suggestion of a9cad. Also thanks for your comment on qcad. It'll give me a couple of options to look at. Now I don't have to look at all the hundreds of links from the google search.
I don't know about the earlier ones. The current "community edition" for linux seems to be pretty reasonable though. That was the key thing for me - it had to run on linux! It's DXF format isn't fully standard (but, to be fair, they do warn you of that). I think I might pay for it to get the polylines & scripting...
Amen! Been there, done that... Drawing boards can be pretty quick for original designs, but CAD wins as soon as you start to make any number of changes.
I tried a9cad a while ago. It seems to be pretty good and can handle the dwg file format too. Watch out for paper space though - it only seemed to get the first view for me. It's much closer to LT than qcad IMHO.
I used to have an IntelliCAD too, but it was pretty early. I've not seen a free version for a while.
That's what I was after, but gave up because I couldn't get the scanner to work. Also no room left for a dedicated Linux box. At least I've fixed up XP so it doesn't phone home any more :-)
I'll keep an eye on qcad - every so often someone comes along who wants to learn CAD but needs to defer the risk of forking out big $$$.
Confession to make here - I don't use Paperspace :-O Learned on ACAD 2.6 to 10 and - it seems - haven't progressed much. The V.10 version I acquired in PNG (before they signed the International Convention on Copyright). Apparently it was the non-dongle version from the Pentagon via Kuala Lumpur ... Have ACAD 2K from that software emporium in Kowloon. Licensed and dodgy versions on the same shelf. Asian logic - buy the dodgy version first, if you end up with substantial work value hanging on it, then it is wise to buy the genuine version...
I have the non time-limited 2K version (which still works) and actually bought the corresponding Pro version. The only free version now seems to be ProgeCAD, but it would be a pain to use - huge adverts, and importing blocks doesn't work.
I know this thread is old, but I've used IntelliCAD for years, and there is a free version of that available from ProgeCAD. IntelliCAD is a consortium, and so it's available from a bunch of different companies that compile more or less the same source code.
When Activision dropped out of the consortium I switched to the CMS version, which seemed to be cheapest ($70 I think), and switching vendors means you pay full price and not an upgrade price, but the free version from ProgeCAD seems to do most stuff, and isn't time limited.
These versions are for M$ Windows. I don't know if you can get it for any other OS.
Hi All, Don't re-invent the wheel'. Reduce your total time up to 90%! This site is an incredible place to get architectural and civil engineering drawings, and kind of online drawing and design shop, and some other good stuff.
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