Disco's out ... Murder's in.

In my effort to rid my life of the Windoze operating system I have, until recently, not been able to unload dependency on AutoCAD and the perpetual beta testing that I paid to complete for them. Obvious problem is that most places use AutoCAD ...

In comes DraftSight. I have only started to check this out, but as an AutoCAD clone it has great promise. The layout seems to mimic like a mid 2000's version of the program. It is "z" aware with the ability, as it seems, to modify 3D primitive objects. It also recognizes the z-aware feature produced in civil 3D and LandDesktop. These features are notoriously problematic in any AutoCAD clone type program.

As I said above, I have not put the program through its paces yet, but look forward to getting into it. Keep tuned to see if I provide any useful information.

Another positive of the software is it is free and cross-platform. This is quickly becoming important for any vendor as many agencies are moving away from M$. See this article about Ernie Ball. Makes you think, are you safe? Will the M$ gestapo break in and shut you down? Yet there is always some loophole in the EULA that really screws you up, have you ever read one? ... Riveting.

Besides, Windoze reserves the right to remove your "borrowed" software at anytime. Thanks, but no thanks.

LibreOffice Extensions

In a follow up to my previous post I have provided here a list of extensions that I prefer to include in any update to the LibreOffice software. I think you will find these useful as well, if not down right necessary:

1. CompPad - get it here. CompPad is an OpenOffice.org / LibreOffice extension for performing units-aware engineering calculations within a Writer document, allowing calculations to be documented using all of the resources of the Writer application. It has functionality similar to Mathcad, but is not intended to be a Mathcad clone. Rather, I hope it might prove more flexible and extensible, and that it might encourage other free / open-source alternatives to a proprietary engineering "Killer App." I use this all the time.
2. MultiSave - get it here. Save a document simultaneously into OpenDocument and/or MS-Office and/or PDF formats.
3. Calendar for Calc - get it here. View calendar and easily insert dates in selected cells.
4. Review Toolbar - get it here. This extension implements a new Review toolbar with some relevant command buttons that are spread out in various menus and toolbars. Additional a new feature "Clear document" that removes review information in the document suchs as tracked changes, comments and authors name.
5.  CADlo - get it here. This is still in Alpha, but has potential. Such as, the Draw module of LibreOffice / OpenOffice.org makes it possible to make technical drawing. CADLO adds some functions that one can find in other CAD.
6. GEOOo - get it here. Create Thematic maps with Libre Office. Haven't really tried this yet, but it could be very interesting.
7.  After the Deadline - get it here. After the Deadline is a smart English grammar, style, and contextual spelling checker for LibreOffice.

LibreOffice 3.5.2 - Released

LibreOffice has released the next version of the office software, it was a couple weeks ago. If anyone is annoyed with Micro$oft or just needs a good at home office package you should try it out. By posting the information here, I can also make it easy for me to get the information later.

To use the Ubuntu PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa 

sudo apt-get update 

sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-gnome

Make sure you uninstall libreOffice if you previously installed it manually, otherwise it just won't work. Of course, for windows, just get it here:

http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/stable/3.5.2/win/x86/LibO_3.5.2_Win_x86_install_multi.msi

I really like it. Use it regularly, pretty good with the Micro$oft conversion. It not perfect though. Couldn't make it through the day without it.

Inkscape is great

I was fiddling with some pdf documents on my Debian install and was trying to edit a pdf file. Basically I was attempting to fill in form fields that did not have any actual pdf fields. It was a static pdf. What a pain.
So I was checking out programs like PDF Edit (which is a good program, but painful to use for me). Then I thought, what about Inkscape. I had used it previously to generate large posters and it worked out great.
I imported the single sheet of the pdf I wanted to fill out and it was awesome. I was able to add text boxes quickly over the pdf and save it directly back to pdf. What a great find. Likely those that are wiser than I am have figured this out already.
Thanks you guys at Inkscape for all your great work!

EC12 with IECA in Las Vegas was Great

I recently presented at the IECA EC12 conference in Las Vegas. The venue was the RIO Casino off the strip. It was a great conference with a excellent turnout. I presented about the design of infiltration basins for stormwater volume control during construction as well as a permanent fixture to the site. I have posted pertinent documents and information to my website. Link here. The site includes a pdf of the presentation, spreadsheets to complete mounding assessment, links to other great resources, and a list of good references if you want to learn more.
Congratulations to the group at IECA for another great conference! Not sure if I will make it to the EC13 as it is in San Diego and that could be a bit of a hike. Looking forward to some local conferences this year.