Guys, for the love of god, Linux!
- Thread starter jeffreygough
- Start date
Regarding the Mac market, there was a time when GibbsCAM was only available for Macs. All the code was written on Macs. They discovered that when they wanted to sell a copy of GibbsCAM, they also had to sell the customer a Mac. However, customers didn't have Macs and didn't want Macs. So Gibbs had to change and went the PC route.
For what it's worth, I have never once been in a machine shop, sheet metal shop, water jet, laser cutting or other manufacturing facility that used either Mac or Linux. None. All were MS-DOS and Windows.
The last number I was told (at the Westec trade show) was there are over 150 CAD and CAM companies selling in the US. Among those companies, how many are available for Mac or Linux? The market is perceived as so small that essentially none of those companies will seriously invest in other platforms.
For what it's worth, I have never once been in a machine shop, sheet metal shop, water jet, laser cutting or other manufacturing facility that used either Mac or Linux. None. All were MS-DOS and Windows.
The last number I was told (at the Westec trade show) was there are over 150 CAD and CAM companies selling in the US. Among those companies, how many are available for Mac or Linux? The market is perceived as so small that essentially none of those companies will seriously invest in other platforms.
Capri RS said:
We bought a wire edm (back in 1990) where the best CAD/CAM software made was only in UNIX...they had to sell us one of those comps for a fortune back then. It even had a MAC emulator on it. Now I am sorry to say they ported to windows and the software is second rate at best. Still has the best gear generating module I have found and very easy to learn.
bigseb
Alibre Super User
Another link http://www.bricsys.com/en_INTL/bricscad/index.jsp just for interest'a sake...
I think the best bet for Linux support is going to come from virtualization, what we really need is gpu acceleration to come through on this front and everything should be honkey-dorey. I mean what is a 50-100 license for Microsoft Windows when you are talking about $1500 software. So basically you run a decently specked Linux box that supports VT-d and GPU - whatever with VMware or Citrix Xenserver or whatever (I think the only solution right now is the hyperfx stuff in the Server 2008r2 sp1) but you get the idea, and then setup a vm with Windows with full virtualized resources and everything should run fine. Way easier than porting from directx and .net3.5 support. That's my 2c anyway.
I'd like to chime in and say that my company too would love a Linux-enabled Alibre (virtualized or not) 
Anyway at the moment we'd "settle" for stronger API support to help those who try to integrate Alibre inside a complete workflow (we're trying to build an application that will parse assemblies and calculate production costs, prepare orders for manufacturers, and the like).
Anyway at the moment we'd "settle" for stronger API support
to help those who try to integrate Alibre inside a complete workflow (we're trying to build an application that will parse assemblies and calculate production costs, prepare orders for manufacturers, and the like).Half way last year we left Alibre because of the lack of Windows as the whole company is on Ubuntu. Sure, if we had full time employment we would have dedicated Windows PC but we dont.
I understand the only alternative is VirtualBox with Windows XP (we all have some license lying around)... But Alibre does not run in VirtualBox due to some minor, but critical hick ups !!
So here is an idea: give one of your dev's (or graduate as it does not seem complex) an Ubuntu 64bit PC with VirtualBox (all free), tune it to make Alibre run and publish an How-To.
At least you keep some, (10's 100's?) users in your Alibre camp... for sure we will renew our maintenance
I understand the only alternative is VirtualBox with Windows XP (we all have some license lying around)... But Alibre does not run in VirtualBox due to some minor, but critical hick ups !!
So here is an idea: give one of your dev's (or graduate as it does not seem complex) an Ubuntu 64bit PC with VirtualBox (all free), tune it to make Alibre run and publish an How-To.
At least you keep some, (10's 100's?) users in your Alibre camp... for sure we will renew our maintenance
bigseb
Alibre Super User
tomv said:
+1
I've tried Alibre in both Virtualbox and Wine and got pretty much the same result. If the Alibre guys manged to get either working properly then that would be very cool indeed.
Also this thread just doesn't seem to die... shows the amount of interest in the matter imo.
Hop
Senior Member
bigseb said:
A whole bunch of folks would chuck Windoze for Anything Else, just as soon as all their applications will install and run just as fast or faster without any problems on Anything Else. Whoever actually comes up with Anything Else is destined to haul in some serious coins. IMO it could happen in the very near future as hardware crosses over into warp speed. How about a program running on one core, that watches over another program running on a different core, and repairs the execution path of the other program when things go wrong... all seamlessly without user intervention.
Hop
Senior Member
bigseb said:
No, if Richard could do it, he would have done it, and it would now be free and in the public domain forever.
His paradigm for writing software basically says it is evil to make any money off of it. I will accept the results of free software, having once had a stake in Jolly Roger Enterprises, a long time ago when software was delivered on reels of punched tape or in boxes of punched cards. However, I cannot support an economic model that says the fruits of programming labor must be given away. Someone has to pay for the Twinkies™ and Cokes™ the coders consume.
Hop
NateLiquidGravity
Alibre Super User
Or Mountain Dew™ and Hot Pockets™
Hop said:
My understanding of Richard Stallman's philosophy is he believes once the user pays for the software, the user should be allowed to modify it to suit his needs. The analogy would be buying a car and being allowed to add sat/nav, stereo, wheels, hot rod the engine, etc. Or buying a house and being permitted to move the walls, add on, etc. In the case of software, this would involve being given the "blueprints" of the car or house which would equate to the source code.
I think that approach may have some validity in the '70s when applied to honorable users, and especially in the realm of academia where RS resides. However, in modern times, there are innumerable selfish people who will take the software, make a few changes, then re-brand and re-market. Since they have not spent the time doing the R&D, their "cost" was minimal and they can undercut the original developer and put them out of business. Many of those abusive unethical people do not reside in the US where our legal system could provide protection to the originator. For such reasons, the source code is heavily guarded.
Hop said:
No, it doesn't. I would like to see the logic by which you came to this conclusion.
No, it doesn't say that, and no, they don't.
For example, Red Hat are doing just that. And they're still in business. And making decent profit [1].
Alas, as CapriRS points out, this model (like any?), is not immune to abuse.
[1] http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/a ... iness.html
bolsover
Senior Member
With this thread being 13 years old, things 'may' have shifted a little...
Thake a look at this thread: Anyone running Alibre on a VM thru Linux?
The big issue is the .NET version used by Alibre; currently .NET Framework 4.8.1 - windows ONLY!
@Max suggests in the referenced thread that Alibre (maybe V28?) will be sifting to .NET Core - which is multiplatform compatible.