Running
without a restart.

Building QCad under PPC/Linux by Michael Coyle

The one killer desktop application that keeps me booting Linux is the award winning 2D drafting program QCad. Available under the GNU license, this free program is perfect for detailed technical or architectural drawings. I have used it to get estimates for a finished basement from contractors. I imported a blueprint of a new recording studio from an architect allowing me to experiment with cabinet and furniture placement.

Most source code build under Linux without modification, but QCad builds using tmake which is not installed by default on most PPC/Linux systems. Even if you have never built from source before, these instructions will walk you through the process.

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Download the tmake source to your home directory.

Open a terminal and type the following commands:

cd ~ (Switch to home directory)
rpm -ivh tmake-1.7-2.src.rpm (install source code)
cd /usr/src/rpm/SOURCES (switch to source directory)
bunzip2 tmake-1.7.tar.bz2 (unzip the source file)
tar xvf tmake-1.7.tar (unstuff the archive)
mv tmake-1.7 /usr/local/tmake (move tmake into the /usr/local directory)
TMAKEPATH=/usr/local/tmake/lib/linux-g++ (Tell the system about tmake)
PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/tmake/bin
export TMAKEPATH PATH

Now we can move on to building QCad. Download the appropriate source to your home directory. Which source is correct? On older distributions with QT 2.1, grab the 1.4.4 source. If you're running YDL 2.0 or another distro based on RedHat 7.0 and QT 2.2, download the newer 1.4.7 source.

In your terminal, enter the following commands:

cd ~ (Switch to your home directory)
rpm -ivh qcad-1.4.7-1.src.rpm (Install source rpm)
cd /usr/src/rpm/SOURCES (Switch to the source directory)
tar xvfz qcad-1.4.7-src.tar.gz (unstuff archive)
cd qcad-1.4.7-src (move into the qcad source directory)
tmake qcad.pro -o Makefile (prepare a config file)
make (build the binary)
mv qcad /usr/local/bin (move the newly built application to the binary folder)

If all went well, your application is ready to run. Just type qcad in a terminal. Be sure to download the manual and READ IT! There are a slew of keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to work faster.