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Librecad on RasPiOS

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  Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-22 16:36 +0000
    Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Chris Townley <news@cct-net.co.uk> - 2026-06-22 18:56 +0100
      Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-22 19:33 +0000
        Re: Librecad on RasPiOS rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-06-22 20:18 +0000
          Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-22 21:20 +0000
            Re: Librecad on RasPiOS rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-06-22 23:29 +0000
            Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-23 08:29 +0100
        Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Chris Townley <news@cct-net.co.uk> - 2026-06-22 22:48 +0100
    Re: Librecad on RasPiOS 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 <jmj@energokod.gda.pl> - 2026-06-22 20:11 +0200
      Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-06-22 23:01 +0100
      Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-22 23:55 +0000
        Re: Librecad on RasPiOS The Nomad <nomad@the.desert.invalid> - 2026-06-23 07:01 +0000
          Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-23 11:59 +0000
            Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-24 21:42 +0000
    Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-06-22 20:19 +0100
      Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-22 20:31 +0000
        Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-06-22 22:55 +0100
          Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-22 22:48 +0000
          Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-23 00:20 +0000
            Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-23 03:57 +0000
              Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-23 12:10 +0000
                Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-06-23 13:28 +0100
                Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-24 01:08 +0000
                  Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-24 13:52 +0000
                    Re: Librecad on RasPiOS The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-24 16:43 +0100
                      Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-26 14:43 +0000
            Re: Librecad on RasPiOS RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> - 2026-06-23 04:28 +0000
              Re: Librecad on RasPiOS bp@www.zefox.net - 2026-06-23 12:25 +0000
          Re: Librecad on RasPiOS RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> - 2026-06-23 04:22 +0000
            Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-23 07:21 +0000
              Re: Librecad on RasPiOS RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> - 2026-06-23 08:19 +0000
                Re: Librecad on RasPiOS The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-23 10:23 +0100
                Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-24 01:10 +0000
                  Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-06-24 13:26 +0100
                    Re: Librecad on RasPiOS The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-24 13:44 +0100
                      Re: Librecad on RasPiOS scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) - 2026-06-25 16:01 +0000
                        Re: Librecad on RasPiOS The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-25 17:05 +0100
                        Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-25 23:32 +0000
                          Re: Librecad on RasPiOS rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-06-26 02:01 +0000
                            Re: Librecad on RasPiOS The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-26 10:05 +0100
                              Re: Librecad on RasPiOS rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-06-26 17:51 +0000
                                Re: Librecad on RasPiOS The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-06-26 21:51 +0100
                          Re: Librecad on RasPiOS scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) - 2026-06-26 20:22 +0000
                    Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-24 21:59 +0000
                      Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2026-06-25 14:24 +0100
                        Re: Librecad on RasPiOS Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-25 23:31 +0000

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#38040 — Librecad on RasPiOS

Has anybody had success using librecad on Raspberry Pi OS? 

I'm trying, and noticed that the about box reports:

Version: 2.2.0-alpha
Compiler: GNU GCC 12.2.0
Compiled on: Dec 26 2022
Qt Version: 5.15.8
Boost Version: 1.74.0

The compile date is four years from this past December, which
seems a long time ago for an -alpha version.

I'm having great difficulty making librecad work by tring to 
follow the instructions, both in the librecad manual and in
online tutorials. If there's a good written (not video) tutorial
it might help quite a bit, but I haven't found one.

Part of my ineptitude is surely caused by first learning CAD
on a Macintosh (Ashlar Graphite), but I'm starting to wonder
if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part
of my difficulties.

