As per the title. Posting this right after Ondsel yet again catastrophically destroying a smaller, but mid-complexity multi-part assembly. As such, FreeCAD and Ondsel are non-starters due to the amount of detrimental bugs. I have used SolveSpace for a short time, but it lacks many features (chamfer, fillet tools as base examples).

I have looked into OpenSCAD previously, but decided learning the scripting language wasn't worth the time. Perhaps with other FOSS options running out, it's time to give it a fair try. If it's CAD kernel is particularly reliable and it has some way to interchange sets of defined parameters like FreeCAD's Configuration Tables, OpenSCAD may be a clear winner.

To note at this point, I am not opposed to using or purchasing proprietary software, as long as the Linux support isn't half-assed and the price is reasonable (no subscriptions, having a lifetime license for personal/small-time commercial under ~$400 USD per seat).

If anyone has suggestions, or better yet has used something that might fit what I am looking for, I'd love to hear about it.

UPDATE:

I ended up trying out CADQuery with CQ-Editor and my text editor of choice as a replacement for the project I was working on in Ondsel. So why CADQuery specifically? (This is long; I've included a TL;DR near the bottom if you don't want to read a wall of text.)

Defining Features For Me:

Both CADQuery and OpenSCAD support programmatic definition of CAD, which affords having a very declarative way to construct your CAD assemblies. Having global control over models with some ways offered to tackle topological naming makes for a functional experience that allows for quick edits to parts that don't typically result in footguns. FreeCAD 1.0 just released, supposedly solving the TNP. I might have to demo it at some point just to see if a lot of the bugs and footguns that relate to a lack of TN in previous versions have also been fixed. Above OpenSCAD, CADQuery's script for writing CAD is directly Python, meaning one has a relatively mature language to really do some powerful things (such as scripted templating for sketches and other parts or having an alternative to FreeCAD's configuration tables). Given that many complex things (such as lofting dissimilar surfaces) people write in OpenSCAD end up referring back to Python scripts anyway, natively using Python as the basis for CADQuery is honestly a good choice.

Another thing (for better or for worse) is that CADQuery is based on OpenCascade. OCC certainly has its quirks like not being able to define zero-length bodies. It also has a lot of nice features such as STEP export, lofting between dissimilar surfaces, support for splines, etc. A lot of the core features I would expect coming from FreeCAD do exist in some manner in in CADQuery as a result. Some features aren't fully baked however. Spline support does exist in CADQuery, but is limited in how it can be used (it cannot be used with the Sketch Constraint Solver unlike line segments and arcs). For some very specific projects, this might end up being a dealbreaker, requiring me to use FreeCAD just to get the feature. For most applications I design for however, I don't see this being a huge caveat in many cases. Due to the declarative nature on top of OCC; if you make a defective design that won't resolve properly, it will result in a swift error (for as long as you are checking) rather than some of the quieter failures that FreeCAD may emanate. On top of that, the core sketching tools and other implementations of core part-building features aren't completely riddled with bugs. CAD models actually stay consistent when designed with CADQuery compared to FreeCAD occasionally mutating sketches and parts.

Overall, CADQuery as a CAD design language is quite solid, and seeing that it's quite extensible with projects like cq-kit existing is a decent sign for its maturity.

Flaws and Nitpicks:

While CADQuery itself is pretty good, I can't really say the same for the onboarding documentation as well as the officially-supported CQ-Editor. As someone with not a lot of Python 3rd-party tooling experience (conda, mamba, etc.), I went mostly by the books initially for installing CADQuery and CQ-Editor together. This was a mistake. CADQuery and CQ-Editor can be either installed through a huge set of release files bundled and unpacked in a shell script or through conda, pip. I initially tried the bundled command set using conda and mamba, but stopped when I realized the recommended tool of use (mamba) was really attempting to mess with my shell configuration and other properties. So out the window with it and in with just pip in a venv. I ended up getting things mostly installed until I ran into issues with core functionality in CQ-Editor that many said didn't have issues using package installation via mamba. I then also found that CQ-Editor recommended using micromamba in lieu of mamba for a less shell-invasive installation. So I dumped my venv and setup an installation with micromamba. I then ran into issues with just being able to display a CADQuery test sample. While wading through several similar issues, I found the one that noted that an older version of a given dependency actually needed to be installed for the latest nightly builds of CQ-Editor to properly function. This worked, and CQ-Editor works, but this left me with several questions. In my bug resolving, I curiously looked up queries for distro-specific packages or even a Flatpak for CQ-Editor. The devs explicitly shot down Flatpak support a while back, citing the installation through pip (and conda now) was sufficient.

