[ Thanks to LinuxLinks for this link.
]
“Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer
technology for the design of objects, real or virtual. It
often refers to the drafting (technical drawing and engineering
drawing) of a part or product, including entire buildings. However,
CAD software is used in a wide variety of other fields such as
electronics and woven fabrics.“The Windows CAD world has long been dominated by the extremely
powerful AutoCAD software. Unfortunately, Unix support was dropped
way back in 1994, and its authors, Autodesk, have no current plans
to bring it to Linux.“Whilst it is possible to run AutoCAD in Linux using Wine, the
fact remains that it is expensive software, with no source code
available. This article instead focuses on CAD software released
under a freely distributable license, yet which retains a lot of
the functionality offered by AutoCAD.”