Thanks for reading, and any suggestions,

bob prohaska

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#38041

On 22/06/2026 17:36, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
> Has anybody had success using librecad on Raspberry Pi OS?
> 
> I'm trying, and noticed that the about box reports:
> 
> Version: 2.2.0-alpha
> Compiler: GNU GCC 12.2.0
> Compiled on: Dec 26 2022
> Qt Version: 5.15.8
> Boost Version: 1.74.0
> 
> The compile date is four years from this past December, which
> seems a long time ago for an -alpha version.
> 
> I'm having great difficulty making librecad work by tring to
> follow the instructions, both in the librecad manual and in
> online tutorials. If there's a good written (not video) tutorial
> it might help quite a bit, but I haven't found one.
> 
> Part of my ineptitude is surely caused by first learning CAD
> on a Macintosh (Ashlar Graphite), but I'm starting to wonder
> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part
> of my difficulties.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and any suggestions,
> 
> bob prohaska
> 

Current version seems to be: librecad_2.2.0.2-3_arm64.deb
See https://packages.debian.org/sid/arm64/librecad/download

Rpi OS apt is often well out of date

-- 
Chris

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#38044

Chris Townley <news@cct-net.co.uk> wrote:
> On 22/06/2026 17:36, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
>> Has anybody had success using librecad on Raspberry Pi OS?
>> 
>> I'm trying, and noticed that the about box reports:
>> 
>> Version: 2.2.0-alpha
>> Compiler: GNU GCC 12.2.0
>> Compiled on: Dec 26 2022
>> Qt Version: 5.15.8
>> Boost Version: 1.74.0
>> 
>> The compile date is four years from this past December, which
>> seems a long time ago for an -alpha version.
>> 
>> I'm having great difficulty making librecad work by tring to
>> follow the instructions, both in the librecad manual and in
>> online tutorials. If there's a good written (not video) tutorial
>> it might help quite a bit, but I haven't found one.
>> 
>> Part of my ineptitude is surely caused by first learning CAD
>> on a Macintosh (Ashlar Graphite), but I'm starting to wonder
>> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part
>> of my difficulties.
>> 
>> Thanks for reading, and any suggestions,
>> 
>> bob prohaska
>> 
> 
> Current version seems to be: librecad_2.2.0.2-3_arm64.deb
> See https://packages.debian.org/sid/arm64/librecad/download
> 
> Rpi OS apt is often well out of date

How would I go about using that repository? I've always used
sudo apt install (packagename).....

Thanks for posting!

bob prohaska

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#38045

On Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:33:01 -0000 (UTC), bp wrote:

> How would I go about using that repository? I've always used sudo apt
> install (packagename).....

The easiest way is to go to the site, download the deb, and then 'sudo apt 
install librecad_2.2.0.2-3_arm64.deb'

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#38047

rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:33:01 -0000 (UTC), bp wrote:
> 
>> How would I go about using that repository? I've always used sudo apt
>> install (packagename).....
> 
> The easiest way is to go to the site, download the deb, and then 'sudo apt 
> install librecad_2.2.0.2-3_arm64.deb'

Looks like no go:
bob@raspberrypi:~/Downloads$ sudo apt install ./librecad_2.2.0.2-3_arm64.deb
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'librecad' instead of './librecad_2.2.0.2-3_arm64.deb'
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 librecad : Depends: libc6 (>= 2.38) but 2.36-9+rpt2+deb12u14 is to be installed
            Depends: libmuparser2v5 (>= 2.3.4) but 2.3.3-0.1 is to be installed
            Depends: libqt5core5t64 (>= 5.15.1) but it is not installable
            Depends: libqt5gui5t64 (>= 5.7.0) but it is not installable or
                     libqt5gui5-gles (>= 5.7.0) but it is not going to be installed
            Depends: libqt5printsupport5t64 (>= 5.1.0) but it is not installable
            Depends: libqt5widgets5t64 (>= 5.11.0~rc1) but it is not installable
            Depends: libstdc++6 (>= 14) but 12.2.0-14+deb12u1 is to be installed
            Depends: librecad-data (= 2.2.0.2-3) but 2.2.0-1 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
bob@raspberrypi:~/Downloads$ 

I tried apt-removing the RasPiOS version of librecad, but the error 
above recurred, so I guess it's not a package conflict.

