Recommendation for simple free maybe portable drawing program.

[mike]

I need a new drawing program.
I've been using and old autocad, but it doesn't want to run on win7 and
I'm too lazy to figure out why. Anything that came on floppies
is obsolete ;-)

I'd like something small and simple.
Free is essential.
Portable would be nice so I don't clutter up the system.
Must run under winxp and win7-8.

My current project is typical.
I need to make a custom meter face.
Draw a rectangle, resize it, put in some lines and numbers,
print it to scale.
I want something that will give me continuous position readout of at least
one point on an object as I move or resize it.

Don't need 3d, simulation, nothing complicated.
I can do it in windows paint, but editing is cumbersome.
I can resize a selection box, but want to resize an object.


I'm finding lots of free downloads that are not free,
programs written last century that probably won't run in win7,
broken links, 80MB bloated downloads...

Just want something simple without a huge learning curve.

Recommendations?

Links to lists of programs that I have to download and install
to discover they aren't want I want won't help me. Been doing that
unsuccessfully all night.
I'm looking for something that YOU have used.

While we're on the subject,
I'd also be interested in a freeware alternative to autocad 2D
for the next time I need to draw something more complex.

Thanks, mike

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

I need a new drawing program.
I've been using and old autocad, but it doesn't want to run on win7 and
I'm too lazy to figure out why. Anything that came on floppies
is obsolete ;-)

I'd like something small and simple.
Free is essential.
Portable would be nice so I don't clutter up the system.
Must run under winxp and win7-8.

My current project is typical.
I need to make a custom meter face.
Draw a rectangle, resize it, put in some lines and numbers,
print it to scale.
I want something that will give me continuous position readout of at least
one point on an object as I move or resize it.

Don't need 3d, simulation, nothing complicated.
I can do it in windows paint, but editing is cumbersome.
I can resize a selection box, but want to resize an object.


I'm finding lots of free downloads that are not free,
programs written last century that probably won't run in win7,
broken links, 80MB bloated downloads...

Just want something simple without a huge learning curve.

Recommendations?

Links to lists of programs that I have to download and install
to discover they aren't want I want won't help me. Been doing that
unsuccessfully all night.
I'm looking for something that YOU have used.

While we're on the subject,
I'd also be interested in a freeware alternative to autocad 2D
for the next time I need to draw something more complex.

Thanks, mike

Why not try Draftsight? It's freeware from the Solidworks guys, and
works with your legacy DWG and DXF files.



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Przemek Klosowski]

I need a new drawing program. ....
My current project is typical.
I need to make a custom meter face.
Draw a rectangle, resize it, put in some lines and numbers,
print it to scale.
I want something that will give me continuous position readout of at
least one point on an object as I move or resize it. ....
Don't need 3d, simulation, nothing complicated.

QCAD http://www.ribbonsoft.com has a GPL open source 2D CAD that I used
quite a bit on Linux. Their Linux version is included in most Linux
distributions (Fedora, Ubuntu). You can download a Windows version from
their site too, but I think it is a 'demo' unlike the Linux version. I am
not sure what are the exact limitations.

 

[mike]

Why not try Draftsight? It's freeware from the Solidworks guys, and
works with your legacy DWG and DXF files.



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

I downloaded it, but was put off by the 180MB install.
On recommendation here, I installed it. Learning curve was near zero
for the simple stuff I needed. Meter scale works.
Thanks.

I'd still like to find a small, portable program that I can use
on any machine without installing and activating it every time.

 

[Baron]

Dennis Inscribed thus:

Free & ok:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DraftSight

This is what I use. One or two quirks but it works fine !

 

[Bob Engelhardt]

Years ago I got DeltaCad, can't remember whether it was free then - it
is not now*. I loved it - the user interface was simple and intuitive.
All the basic functions without feature bloat. I.e., an easy learning
curve.

Bob

* - not free, but only $40, with a 45 day "Demo" (trial) available:
http://www.deltacad.com/index.html

 

[Jasen Betts]

I need a new drawing program.

I'd like something small and simple.
Free is essential.
Portable would be nice so I don't clutter up the system.
Must run under winxp and win7-8.

My current project is typical.
I need to make a custom meter face.
Draw a rectangle, resize it, put in some lines and numbers,
print it to scale.
I want something that will give me continuous position readout of at least
one point on an object as I move or resize it.

Don't need 3d, simulation, nothing complicated.
I can do it in windows paint, but editing is cumbersome.
I can resize a selection box, but want to resize an object.

Inkscape. (not particularly small though) it's vector oriented so
will print nice sharp graphics.

 

[josephkk]

I have used gimp for something like that,
Its leaning curve is huge,
It is probably not made for what you want.
But it has a lot of features.
Rumor goes that it even supports that ancient windows7.
Of course I use it in Linux only.

Using it has brought me to the point of wanting to delete it several times
as it sometimes is so counter-intuitive.
But it can do very accurate to scale printing (I use cups drivers).
There is a lot of howto and help for gimp on the internet.
There are a thousand other programs too that can do what you want.
If all else fails write one.

Image Magick is usually easier to use.

?-)