If you have a free Linux OS on your computer you can get free 3D
modelling software. 3D modelling lets you design your engine
installation to make sure all the parts fit under the cowl. 3D
modelling is what Boeing and Airbus use to design their air planes. I
have been using expensive Rhino software for years that runs on
Windows. It can also be used to design things like water pumps and
gear boxes.

It is a pain in the butt to take 2 notebooks with me when I travel.
One Windows and one Linux. Yes I know there are dual boot systems. I
feel they are too problematic for my use. I have been looking for
free 3D software that runs on Linux.

I would like to do away with Windows as it is too costly to
maintain. If your computer mother board or hard disk fails you have
to buy a new $100 windows OS from Microsoft to install it on the new
mother board. Linux OS is free.

The best thing I have come up so far is Linux Blender. The trick is
to put it in edit mode and then choose quad view under the view menu.
It then works like Rhino with 3 views, on the screen in four windows.
Top, front, right and perspective.

IMHO this is the easiest and quickest way to learn 3D software. You
draw your device in the old 2D way. Front, top and side views. It
then automatically appears in the perspective window.

I have a friend that teaches Rhino and Solid Works in college. His
students start having fun in Rhino in five minutes with Rhino. In
Solid Works it takes weeks.

More on Blender as I learn it.

https://www.blender.org/manual/modeling/meshes/introduction.html


Paul Lamar


I have blender too.


For Windows program. Just install your legal copy of Microsoft into
VirtualBox and run from inside Linux. If your computer dues,  reuse
it on another machine.

Henry


I was about to tell you the same thing, Paul.  By running Windows in a virtual machine on top of Linux, you make it so Windows doesn’t care about the hardware underneath.  From the outside, in Linux, you see a single file that contains your Windows virtual machine and its entire file system, so you can make multiple copies of that file and keep one on a flash drive if you want.  You’ll never have to reinstall Windows again, and the time you spend maintaining it goes to nearly zero.

If your laptop dies, you just get another laptop and reinstall Linux on it, and Windows has no idea you switched machines.

I used to keep a half-dozen Windows machines around for various purposes.  I converted all of them to virtual machines and I keep them all on my Mac.  When I run something Windows-specific, like SolidWorks, I just bring up Windows, in a window or full screen, and run it, and shut it down when I’m finished.

A lot of people put out various programs pre-installed in virtual machines that you can just bring up without installing anything. Once you try it, you’ll never go back.

Dave Klingler

Thanks Henry and Dave

Paul Lamar

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