Thanks for writing, any further counsel appreciated!

bob prohaska
 

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#38052

On Mon, 22 Jun 2026 21:20:00 -0000 (UTC), bp wrote:

> I tried apt-removing the RasPiOS version of librecad, but the error
> above recurred, so I guess it's not a package conflict.

I was concerned when I saw 'sid' in the URL. Sid is Debian's bleeding 
edge, often broken code but I thought it might be a usable deb.

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#38060

It sounds like the version isn’t really the issue, but:

bp@www.zefox.net writes:
> rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
>> On Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:33:01 -0000 (UTC), bp wrote:
>>> How would I go about using that repository? I've always used sudo apt
>>> install (packagename).....
>> 
>> The easiest way is to go to the site, download the deb, and then 'sudo apt 
>> install librecad_2.2.0.2-3_arm64.deb'

This is bad advice.

[...]
> The following packages have unmet dependencies:
>  librecad : Depends: libc6 (>= 2.38) but 2.36-9+rpt2+deb12u14 is to be installed

You are trying to install the sid version of librecad on bookworm
(=oldstable).  Mixing distributions like only works in particular niches
and GUI tools are often not in those niches.

sid and trixie both have 2.2.0.2 so upgrading to trixie (=stable) would
be the answer if you wanted the most recent available packaged version.

-- 
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

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#38048

On 22/06/2026 20:33, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
> Chris Townley <news@cct-net.co.uk> wrote:
>> On 22/06/2026 17:36, bp@www.zefox.net wrote:


>>
>> Current version seems to be: librecad_2.2.0.2-3_arm64.deb
>> See https://packages.debian.org/sid/arm64/librecad/download
>>
>> Rpi OS apt is often well out of date
> 
> How would I go about using that repository? I've always used
> sudo apt install (packagename).....
> 
> Thanks for posting!
> 
> bob prohaska
> 

Look at the notes on the page that I listed.

Fir mainstream products apt is good, but for many products it just 
installs ancient versions. You could compile from source, but there are 
many packages that ease the way through

-- 
Chris

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#38042

W dniu 22.06.2026 o 18:36, bp@www.zefox.net pisze:
>  but I'm starting to wonder
> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part
> of my difficulties.

How about updating to a recent AppImage?

<https://github.com/LibreCAD/LibreCAD/releases>

There is a LibreCAD-v2.2.1.5-aarch64.AppImage available. The online 
manual is probably more closely aligned with this version as well.

-- 
Z totaliztycznym salutem!
Jacek Marcin Jaworski,  Pruszcz Gd., woj. Pomorskie, Polska 🇵🇱, UE 🇪🇺;
tel.: +48-609-170-742,   najlepiej w godz.: 5:00-5:55 lub 16:00-17:25;
<jmj@energokod.gda.pl>, gpg: 4A541AA7A6E872318B85D7F6A651CC39244B0BFA;
Domowa s. WWW:                             <https://energokod.gda.pl>;
Mini Netykieta:         <https://energokod.gda.pl/MiniNetykieta.html>;
Mailowa Samoobrona:             <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pl>.
UWAGA:
NIE ZACIĄGAJ "UKRYTEGO DŁUGU"! PŁAĆ ZA PROG. FOSS I INFO. INTERNETOWE!
CZYTAJ DARMOWY: "17. Raport Totaliztyczny - Patroni Kontra Bankierzy":
<https://energokod.gda.pl/raporty-totaliztyczne/17.%20Patroni%20Kontra%20Bankierzy.pdf>

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#38050

🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 <jmj@energokod.gda.pl> wrote:
> W dniu 22.06.2026 o 18:36, bp@www.zefox.net pisze:
> >  but I'm starting to wonder
> > if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part
> > of my difficulties.
> 
> How about updating to a recent AppImage?
> 
> <https://github.com/LibreCAD/LibreCAD/releases>
> 
> There is a LibreCAD-v2.2.1.5-aarch64.AppImage available. The online 
> manual is probably more closely aligned with this version as well.

