Installation - Guidance For Linux Novices

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centec2b
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Installation - Guidance For Linux Novices

Post by centec2b » Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:20 am

I have been singularly impressed with Qcad and but find the "vagueness" on installation in Linux puzzling.

I spent most of last night trawling round the web/forum/site looking for guidance. Perhaps I looked in the wrong place but I did give this forum's search facility a lot of work!

I have been able to successfully install in my home folder but it would appear the preference is for folder /opt. This is in turn requires superuser powers etc, which is an area I am very vague on except that there seems to be stern messages in Ubuntu about being very careful when invoking superuser powers.

Could I suggest a specific guide to this subject would be very useful for linux novices like me.

Perhaps I ought to finish by saying this is not a complaint, just a suggestion to make qcad even better

Cheers
centec2b

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andrew
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Post by andrew » Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:11 pm

Disclaimer: do not read this if you have strong views about Linux.

The main reason why it is not possible to document the installation under Linux in a user friendly, detailed way is the vast variety of Linux distributions, Linux distribution versions, windows managers, GUI tools and over zealous personal preferences there are.

The most basic installation of QCAD consists of one step: extracting the downloaded file.

Running QCAD consists of two steps: changing into the directory where QCAD was installed and running the QCAD application from there.

I am aware that the installation of QCAD under Linux is not as user friendly as for example under Windows but we tried to keep it as simple as possible for the user while not creating a huge effort on our side (e.g. by creating tons of RPMs for each single distribution flavor there is).

In command line lingo installing and running QCAD works like this:

Installation:

Code: Select all

cp /your/download/directory/qcad-2.2.2.0-1-prof.linux.x86.tar.gz /your/installation/directory
cd /your/installation/directory
tar xfvz qcad-2.2.2.0-1-prof.linux.x86.tar.gz
Running QCAD:

Code: Select all

cd /your/installation/directory
cd qcad-2.2.2.0-1-prof.linux
./qcad
"/your/download/directory" is the directory where your browser has downloaded the file.
"/your/installation/directory" is the directory where you want to install QCAD.

Where things should be installed under Linux is yet another religious war in which I will not participate. /opt or /something is probably appropriate if multiple users are using the Linux installation and need to run QCAD. /home/yourname/something is probably more appropriate if you are the only user on the system or only you need to run QCAD.

QCAD is unproblematic to install (and uninstall) since it does not spread its files all over the directory tree like most Linux applications / distributions do. Most Linux users find that bad practice, but in the last 10 years we have found that this solves a lot of installation related problems.

Of course you can also install QCAD with GUI tools, but again there are so many differences between Linux distributions and tools that it makes little sense to describe only one such process.

Note that I have been using Linux almost exclusively for more than 12 years and I do love it in many ways. However, the Linux world is very versatile (read 'a big mess') and after all that time even I am not always comfortable with this.
Last edited by andrew on Mon May 02, 2011 4:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

centec2b
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Post by centec2b » Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:35 pm

andrew wrote:Disclaimer: do not read this if your have religious views about Linux..........
Andrew - thank you - this is a brill resume of installation under Linux and will be of great help to other Linux novices.

PS read header and footer - break out into wry smile - think yes but its still a broad church and its getting more lay converts like me every day...

Thanks again!

centec2b

topaco
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Re: Installation - Guidance For Linux Novices

Post by topaco » Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:23 pm

I am new to Ubuntu, currently running 11.10 , anyone have any known issues they have run into while working with QCAD?

Carl
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Re: Installation - Guidance For Linux Novices

Post by Carl » Wed Dec 18, 2019 12:22 am

Now that it's 2019 - any updated thoughts on how a new Linux user can install QCAD?. -- I don't have a specific Linux viewpoint, other than I just want to see how QCAD works. Recently I installed Linux Mint & have lots of CAD experience w/ Windows / IBM - BUT- I decided to NOT work under the heavy system load of Windows 10 ... Any thoughts? ... Carl

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Husky
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Re: Installation - Guidance For Linux Novices

Post by Husky » Wed Dec 18, 2019 2:26 am

Carl wrote:
Wed Dec 18, 2019 12:22 am
... any updated thoughts on how a new Linux user can install QCAD?
This Tutorial should answer all question on how to install QCAD on a Linux System:
https://qcad.org/en/documentation/installation
Work smart, not hard: QCad Pro
Win10/64, QcadPro, QcadCam version: Current.
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fredofred
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Re: Installation - Guidance For Linux Novices

Post by fredofred » Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:00 am

I found the "guide for Linux users with little or no knowledge" very helpful as I am that idiot!
https://www.qcad.org/en/component/conte ... tion-linux

Only comment - I think it was written for an older version of Ubuntu (Unity?). The main difference was where to find out how to stop it opening the executable as a text file. It now involved clicking on the three horizontal lines top right on the window and clicking "preferences".

Since 31st December 2019 Dassult's Draftsight no longer works with Linux, so you might find more people like me coming along :-) I am happy to make updated screenshots for that page if that's useful and someone tells me where to send them.

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