Ubuntu 10.04 / Linuxcnc / heekscad & heekscnc -installation (steps of what I did)

[diy-john]

Added couple of extra -install steps

# OPTIONAL steps ::: install inscape, blender 3D, qcad
apt-get install inkscape
apt-get install blender
apt-get install qcad

# OPTIONAL ::: install dxf2gcode
# Installation - dxf2gcode - How to install on Windows, Linux or Mac OS X - A program to convert a dxf drawing into G-Code - Google Project Hosting
mkdir /mycnc/dxf2gcode
cd /mycnc/dxf2gcode/
wget http://dxf2gcode.googlecode.com/file...urce_linux.zip
unzip 2010-05-04-dxf2gcode_b02_source_linux.zip
chmod a+x dxf2gcode_b02.py
# Try it out (now or later)
cd /mycnc/dxf2gcode/
python ./dxf2gcode_b02.py



# Overall feelings at the moment, about Ubuntu, Linuxcnc, heekscad:
- happy with the way LinuxCNC works
- happy with linux (goes without saying)
- overall, the end-to-end pipe (from an idea in head, to a 3D drawing, DXF -file, G-code generation, milling) is not working smoothly at all yet.
-- Blender 3D is very capable, however is perhaps not best suited for measurements -oriented drawings as one perhaps would like to have.
-- DXF, or STL -file import to heekscad is not working very well. STL import yes works fine, but would want to import a sketch, not an object that one can not modify.

# Feeling is, might have a brief peek at the other side, is grass greener there. (Windoze, Solidworks, etc.)