That's probably the easiest way to get a newer version.

There is also a Flatpak of 2.2.1.5:
https://flathub.org/en-GB/apps/org.librecad.librecad

Installation should be something like:

sudo apt install flatpak
sudo flatpak install flathub org.librecad.librecad
flatpak run org.librecad.librecad

(you have to launch apps from the GUI or via 'flatpak run <full package
name>' at the command line; they don't get installed in your command line path)

Theo

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#38053

🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 <jmj@energokod.gda.pl> wrote:
> W dniu 22.06.2026 o 18:36, bp@www.zefox.net pisze:
>>  but I'm starting to wonder
>> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part
>> of my difficulties.
> 
> How about updating to a recent AppImage?
> 
> <https://github.com/LibreCAD/LibreCAD/releases>
> 
> There is a LibreCAD-v2.2.1.5-aarch64.AppImage available. The online 
> manual is probably more closely aligned with this version as well.
> 
It's downloading now, how do I unpack it? 
I'm totally clueless.

Thanks for writing!

bob prohaska

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#38058

On Mon, 22 Jun 2026 23:55:41 -0000 (UTC), bp@www.zefox.net wrote:

> 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 <jmj@energokod.gda.pl> wrote:
>> W dniu 22.06.2026 o 18:36, bp@www.zefox.net pisze:
>>>  but I'm starting to wonder
>>> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part of my
>>> difficulties.
>> 
>> How about updating to a recent AppImage?
>> 
>> <https://github.com/LibreCAD/LibreCAD/releases>
>> 
>> There is a LibreCAD-v2.2.1.5-aarch64.AppImage available. The online
>> manual is probably more closely aligned with this version as well.
>> 
> It's downloading now, how do I unpack it?
> I'm totally clueless.
> 
> Thanks for writing!
> 
> bob prohaska

Just make the file executable (chmod +x "File_Name")

Then either click it (once or twice depending on how your desktop is 
setup) or just run that filename from the CLI 

bp@home$~/home/bp foobar.appimage

HTH

Avpx





-- 
"Remember - that which does not kill us can only make us stronger."
- "And that which *does* kill us leaves us *dead*!"  
(Carpe Jugulum)
Tue 11984 Sep 08:00:01 BST 1993
 08:00:01 up 19:04,  1 user,  load average: 0.95, 1.66, 1.06

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#38063

The Nomad <nomad@the.desert.invalid> wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Jun 2026 23:55:41 -0000 (UTC), bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
> 
>> 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 <jmj@energokod.gda.pl> wrote:
>>> W dniu 22.06.2026 o 18:36, bp@www.zefox.net pisze:
>>>>  but I'm starting to wonder
>>>> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part of my
>>>> difficulties.
>>> 
>>> How about updating to a recent AppImage?
>>> 
>>> <https://github.com/LibreCAD/LibreCAD/releases>
>>> 
>>> There is a LibreCAD-v2.2.1.5-aarch64.AppImage available. The online
>>> manual is probably more closely aligned with this version as well.
>>> 
>> It's downloading now, how do I unpack it?
>> I'm totally clueless.
>> 
>> Thanks for writing!
>> 
>> bob prohaska
> 
> Just make the file executable (chmod +x "File_Name")
> 
> Then either click it (once or twice depending on how your desktop is 
> setup) or just run that filename from the CLI 
> 
> bp@home$~/home/bp foobar.appimage
> 
> HTH

It does indeed help. Thank you very much!

