SolidWorks on Linux

[KriszT]

I have a question for you guys.
I am thinking of installing Ubuntu onto my computer and use SolidWorks on it.
Does anyone here have any experience with this and can tall me if it will work or not, or if i should look at another Linux Distribution that can run SolidWorks no problem.

Thank you for your answers in advance.

 

[Theophilus]

Will it work at all with any Linux OS? If so, I'd like to try it (after I get these 47 projects completed, of course).

I have Ubuntu, but have not yet tried it. The cool thing about Ubuntu is that you can run it directly from the CD--good for experimenting with a new OS.

Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

I assume you know that SolidWorks will not run directly on Linux, or any other flavour of ?NIX. You will need a Windows emulator.

I have wanted to try for a long time and am interested in hearing your results. Many Windows programs have problems running on Windows, so I doubt that it will work well being 'translated' by an emulator.

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[KriszT]

Thank you for your reply.
Well i dont think i am going to try this because i can not afford to being down. I hoped that someone here had tried it already and can tell me if it works or not. I know ProE work fine on Linux so i hoped that maybe SolidWorks made the move as well but i guess not enough people on Linux that wants to use SolidWorks. Oh well i just stick to the good ol" XP.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Here's an interesting article ... and it's recent too. (2006-09-20)

Note the sixth paragraph.

http://www.cadinfo.net/editorial/linux-cad.htm

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[KriszT]

Great article thank you.

 

[drawoh]

KriszT,

I have tried to displaying SolidWorks executable Edrawings on my Linux box at home using WINE. It did not work. I have not played with WINE that much, so perhaps I did not try hard enough.

SolidWorks is the last piece of software I would want to run under an emulator. It is abusive (is that the word?) of your RAM, your video card and CPU. Articles on SolidWorks crashes recommend that you turn off most of the Windows eye candy. I cannot imagine that Linux under WINE, or any other Windows emulator, would be stable.

The GNU/Linus OS is very stable. That does not mean that each and every application is stable.

CorBlimeyLimey,

That is a nice article you linked to. If you install one of the Linux distributions from a book at Chapters, you will get Open Office, which is the Free Software version of Star Office. I have no idea what is crippled. It works fine, especially at importing from and exporting to Microsoft Office format.

I understand that there is a version of Pro/E out for it, but I have heard nothing about it in the Linux community. A CAD package called VariCAD is available for Linux and Windows. CoCreate either has or had a Linux version. There have been a couple of Free Software projects to develop CAD for Linux, but they have not gotten far.

GNU/Linux is an amazing programming environment. A lot of electronics people are into it. So far, very few mechanical types have gotten into it.

JHG

 

[handleman]

CBL,
I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic/facetious in pointing out tomorrow's date on that article. While it does mention SW on Linux in the future, it also mentions (7th par. from bottom)

...they worry about anticipated problems of migration to Windows 2000.

I'd say that pegs this as being written sometime in '01 or '02 at the latest.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

handleman ... I must have gapped when I placed the date. I thought we were in month 10 for some reason.
I even missed that they weren't talking about XP.

Time for another coffee ... and some anti-alzheimers shots.

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Helpful SW websites faq559-520​

How to find answers ... faq559-1091​

SW2006-SP5 Basic ... No PDM​

 

[looslib]

They did not mention UGS' NX, which has also been ported to Linux. The Parasolid kernel that powers SoldWorks has been ported for a while.
The problem with porting SolidWorks (and SolidEdge) to Linux is not the core code, but the UI code which is built using the MFC toolkit. All of this has to be built from scratch for a Linux port. NX and Pro/E already have their UI in a neutral format so a port to Linux is easier for them.
I have also heard that either UGS or PTC will be pulling the plug on their Linux distribution unless sales pick up to justify continued development on Linux.


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