Does anyone have a GNU/Linux laptop that runs well with large sketches in freecad?

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UpcycleElectronics
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Joined: Wed Jun 16, 2021 8:25 pm

Does anyone have a GNU/Linux laptop that runs well with large sketches in freecad?

Post by UpcycleElectronics »

Just curious what others are running and if it is working well.

I'm probably doing something dumb with freecad, but my old 4k series i7 (4 thread/16gb DDR4/samsung SSD) machine is feeling sluggish with any sketches that have ~200+ constraints. It's slow when I'm trying to build up a sketch from the inside out, measuring what I can easily confirm with calipers and working my way out to the softer dimensions. It looks like a mess, but I think the method is more accurate than trying to estimate curves and contours. If I was designing something from the bottom up, I would build up the part differently in stages. I imagine freecad slows down due to my Intel integrated graphics and floating point complexities but I don't know for sure. The system monitor shows each thread running at 100% ,each in series with nothing else running, no internet connected, and more RAM available than not, so I think that means it's a CPU bottleneck. I'd like to try more complex stuff with freecad but this is getting slow to the point where I think it may be causing some errors, or at least it is annoying to try and find my own. My comp has been slow in Gimp, Inkscape, and Kicad on recent larger projects too, so I think it's showing its age. I'm not up to date on the latest hardware or Linux compatibles for a decent CAD workstation. I've browsed system 76, but they have limited laptop availability ATM. I occasionally like to pretend I can keep a Gentoo build up to date but I usually use Fedora. In other words, I'm looking to avoid BINvidia. Anyone know what open source options to look for that might yield a better freecad experience?
-Jake
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chrisb
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Re: Does anyone have a GNU/Linux laptop that runs well with large sketches in freecad?

Post by chrisb »

Your Laptop should do rather well, but you should rework the sketches. Make them simpler! It is not only good for the resources, but also good for better understanding a model.
E.g. looking at the first sketch: Model only half of it, pad it and use a mirror.
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GeneFC
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Re: Does anyone have a GNU/Linux laptop that runs well with large sketches in freecad?

Post by GeneFC »

I think there is something else going on.

Just for fun I loaded the file into a really weak, rather old laptop. Half the memory, no SSD, much weaker processor, etc. A recompute of the 200-plus-constraint sketch took about 1 second. Recomputing the entire model took about 2 seconds.

On the topic of too many constraints, it appears that there are a great many construction lines that simply are not used. Lots of arcs and superfluous lines. Construction lines cannot be seen outside the original sketch, so they are worthless for future reference as external geometry. They still require resources from the sketch solver, however.

It would be best to greatly simplify by removing unused and unneeded construction geometries.

Gene
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