Based on my experience, not providing distro packages or a Flatpak for CQ-Editor is honestly a mistake. I tend to try a lot of software on Linux so that I can gauge how various pieces of open-source software stack up against each other. I interact with a fair amount of newer Linux users and generally like having a decent answer to most queries of 'How do I do x'. Obviously, CADQuery has a steeper learning curve than many CAD solutions (especially comparing to the likes of Fusion 360), so for many I might recommend something more along the lines of Dune 3D instead. I do however think that no distro packages, no Flatpak, no actual stable releases that work on the current version of CADQuery (no stable releases for 3+ years), and an installation process to get a minimum viable installation that differs significantly from the documentation is a good onboarding experience. This is honestly just not acceptable if CADQuery and the CQ-Editor project want people to actually use it.

Furthermore, CQ-Editor is the primary and supposedly most feature-filled graphical viewer/editor for CADQuery. This is honestly disappointing to hear as the editor just lacks a lot of basic features. I'll just list a few basics. It's a Qt5 application that takes from the system theme by default, but has hardcoded editor and terminal color schemes and a lack of dark-mode icons. It also seems to be a Qt5 application running without native Wayland support. The viewer has no clipping planes, meaning that the only way to gauge part tolerance and internals is to set the opacity of parts in view. The editor is very basic in terms of features, and is almost certainly something that will get disabled immediately in favor of an external editor.

TL;DR:

CADQuery is great as someone coming from FreeCAD and descendants. It has a steeper learning curve being that it uses Python scripting. It has less core bugs than FreeCAD, but some bits of functionality are missing. It also shares many familiar quirks with FreeCAD due to both being built on top of OpenCascade. CQ-Editor really drops the ball in UX and general quality. The installation of CADQuery together with CQ-Editor was unnecessarily painful, and easily the worst part of the experience thus far. I might recommend using CADQuery if you're familiar with Python (a relatively simple programming language). Installing it however, will likely be a major hurdle to actually using it. More so than actually learning CADQuery.

Alternative I Might Recommend to Beginner Users:

A curious and relatively new software I came across that wasn't already recommended is Dune 3D. It's a non-starter for me because it has no configuration-table analogues, but seems to be something that tries to mimic the ease-of-use and reliability of SolveSpace, but with some more features such as chamfers and fillets. I do need to play around with this more, but does look to be a nice solution, if it's not riddled with bugs.

So before anyone mentions it, yes I really did want to put Linux on it (MX Linux is my current favorite), but the person it's for is not very computer savvy and I don't feel like doing tech support, so fuck it, they can keep using Windows.

But before I hand it off, I was wondering what else I should install (and/or what stupid Windows settings to disable) to make it as usable and secure as reasonably possible.

So far I'm thinking Firefox + uBlock Origin, and maybe Avast unless someone has a less annoying free antivirus.

Not looking for the “best one” in terms of quality of software but more the most used and popular one, ie. an alternative that’s fleshed out.

TMDB is owned by a for profit company so I’d prefer something else.

Also open to recommendations for similar diagnostic software for other data storage media like SSDs, flash drives, and SD cards. Just wanted to keep the title short and specific. If you're making recommendations for tools for the other types of media, please mention that.

Thanks in advance!

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/18448635

Hi,

I was a very long time I didn't need to created a animated gif... I had a program before to take a static images (.jpg, .png etc..) and convert then into an animated gif..

All the web search engine push for online (aka SaaSS) tool 🤮

Do you know a program that do that ( Linux )

Thanks.