bob prohaska
 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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#38079

bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
> The Nomad <nomad@the.desert.invalid> wrote:
>> On Mon, 22 Jun 2026 23:55:41 -0000 (UTC), bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
>> 
>>> 🇵🇱Jacek Marcin Jaworski🇵🇱 <jmj@energokod.gda.pl> wrote:
>>>> W dniu 22.06.2026 o 18:36, bp@www.zefox.net pisze:
>>>>>  but I'm starting to wonder
>>>>> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part of my
>>>>> difficulties.
>>>> 
>>>> How about updating to a recent AppImage?
>>>> 
>>>> <https://github.com/LibreCAD/LibreCAD/releases>
>>>> 
>>>> There is a LibreCAD-v2.2.1.5-aarch64.AppImage available. The online
>>>> manual is probably more closely aligned with this version as well.
>>>> 
>>> It's downloading now, how do I unpack it?
>>> I'm totally clueless.
>>> 
>>> Thanks for writing!
>>> 
>>> bob prohaska
>> 
>> Just make the file executable (chmod +x "File_Name")
>> 
>> Then either click it (once or twice depending on how your desktop is 
>> setup) or just run that filename from the CLI 
>> 
>> bp@home$~/home/bp foobar.appimage
>> 
>> HTH
> 
> It does indeed help. Thank you very much!
> 
> bob prohaska

Alas, some but not enough. Librecad crashes on startup, ending with
[Qt FATAL] Cannot mix incompatible Qt library (5.15.8) with this library (5.15.3)
Cannot mix incompatible Qt library (5.15.8) with this library (5.15.3)

Is it possible to update Qt? The OS was last updated yesterday,
so it's up to date by Raspbian standards....

Thanks for reading!

bob prohaska
  
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 

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#38043

bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
> I'm having great difficulty making librecad work by tring to 
> follow the instructions, both in the librecad manual and in
> online tutorials. If there's a good written (not video) tutorial
> it might help quite a bit, but I haven't found one.

What's not working?

> Part of my ineptitude is surely caused by first learning CAD
> on a Macintosh (Ashlar Graphite), but I'm starting to wonder
> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part
> of my difficulties.

I find LibreCAD a bit awkward.  I think it's designed as a clone of AutoCAD,
which means it inherits the AutoCAD way of doing things - that's often
backwards to how other 'design' packages do it.

For example, in older versions you couldn't just draw a rectangle with
height and width, you had to draw 4 lines and then set constraints on them
(the four corners are right angles, the left side is of length H and the
bottom side is of length W)

That's how AutoCAD works, and it makes sense when you're doing parametric
CAD.  But it's just annoying if you just want to draw some boxes to eg work
out the best positions of furniture in your room, or whatever it might be.

I can't speak for LibreCAD (which is 2D CAD) but FreeCAD takes the same
approach for 3D: you start with 2D sketches which have lines, arcs and
constraints and then you build 3D shapes from the sketches.  MangoJelly has
(a lot of) good tutorials for FreeCAD:

https://www.youtube.com/@MangoJellySolutions/playlists

- I don't think he covers LibreCAD but the generic 'CAD thinking' might be
relevant.  Any time he's talking about a sketch it's the same ideas as 2D
CAD.

I had a brief search for LibreCAD tutorials on Youtube and there's no-one I
recognise, so I can't vouch for any of reliable quality.

Theo

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#38046

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
>> I'm having great difficulty making librecad work by tring to 
>> follow the instructions, both in the librecad manual and in
>> online tutorials. If there's a good written (not video) tutorial
>> it might help quite a bit, but I haven't found one.
> 
> What's not working?

Seemingly, everything 8-)

That points strongly to me being the problem, and it's at
least partly true. I just managed to draw, save and open a
rectagle using a tutorial at 
https://docs.librecad.org/en/latest/guides/dwg-edit.html
but all layers display all the time, the response to clicks
seemed one click late and the resulting line is dash-dot,
not continuous. 


