Install advice (Senior CAD designer but also FreeCAD newbie)

[Lemans]

I likes to try/learn/teach FreeCAD as it looks a very promising alternative for the big payers on the `expensive` market.
As my current laptops (Acer Aspire 9410 - 32bit) are extremely outdated, I believe a recent one will do a much better job.
I prefer a Linux based system but the few attempts I have made (Ubuntu) gave me in best case a slow running FreeCAD.
So - first question: witch one to buy and witch OS should I install?

[chrisb]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Linux is a good choice; FreeCAD itself is not very resource hungry, so I think every current laptop will do a good job. More memory is always good and an ssd is good as well.
It may be more interesting what to avoid, as some graphics cards or their drivers make problems every now and then. You may have a look at the Known OS specific issues.

[Lemans]

Hello Chris,
thanks for your quick answer.

So, this should be a good choise?
Core i5 - 8GB - 256GB SSD - GTX 1050

and this the perfect one?
Core i7 - 16 GB - 256 GB SSD - 1 TB HDD - GTX 1650

[openBrain]

Yes, these are good hardwares that can probably last for years. Here FreeCAD runs well on a Pentium P6100 with 2 GB ram (shared with GFX!).
Regarding the distro, it can make sense considering KDE as a desktop environment so Qt will already be loaded and you won't use 2 different frameworks.

[Lemans]

Hello openBrain,

Thanks for sharing your hardware setup. It's really helpful for new users like me, as we have no idea what should work properly.

Considering KDE as desktop environment means a distro like Kubuntu?
I have found a website 'community.kde.org' and it looks like a lot of Linux distributions have KDE as desktop environment. Witch distribution do you use?

[openBrain]

Yes I use Kubuntu. LTS releases to be more precise, so currently 18.04 version. But that's a matter of taste. Though I'm happy with it.

[nemesis]

here are the 2 configuration in use here ;
Imac 2011 :
https://support.apple.com/kb/SP689?view ... cale=fr_FR
OSX is no longer install on it, it is running Debian 10 with KDE
RAM pushed to 16Go
run like a charm

Lenovo Ideapad 500:

AMD Radeon graphics= AMD Radeon R7 M360 2GB
Système d'exploitation : Debian GNU/Linux 10
Version de KDE Plasma : 5.14.5
Version de Qt : 5.11.3
Version de KDE Frameworks : 5.54.0
Version de noyau : 4.19.0-6-rt-amd64
Type de système d'exploitation : 64-bit
Processeurs : 4 × Intel® Core™ i7-6500U CPU @ 2.50GHz
Mémoire : 11,6 Gio de mémoire vive

works like a charm also, the lenovo has RT preempt Kernel for audio stuff and CNC. (even if I don t know if it is very useful lol)

[Lemans]

Spec's from the tower and the installed kubuntu software so far.

_______________________________________________________________________

KUBUNTU 18.04
Software
KDE Plasma version: 5.12.8
Version KDE-Frameworks: 5.44.0
Qt-version; 5.9.5
kernel version: 5.0.0 -23-
generic
Type OS: 64-bit
Hardware
Processors: 4x Intel Corer i5-2500K CPU @3.30 GHz
Memory: 7.8 GiB RAM

_______________________________________________________________________
FreeCAD_0.18-16146-Linux-Conda_Py3Qt5_glibc2.12-x86_64.AppImage

I have downloaded this version of Free-CAD witch I believe is the best choice for the moment.
Yesterday, I have played around for a few hours but was unable to install the program.
Maybe I'm missing some software …. I don't have a clue how to proceed.
I will continue looking for solutions on the web but if someone knows how it works (and have some spare time to explain) it would be awesome.

[openBrain]

You probably need to set the file as being "executable". I don't have a PC now, but IIRC you can right click the file, open properties and find a checkbox to set that.

[Lemans]

Found t'his.

https://www.itsmarttricks.com/how-to-in ... for-linux/

Followed the instructions, and a lot was downloaded but no sigar.
System after reboot unchanged, no freeCAD installed.