Aware of Raindrop, but not a fan of freemium models & the data being stored primarily in the cloud. Many alternatives I've found are self-hosted, however if possible I'd prefer a desktop app with data stored locally.

Thanks in advance!

Hello all. I'm looking for (a) program(s) to manage & document things in life. Mainly these features are what I need:

• Diary, random notes(like a wiki?) with version control
• TODO list, auto added to diary at that time period
• Ability to attach images and text files to those diary, notes
• Calendar with schedule synced with TODO
• Easy backup, preferably in plaintext or simple db
• Text search

Currently I'm using SeaMonkey and my phone(android) to manage calendar (so two separated ones), a paper note to write diaries and use dokuwiki for random notes. This setup is too complicated and isn't productive at all.

I do think my requirements are kinda abstract, and there most likely isn't a single program that can do all this. Although basic I'm a novice FreeBSD & Emacs+evil user so *nix-only or text-based utilities are okay. I'm not aware of any program that meets these needs, is there anything that resembles what I'm thinking? Thanks!

I have many ebooks I have from scouring the Internet in two formats: epub and PDF. I want something server like that lets me drop read them from any device on my local network and remembers where I left the book on device and let's me continue on another. I want the client app to have android and Linux support while the server should run on linux. Is there anything out there? Bonus points if it autographs metadata from the internet and organises them by topics, authors, ddc etc.

TLDR: An ebook library running on a Linux server with Android and Linux client software.

I am looking for a note talking app to keep work notes in. My requirements are:

• Allow hierarchical organization of notes (like project1, project1/build, project1/configure) and easy to navigate to different notes.
• Allow basic formatting (heading, code block).
• Run locally
• (Optionally) Have a table of contents for quick navigation

Obsidian looked promising and had the additional benefit of storing notes in Markdown format for easy export. Unfortunately, I would need to buy a commercial license in order to store work-related information.

Not really from a privacy concern, that's simply a bonus, more of a reliability/convenience interest. Even if internet/mobile internet is out for some reason, being able to easily text across local network would be nice.

For Windows/Android mainly, but crossplatform tools that include those are great too!

I have 30 pictures of 6 months of weight loss pics. In all of them I'm standing in the same background in the same position. I'm willing to do a little bit of *cutting out" backgrounds and drawing nodes if I need to.

I don't have the money for expensive software, so I'm hoping for something free or open source, even if it means I have to do extra work.

PDFs are ubiquitous in life, and choosing the right PDF reader for your phone can minimize the frustration of reading, signing, editing, and sharing these documents. While PDFs can be opened and read in any browser, a dedicated app has all the necessary functionality to make managing these documents a breeze.

We've collected the best PDF readers for Android together so you can find one that best fits your needs. Many of these are also compatible with our top Chromebooks for every budget so that you can edit your PDFs from your laptop. If you need to turn a paper document into a PDF file, here's how to clearly scan your documents on your Android device.

I don't mind cloud solutions that I need to pay as long as it's fair and the software is worth it. Having that said, I also don't mind one that simply exposes the stream and I need to setup my router to access it remotely.

Portable as in software you can download and toss on a flash/thumb drive and use on other PCs.

The goal: See upcoming events from various NYC venues in one place, possibly my Google Calendar

The problem: Bars and venues all use different sites and apps to manage their event calendars, forcing me to check each venue's website individually. It sucks!

My best guess at a solution: Find a way to convert the venue's websites/calendars to RSS, then use IFTTT to convert the RSS feeds to Google Calendar entries.

1. Is that the correct solution?
2. Does anyone know the best way to convert these sites to RSS?

Here are the calendars that I need to convert:

• Barbes

• Rockwood

• Union Hall

• The Skint This one actually has RSS, but it combines multiple events into each RSS entry

• Starr Bar

• Jalopy Theatre

• Art Cards

• Art Net

• NY Art World

And one newsletter:

• Nonsense NYC

These venues already use Google Calendar, so I've successfully imported them:

• House of Yes

• Union Docs

• Branded Saloon

• Sid Gold's Request Room

Thank you Software Options!

