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Here are some cad applications that works in Linux, two of them are commercial though. http://www.qcad.org/ http://varicad.com/ http://www.cycas.de/

How about QCad?

Do you know QCad II ?
QCad II will use Scripting / Plugins, " Python ".More...
And...
Other GPL CAD/CAM software SagCAD "can" use " Ruby ".

Do you know QCad II ?
QCad II will use Scripting / Plugins, " Python ".More...
And...
Other GPL CAD/CAM software SagCAD "can" use " Ruby ".

It is not native, it uses QT...

I'm not all that knowledgeable about Qt (because I'm a longtime Mac user), but the fact that on the link for the OS X package it says:

Mac OS X
v1.5.4
statically linked, no Qt required

leads me to believe that you're wrong.

Evan Evanson

I tried Dia some time ago and found it very frustating to use, with most of built in objects being too restrictive and lacking enough variety of connection points to terminate lines and arrows.

For line diagrams (e.g. for documenting 3D graphics algorithms), I've moved on to qcad, which is a 2D CAD package.

For OO design, you can try doing this backwards : prototype the interfaces and classes and run doxygen (with dot) to generate inheritance and collaboration diagrams or XML output for post-processing. This probably fits in more with an extreme programming prototype/refactor style methodology than a complete up-front design methodology.

For state diagrams, I've had some success using dot on its own.

Using doxygen and dot has the significant additional feature that the files you edit are all plain-text files, so you can use your existing source revision control system (e.g. CVS)

Even with these packages however, I usually still find a pen and paper (or a white-board or blackboard if available) the easiest and fastest option for sketching out an initial design, or during discussions of various design alternatives with colleagues.

Eg; I work for a company that writes and sells computer dispatching and records systems to cops and firemen. I see no CAD systems on sourceforge. They simply dont exist, and wont because much of the code req

Guess you haven't tried QCAD then. Or maybe it doesn't exist :-)

Cheers,
Toby Haynes

QCad is very usable 2D CAD system. I doubt it's full-featured enough for professional applications, but a good choice for the common user.

I performed a quick search on Freshmeat for you. Here's the results (filtered for stuff that's actually relevant, I think). In no particular order:

CYCAS - not sure if it's open-source, but will run on Linux and BSD and looks pretty powerful

Jcad - written in Java, this is an open-sourced CAD which works with DXF file formats. Not the most powerful of tools out there, but it's a start

iCADis - can't tell much from the site, but it might be worth a try. Uses GTK and is covered by the GPL

OCTree - looks like it has a really innovative interface. Not sure about the license though.

Varicad - for mechanical engineering. Looks good, but unsure if it's open.

QCad - seems to be one of the better ones, and it's open.

That's all I can find. You can judge yourself if you need it to be 100% open-source, if you need it to be free, and if you need it to run on a particular platform. Perhaps you might settle on a combination of these, since it doesn't look likely that you'll find something that meets all 3 conditions (assuming you were looking for it).

If you're a programmer, then by all means help out with one of the open-source projects out of the ones mentioned above. Lots of them could use things like improved rendering (speed, effects etc), and the ability to load lots of different file formats.

Of course, there is xfig http://www-epb.lbl.gov/BVSmith/xfig/ but it isn't really CAD (doesn't have dimensioning, but v3.2.3c has layers). You can do exact drawings, but the lack of dimensioning makes it a little bit tiresome. Advantages: it runs on many Unices and doesn't require Qt, good user-interface.

For 2D CAD I can recommend Qcad http://www.qcad.org, it runs under linux (requires Qt 2.x), of course you can always try to compile it for other platforms. Advantages: supports DXF (Autocad), has dimensioning, multiple undo, advanced snapping functions. Disadvantages: slow user interface (too much clicking required). Qcad has also a non-free brother "CAM Expert".

The only thing that comes close to being useful for, say, laying out your new bathroom on Linux/BSD is qcad. It suffers from a flakey DXF import/export facility, and as such would greatly benefit from the OpenDWG stuff.

Try LinuxCAD . At $99.00 it's quite competitive with AutoCAD for Windows.

If you only do 2d work you can get off even cheaper with QCAD

QCad