DraftSight no longer free

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

Well my work copy of Draftsight has finally stopped working.

I tried to open it yesterday & got the "annual registration" pop-up. When I entered the required details the pop-up closed down but the program didn't start up. I did get an e-mail, though, demanding money to get the latest version as "Draftsight is no longer free" as they put it. That isn't going to happen, as I am not inclined to get involved with "annual subscriptions" for access to software and I am lead to believe that the latest version of Draftsight will not open drawings produced on earlier versions. Can't really understand Dassault Sytems thinking with this change – seems similar to the Photobucket "alienate your established user base to make big money" scenario and where did that get them ? But it is what it is.

So today's drawing was sucessfully completed with the perpetually free basic version of Nanocad. I have been able to configure the interface to be almost exactly the same layout as I had with Draftsight & all the same typed commands worked just fine, so no noticable transition time.

I dare say that differences will come up with more usage (and I am aware of the inability to draw "tangent to tangent" lines between two circles, which is a pity) , but my 2D Cad requirements at work are pretty straightforward and there is usually more than one route to the same end.

Nigel B.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

I recently received an email from Dassault asking me to complete a survey about Draftight. I told them what I think of them!

Russell

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember32069]

[This posting has been removed]

[Jon CameronParticipant @joncameron26580]

Posted by Barrie Lever on 04/06/2020 15:24:30:

Fusion360 next !!

I haven't used fusion for a couple of months now, when will this be happening, or is this an assumption/ possible forecast?

Jon

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Posted by duncan webster on 01/10/2019 19:45:50:

I've just come across ProgeCAD Free, anyone know if it is any good?

**LINK**

Downloaded… got message 'this version will not work on this system' I am running WIN 10

???

George.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

George,

Follow Duncan's link and scroll down to operating systems requirements and it says that Vista is the latest version of Windows supported. There is a facility to run software in compatibility mode. I wonder if that would work?

John

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by mechman48 on 04/06/2020 15:44:41:

Posted by duncan webster on 01/10/2019 19:45:50:

I've just come across ProgeCAD Free, anyone know if it is any good?

**LINK**

Downloaded… got message 'this version will not work on this system' I am running WIN 10

???

George.

Operating Systems
Operating Systems	Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

George, If it downloaded try to run it in compatibility mode. You can Google this for more details

regards

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

it dates from 2008 – trying it under Wine sees it mostly install tho with a couple of failures – it does suggest that a more up to date version be loaded – it also requires an internet connection + email to register + receive an authorisation code – so up to you whether you want to risk it – I tried on my fairly safe + non-internet connected Linux running Wine 5 to see what happens if you try to recover from an error – it then seems to need access to an actual Win98 system disk.

It seems very strange to push out a 12 year old program in this way

[Perko7Participant @perko7]

I've been a satisfied AutoCad 2016 user under an educational license (therefore free) but my eligibility for the free educational license has recently changed as I am no longer involved in teaching. I don't want to fork out the $$$ for the full license, and AutoCadLT, while cheaper, may not have the functionality I am accustomed to, so I need something that will allow me to still access the collection of dwg files I have created over the years.

I like the sound of LibreCad and wonder if anyone on this forum has used it and would like to offer some comment on their experiences?

Thanks.

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

Posted by Perko7 on 28/11/2021 06:51:52:

I like the sound of LibreCad and wonder if anyone on this forum has used it and would like to offer some comment on their experiences?

Thanks.

It works quite well for basic stuff and has a recognisable interface similar to other products. The one down side is that documentation is quite limited and via Wiki. Hence it would be very difficult to pick up if you had no previous experience. I can't personally comment on its limitations as I've never used it to its limits as I tend to prefer cutting metal to drawing. Why not give it a go – it won't cost you anything and you do not have to sign up / register or any of that hassle, the rest of the ' Libre ' suite is excellent by the way if you haven't used any of them before!

Hope that helps – regards Mike

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

I like the sound of LibreCad and wonder if anyone on this forum has used it

I tried Librecad & Qcad when Draftsight stopped working, but neither would reliably open the drawings I had done previously with Draftsight.

I settled on Nanocad, which has been fine with the older drawings. It has it's quirks & won't draw lines tangent-to-tangent between two circles, but it was reasonably straight forward to configure the interface to look basically the same as I had Draftsight set, which in turn was basically the way I used to have Autocad LT set at my previous employment. The quirks have been reasonably straight forward to sort out with the built-in help function & I have managed to complete all the drawings I have needed to do on it. The keyboard commands seem to be the same as Draftsight & Autocad LT.

Nanocad has a perpetually free version, so there doesn't seem to be the risk of investing time learning something from one of the big players that is touted as "free to non-profit users" then have the rules changed later down the line. Fusion 360 is one that lost functionality from the initial offering & Dassault Systems have moved the goalposts again for EAA members, who used to have access free to the student edition of Solidworks but now have to pay (at a discounted rate admittedly) for access to a "cloud based" version – but for how long ?

Nigel B.

[Andy CarlsonParticipant @andycarlson18141]

I tried LibreCAD briefly. My reason for doing so was that I'd just stopped using DraftSight and had found that QCAD was having issues correctly drawing a fill (or hatch maybe) in a drawing that had been originally created by someone else. DraftSight had handled it ok but QCAD messed up the order of the vertices so the fill was all wrong.

LibreCad also messed up the fills on the same drawing. It was as bad or worse (I can't remember exactly) so I carried on with QCAD and redrew the affected fills.

I believe that the drawing was created originally with AutoCAD so this may have some relevance for you.

[Andy CarlsonParticipant @andycarlson18141]

Posted by Perko7 on 28/11/2021 06:51:52:

so I need something that will allow me to still access the collection of dwg files I have created over the years.

A lot of the free CAD tools handle only DXF. The ODA file converter will allow you to translate your DWG files into DXF… even after you lose access to your original tool.

https://www.opendesign.com/guestfiles/oda_file_converter

It is possible that the conversion process messed up my fills and that neither QCAD nor LibreCAD were to blame. I did not dig into the detail because it was easier to just draw the problem ones again.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Andy Carlson on 28/11/2021 12:29:02:

Posted by Perko7 on 28/11/2021 06:51:52:

so I need something that will allow me to still access the collection of dwg files I have created over the years.

A lot of the free CAD tools handle only DXF. The ODA file converter will allow you to translate your DWG files into DXF… even after you lose access to your original tool.

.

.

Please remember that there are many versions of these file-types

I think this QCAD page is relevant: **LINK**

https://qcad.org/en/documentation/features

MichaelG.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Posted by Andy Carlson on 28/11/2021 12:29:02:

Posted by Perko7 on 28/11/2021 06:51:52:

so I need something that will allow me to still access the collection of dwg files I have created over the years.

A lot of the free CAD tools handle only DXF. The ODA file converter will allow you to translate your DWG files into DXF… even after you lose access to your original tool.

I don't know if this will be helpful to you ian but from the Solid Edge Help/Support site (Importing/Exporting Files)

" dxf and .dwg format files can be opened in the Draft environment as 2D geometry. The translation options available for these files vary based on the creation methods of the originating CAD system. You can generate .dxf and .dwg files in systems other than AutoCAD.

The Draft environment will open .dxf and .dwg files created in AutoCAD version 12 through AutoCAD 2011. Solids created with Autodesk are output to .sat format as they are encountered in the AutoCAD file. " 

AutoCAD to Solid Edge Translation Wizard     Also link to Translation Wizard help

I've not needed to do this myself yet but it seems welll documented.

Regards,

 

IanT

 

Edited By IanT on 28/11/2021 23:47:35

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