> 
>> Part of my ineptitude is surely caused by first learning CAD
>> on a Macintosh (Ashlar Graphite), but I'm starting to wonder
>> if something more (maybe an outdated APT repository) is part
>> of my difficulties.
> 
> I find LibreCAD a bit awkward.  I think it's designed as a clone of AutoCAD,
> which means it inherits the AutoCAD way of doing things - that's often
> backwards to how other 'design' packages do it.
> 
I find LibreCAD _extremely_ awkward after learning to use Ashlar Graphite,
it really spoiled me 8-) but I can't justify the license cost now.
. 
> For example, in older versions you couldn't just draw a rectangle with
> height and width, you had to draw 4 lines and then set constraints on them
> (the four corners are right angles, the left side is of length H and the
> bottom side is of length W)
> 
> That's how AutoCAD works, and it makes sense when you're doing parametric
> CAD.  But it's just annoying if you just want to draw some boxes to eg work
> out the best positions of furniture in your room, or whatever it might be.

That's the sort of problem I'm interested in, nothing sophisticated.
 
> I can't speak for LibreCAD (which is 2D CAD) but FreeCAD takes the same
> approach for 3D: you start with 2D sketches which have lines, arcs and
> constraints and then you build 3D shapes from the sketches.  MangoJelly has
> (a lot of) good tutorials for FreeCAD:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/@MangoJellySolutions/playlists
> 
> - I don't think he covers LibreCAD but the generic 'CAD thinking' might be
> relevant.  Any time he's talking about a sketch it's the same ideas as 2D
> CAD.
>

It seems helpful, I'll watch it carefully
 
> I had a brief search for LibreCAD tutorials on Youtube and there's no-one I
> recognise, so I can't vouch for any of reliable quality.
> 
I found quite a few, but they're basically unfollowable; cursors can't
be seen on-screen and the narration runs away from me.

Thanks for writing!

bob prohaska

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#38049

bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
> Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> > bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
> >> I'm having great difficulty making librecad work by tring to 
> >> follow the instructions, both in the librecad manual and in
> >> online tutorials. If there's a good written (not video) tutorial
> >> it might help quite a bit, but I haven't found one.
> > 
> > What's not working?
> 
> Seemingly, everything 8-)
> 
> That points strongly to me being the problem, and it's at
> least partly true. I just managed to draw, save and open a
> rectagle using a tutorial at 
> https://docs.librecad.org/en/latest/guides/dwg-edit.html
> but all layers display all the time, the response to clicks
> seemed one click late and the resulting line is dash-dot,
> not continuous. 

Ah, ok.  Not sure what's up there.  I wonder if it's something to do with
the graphics setup not being right?  eg Wayland issues?
 
> > I find LibreCAD a bit awkward.  I think it's designed as a clone of AutoCAD,
> > which means it inherits the AutoCAD way of doing things - that's often
> > backwards to how other 'design' packages do it.
> > 
> I find LibreCAD _extremely_ awkward after learning to use Ashlar Graphite,
> it really spoiled me 8-) but I can't justify the license cost now.

TBH when I just want 'scale drawing' rather than parametric CAD, I use
Inkscape.  That's been good enough for accurately drawing things to be laser
cut, and it works much more like a traditional vector drawing package (I
used to use Acorn's !Draw, a long time ago).  You can export DXF if you
really need AutoCAD compatibility, eg for the laser cutter.

I only really use parametric when 3D printing, and often I find I'm fighting
FreeCAD more than drawing so often end up using OpenSCAD instead (which is
more like 'writing code' than 'drawing')

(FreeCAD has got a lot better recently, but typically the problem is I know
how to express what I want parametrically, but run into problems with
constraint conflicts)

Another parametric CAD program I found easier to use is SolveSpace - I
threw in a bunch of room dimensions and it produced a house plan, working
out how thick all the walls were and how they fitted together.  Again it's
not really for drawing, it's useful specifically because it's trying to
solve your pile of constraints.  I only used it for 2D... perhaps I should
look again at its 3D features.

Theo

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#38051

On 22 Jun 2026 22:55:11 +0100 (BST), Theo wrote:

> TBH when I just want 'scale drawing' rather than parametric CAD, I
> use Inkscape.

