This is just my own opinion. The problem with FreeCAD is lack of direction. A few years ago, the project's founder stopped contributing. He was the glue, the one with the vision and the ultimate moral authority.
For the past 2 or 3 years, a fork has been developed separately by a developer, realthunder. The additions he's made are staggering. The problem is that he's made profound changes to the core of FreeCAD that affect many other modules. Only one main developer has the intricate knowledge of FreeCAD's code to validate the changes, and he doesn't have much time to dedicate to the task. So much of it is still in review after all this time. While he waits for his code to be merged to the main branch, he continues work on his own fork...
@daniel
@normand @retiredguru@social.linux.pizza I would love to help out with a project like that, but I lack the know-how or even an understanding of how to get the know-how. Good coding is one of the hardest skills to attain I think, and what prevents free software from really being adopted. Most volunteer work has levels of entry so that anyone who wants to help can. Most of the culture around computers has never been like this, maybe because the easy things get automated? It makes for a high barrier of entry.
When I joined the FreeCAD community, I had been using Linux for 2 years, and was in constant search for CAD programs - they weren't many 10 years ago. I wrote a blog with software reviews (now gone). I was able to help with the project because I've always been interested in CAD, was using CAD for work and I tested programs in my free time. I also have a moderate ability in explaining things. I learned FreeCAD as it evolved along the years (it was pretty sparse in 2010!). I became quite proficient in finding workarounds to FreeCAD's bugs (many are caused by limitations of its geometric modeling kernel, a third-party open source library called Open Cascade, or OCC).
Back in the eighties when I was a teen, I coded what you could call a primitive CAD program in BASIC. From input of XY coordinates, it would draw the profile of a car. Only straight lines though, as I didn't know how to draw arcs. 😄
Doh, I did it again. 😳
@retiredguru
@normand @retiredguru@social.linux.pizza I'll take another look at FreeCAD. I do use MeshLab almost daily. I miss the good documentation back in those days. I cut my teeth on GW-BASIC and messed around with AutoCAD 2.5 in the early 90's. I didn't have access to newer machines, and in a way I'm thankful. I got into the VRML craze. Good times! I wish I could explain to my 15 YO daughter how exciting of a time it was and how fast things changed.
Back in college, the computer lab had PCs with AutoCAD 2.62. A friend gave me a copy of AutoCAD 2.17 - it held on a single 5.25" floppy. Now AutoCAD barely fits on a single layer DVD! Things changed.
@retiredguru