[KLUG Members] Re: A Windows Alternative? (For CAD) -- CAD for CE v. ME v. EE (part II) ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

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Now while everyone "focuses" on the "name brand" CAD software,
understand that there are different fields where different types of CAD
are in use.  Since I've worked in all three major engineering fields
over my career, I've seen this difference first-hand.

- Civil ("traditional" CAD):  AutoDesk, Bentley Systems

I originally "grew up" in the fields of land surveying (father) and
civil engineering (college employment, 1992-1995).

Civil engineering and more "commodity" CAD/CAM use is the realm of
AutoCAD and Microstation, and the massive 3rd party tool arena built
around them.  Given the now "complete entrenchment" of the Windows
platform and, more importantly, VBScript and Microsoft-centric
development, it is very _unlikely_ that a Linux "alternative" will ever
surface.  And there really is a _lack_ of a "standard" file format --
outside of ultra-simplistic DXF and COGO (coordinate geometry).

Remember, taking a note from Open/StarOffice, it's not about offering a
"technically equivalent" alternative, but a "file and 3rd party
compatible equivalent."

As such, Windows will continue to be the mainstay of civil engineering
and related fields like structural, civil transportation (e.g., road,
bridge), land surveying, environmental, waste/water, etc...

- Mechanical (CAM/modeling):  PTC, various xTRAN software

My first job out of college was with an aerospace engineering firm
(1996-1999).  Aerospace is a discipline of mechanical engineering, and
there is a lot of materials, electrical and computer/software aspects to
the industry as well (hence my employment in the latter most case ;-).

Computer Aided Modeling (CAM) and simulation is very important in the
mechanical world.  As anyone familiar with the basic, core cirriculum of
engineering, civil is largely concerned with "static engineering
mechanics," whereas mechanical is concerned with the "dynamic
engineering mechanics."  With no offense to the civil engineering field
intended, this "modeling" software is a far more difficult and involved
industry.  In fact, the US government wrote most of the analysis code
that makes of much of today's commercial software back in the '70s and
80s.

We're beyond the point-n-click of drawings, dimensions and the basic
analysis of weights and loads and onto actual material stress analysis
under dynamic loads, fluid mechanics, etc...  A lot of this software now
has a lot of underlying standards and code to them -- no longer just
"pretty pictures."  In fact, there are various standards for
inter-operable file formats for "importing/exporting" drawings, bills of
materials (BOMs) and other details that any CAM program.

Because of the "scripting" aspect of CAM, this has been largely a
UNIX-centric software market.  Multiple and simultaneous displays spread
over large production environments also pushed CAM to UNIX and
specialized systems, away from commodity.  Although many vendors have
"flirted" with the economies of scale of Wintel, Lintel offers the same
economies of scale, while allowing vendors to re-use their existing UNIX
codebase with little revision.  Anyone who has seen a number of the more
xTRAN software ports "hacks" to Windows knows what I'm talking about.=20
;-P

Even PTC (Pro/E), who probably has the most products ported to Wintel,
is shifting to the Lintel for most of their product line.  Another
"bonus" with Lintel is the low-cost for clustered systems for
distributed processing, something Wintel cannot offer an equivalent
pricing for.  Many CAM developments, such as Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) have moved to Lintel, even if the "workstation front-end"
runs Windows -- all the "brains" is in the Linux supercomputing
back-end, displaying back GLX (OpenGL over X-Windows) to the workstation
front-end.  [ I know, I was involved with the very "first port" of one
vendor's CFD solution to Linux at that job. ]

- Electrical (EDA/automation):  Cadence, ModelTech, Synopsys

One of my more recent jobs was with a fabless semiconductor design firm
(i.e. "computer chip design firm," 1999-2001).  The Electronic Design
Automation (EDA) world is probably the most "standardized" of them all,
because fabrication foundaries (i.e. the people who actually "fabricate"
the computer chips -- which are few because "fabs" cost Billions of $$$
to not only build, but operate too!) must have a "standard" file format
to interpret.

There are also various analog and digital approaches (schematic capture,
layout, etc...), file formats (Spicelists, Netlists, etc...) and
languages (Verilog, VHDL, etc...) that various programs interoperate
with each other.  It's out of pure necessity, as many EDA vendors offer
different tools for different jobs (although there is much overlap).

Because of the language, coding and scripting focus, EDA has always been
a "stronghold" of UNIX.  Windows doesn't offer the same level of
"out-of-the-box features" as UNIX -- from scripting to GLX (OpenGL over
X-Windows).  Outside of only a handful of vendors (e.g., Innoveda and
their ViewLogic products), most vendors _only_ offer "lite" versions of
their products on Windows.  And the fact that Linux is the _preferred_
platform for EDA was made fairly clear by Intel and other major chip
vendors at a SVLUG meeting several years back.

The result is _all_ major EDA tool vendors, from Cadence to ModelTech to
Synopsys have or in are in the process of releasing their _entire_
product line on Linux, whereas _none_ of them offer anything but "lite"
versions for Windows.  Because EDA is so focused on "automation,"
clustering is key to cost effective production.  Over 70% of nVidia and
over 50% of ATI -- two of the most "cutting edge" chip design firms on
the planet -- are heavily Linux-based.  Even Intel's need for
"pre-installed" Linux for its systems pushed them to _force_ Dell to
sell Linux pre-installed on desktops (although Microsoft was able to
"play games" to make it impossible for Dell to do so -- but that's
another story).


--=20
Bryan J. Smith, E.I.            Contact Info:  http://thebs.org
A+/i-Net+/Linux+/Network+/Server+ CCNA CIWA CNA SCSA/SCWSE/SCNA
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           limit      guilt   =3D     { psychopath,
         remorse->0                    innocent }


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