Some questions I always wanted to ask

[Werner Almesberger]

Laszlo KREKACS wrote:
> - 3d CAD program. The closest free software:
>   Wildcat-cad: http://code.google.com/p/wildcat-cad/
>   HeeksCAD: http://code.google.com/p/heekscad/
>   BRL-CAD: http://brlcad.org/

Hmm, Wildcat is Open Source but the Linux port hasn't been completed
yet. There are also:

- Wings 3D: http://www.wings3d.com/
- Art of Illusion: http://www.artofillusion.org/
- FreeCAD: http://free-cad.sourceforge.net/
- Blender: http://www.blender.org/

Can HeeksCAD import the GTA01/02 files ? It looks promising but
doesn't even start on my system :-( FreeCAD can handle the STEP
version. BRL-CAD fails in various ways to convert the IGES. The
others can't handle the file formats Openmoko has released.

Art of Illusion is actually surprisingly nice. It looks weak when
it comes to CAM integration, but given that the RepRap folks have
chosen it as their favourite, there ought to be a way to do this.

> So are the community hardware development viable knowing the lack of software?

That's the question :-) Of course, the only certain way to fail
it not to try ...

- Werner