I like todo lists, and I like time blocking so I can schedule out specific hours to work on each task. However I have yet to find an app that combines these cleanly.

Features I am looking for:

• Todo list that allows nested lists, and adding details to each item (due date, more detailed instructions, etc.)
• Seamless integration with a calendar, so I can assign a given todo item to a date and time
• Adjustable time durations. Not every task is exactly 1 hour.
• Accessible and syncable across PC and Android,
• Freeee....?

Nice to have:

• Sync with Google Calendar/Tasks
• Color-coding tasks

Windows Live Gallery had a great Photo Fuse feature that allowed you to select multiple similar photos and be able to select which faces from each photo would be used in the final composite image. This was great for group photos where in every photo someone isn’t looking at the camera or blinking etc, as you can combine them all and select all the faces that are looking in the right direction. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-Zy4mLkEL4

Unfortunately, Windows Live Gallery is now unsupported and unavailable for download. Is there any software that has similar functionality (offline/online)? Preferably on Android so I can directly clean up my picture collection as I take the photos.

I know I could do this manually in something like photoshop, but that's not what I'm looking for.

I'm interested in recommendations for apps to share ideas, links, screenshots, text,... with my wife.

Use cases: sharing possible vacation spots, things we need to buy for our kid, interesting articles about specific topics, useful links regarding a project we're both working on and so on.

Currently it's all cluttered in text messages.

I've looked into

• Nextcloud Deck
• Trello (my current top pick)
• ClickUp
• Notion

and a few others but most of these tools are geared towards project management while I'm looking for something more versatile/"creative".

Here is what I need:

• Android and Windows Client or preferably Webapp
• Easy sharing from Android and browser
• Possibility to create different workspaces/topics/channels
• Decent and simple UI
• FOSS is a plus
• Doesn't have to bee free
• Not selfhosted

Thanks everybody!

I'm looking for an alternative to Clipboard History since it has a limit on the amount of text it can store (11kb per text copied)

It has an ignore list option (to prevent storing passwords, credit card info, etc.), and I couldn't find that in any other program (at least not in their description/features lists)

I'd also like it to have an option to auto-clear the history on exit but this is optional.

Thank you in advance :)

I didn't know whether it would be best to post in a windows, open source, or software community for this - but this seems best. If not, please redirect me and I will be on my way :)

I'm on the hunt for some kind of windows software (or website is fine) that allows me to craft a guide. I have been using https://www.getpaint.net/ but it's just so tedious and meticulous to align everything perfectly (which you can see if you look at my example below). I would like the software to allow me to:

• Add/edit text, images, resize images
• Move around content (text/images)
• Color sections
• Create shapes/drawings (ideally with color customization like borders & thickness levels) - including lines and other shapes like arrows, circles, etc
• Dividers between sections (see image for an example)
• Modify background color
• Modify text font (type, size, color)
• Text formatting (bullets, numbers) though I can also just manually write 1. 2. etc, or draw a circle shape if needed
• ADDED: the ability to adjust canvas size / full dimensions (see how in the example below its a vertical guide. I also would want to be able to add additional space if it gets cramped, so also the ability to select multiple elements and move together
• ADDED: the ability to save the project as a PNG, I'm sure I could probably just screenshot with snipping tool but that isn't super ideal
• ADDED: having elements snap to keep everything aligned easily (or any other way to keep things aligned, rather than what I've had to do with pain.net which is just manually dragging & eyeballing the alignment)

This is specifically for video games but could honestly apply for anything that could have a cheat sheet or a guide

Here is an example for a Lost Ark raid - anything that can make this is what I'm looking for

I am willing to pay a one time fee for a product if it's a a price affordable enough for me, otherwise I'm looking for something possibly FOSS. I'm hoping there's something out there better for this than paint.net , but there might not be. I appreciate any suggestions in advance!

I've recently wanted a more programmable one, as my work recently broke the shared calendar (but haven't broke the rss feed for it, yet!). Suggestions?

Hi, I'm looking for an app in which you can have shared timers with other users across both iOS and Android. A website could also work, especially if it's a pwa.