I was wondering when someone was going to mention that ;). Add my vote
to the suggestion.

<https://inkscape.org/>

> That's been good enough for accurately drawing things to be laser
> cut, and it works much more like a traditional vector drawing
> package ...

Which is exactly what it is.

But more than that, it lets you type in exact numbers for measurements
of things, rather than having to go by eye. And of course you have the
align/distribute tools, to get things nicely arranged.

If you need to do constraint solving to place/shape things, you could
write Python code to do it. It’s better than Autolisp, anyway ...

> Another parametric CAD program I found easier to use is SolveSpace ...

That’s open-source, too <https://solvespace.com/>.

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#38054

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
>> Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>> > bp@www.zefox.net wrote:
>> >> I'm having great difficulty making librecad work by tring to 
>> >> follow the instructions, both in the librecad manual and in
>> >> online tutorials. If there's a good written (not video) tutorial
>> >> it might help quite a bit, but I haven't found one.
>> > 
>> > What's not working?
>> 
>> Seemingly, everything 8-)
>> 
>> That points strongly to me being the problem, and it's at
>> least partly true. I just managed to draw, save and open a
>> rectagle using a tutorial at 
>> https://docs.librecad.org/en/latest/guides/dwg-edit.html
>> but all layers display all the time, the response to clicks
>> seemed one click late and the resulting line is dash-dot,
>> not continuous. 
> 
> Ah, ok.  Not sure what's up there.  I wonder if it's something to do with
> the graphics setup not being right?  eg Wayland issues?
>  

That's something I didn't consider, maybe I'll try reverting to
Xorg at some point. I've also noticed that the snap function
seems to silently stop working for a time, then resume.

>> > I find LibreCAD a bit awkward.  I think it's designed as a clone of AutoCAD,
>> > which means it inherits the AutoCAD way of doing things - that's often
>> > backwards to how other 'design' packages do it.
>> > 
>> I find LibreCAD _extremely_ awkward after learning to use Ashlar Graphite,
>> it really spoiled me 8-) but I can't justify the license cost now.
> 
> TBH when I just want 'scale drawing' rather than parametric CAD, I use
> Inkscape.  That's been good enough for accurately drawing things to be laser
> cut, and it works much more like a traditional vector drawing package (I
> used to use Acorn's !Draw, a long time ago).  You can export DXF if you
> really need AutoCAD compatibility, eg for the laser cutter.
>
I messed with Inkscape a couple years ago and got it to work after a fashion.
The other day I opened it up again and my brain went blank as the page.
No memory of how I accomplished the little bit I did, IIRC a floorplan.
A crude one, at that.

Still, Inkscape didn't give me the impression the software was the
problem. Clearly the fumbles were mine. With Librecad I'm not sure.

 

 
> I only really use parametric when 3D printing, and often I find I'm fighting
> FreeCAD more than drawing so often end up using OpenSCAD instead (which is
> more like 'writing code' than 'drawing')
> 
> (FreeCAD has got a lot better recently, but typically the problem is I know
> how to express what I want parametrically, but run into problems with
> constraint conflicts)
> 
> Another parametric CAD program I found easier to use is SolveSpace - I
> threw in a bunch of room dimensions and it produced a house plan, working
> out how thick all the walls were and how they fitted together.  Again it's
> not really for drawing, it's useful specifically because it's trying to
> solve your pile of constraints.  I only used it for 2D... perhaps I should
> look again at its 3D features.

All I really need is the ability to make simple drawing to
scale so they can be checked for interference between objects.

Thanks for writing!

bob prohaska

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#38055

On Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:20:11 -0000 (UTC), bp wrote:

> I messed with Inkscape a couple years ago and got it to work after a
> fashion. The other day I opened it up again and my brain went blank
> as the page.

The default initial tool is the selection too. But of course you have
nothing to select, to begin with.

There are tools for creating shapes and drawing lines. Choose one, and
click/drag away.

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