Subject:
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Re: Feedback on everything CAD related
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad
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Date:
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Mon, 19 Feb 2001 07:03:09 GMT
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"Kyle D. Jackson" <flightdeck@sympatico.deletethisspamblock.ca> wrote in message
news:G8zBB7.9K1@lugnet.com...
> Thanx for your help Tim. Again, just in case it wasn't clear
> the first time, my intent is not to gripe and snipe at the work
> of people who provide these great tools as a courtesy to the rest of
> us. It's just that there is a lot of focus on the "bigger and
> better things" in the future of LEGO CAD, that maybe some of
> the smaller every day things get overlooked. Things that the
> developers and "regulars" perhaps don't notice, but something
> that newbies are definitely going to smack face-first into...,
> with great pain :]
Yes, I understand your intent, and I apprecaite you letting us know. This is
something pretty important to us, that we did in fact overlook. I've discussed
this and have severely marked up the printed copy of your post, and I think I
know how I'll solve the problem on the pages.
> In my case, problems were caused by many "little" things like
> broken links, out-of-date readme.txt files, and some information
> not being smack-me-over-the-head obvious. To my credit I am
> a veteran computer user and coder and would eventually figure out
> what I have to do anyhow. But for the great many newcomers who
> aren't, I can imagine them having even worse of a time. "Little"
> things like how to set an environment variable for instance.
Yes. Even I can't get L3PAO to work...but, I am lazy ;-) I don't quite
understand the ldraw.ini file (originated by Steve Bliss and LDAO I think) yet.
Though I've brosed it and looked at the variables. I'll bet I can figure it out
if I really sat down and concentrated on it though...
> Another thing I could add is that I first installed the Ldraw/MLCAD
> deal early last fall using the "Get Started NOW!" procedure on
> Ldraw.org. And it worked like a charm and I was up and running in
> no time. I think I even posted a testimonial then stating how
> ecstatic I was :]
Glad to hear it. I'm thinking of taking out the two sections, and just asking a
simpler question - do you want to edit in Windows, or DOS (or Linux or Mac)?
And then if they choose Windows explain why they have to download LDraw and that
they never have to run its editing software.
> But in this recent case I was trying to update the
> tools already installed. And there seems no friendly procedure
> available for that.
You're right.
> I believe it would be unwise to assume that
> because someone has installed it all the first time, they are
> now an expert enough to manually plot through the updating
> sequences. I think maybe this would be a good place to focus
> some efforts in the future. It all depends on how easy people
> want to make it, and whether they've the time they want to devote
> to it, I guess.
Yeah. Its a time/motivation stretch for me, but something irks me about
potential users getting frustrated and turning away. I still get silly
questions (that are no-brainers) about the stuff, but I guess those are a given.
If the CAD community is going to grow, we gotta make it easy for them to get
started and keep going.
> In the meantime about the only thing I can offer is feedback such as
> this. It's not meant to criticize anyone's efforts, so I genuinely
> hope that someone will find it useful.
Yep, we find it useful and don't take it as criticism in the least. Its
actually helpful. Negative feedback is better than no feedback at all (though
your comments weren't negative, your experience was, and that counts).
In closing, lemme take a sec to explain the original LDraw archive that as of
now everyone has to download:
LDraw proper - ldraw.exe, never changes. It contains LDraw - a DOS renderer,
and LEdit, a DOS editor, plus a parts list creation utility and minimal
documentation. This is the original piece of software by James Jessiman, before
he passed away.
What you really need LDraw for is license issues with the parts. And, as soon
as we form a formal org (working on it!) and implement the parts license, that
will no longer be needed. Programs like MLCad will be able to package the parts
libraries WITH it on download, for a seamless download/installation experience.
So no, you never need to 'update your LDraw.' You do need to update your parts
libraries when there is a release, though.
Thanks Kyle.
--
Tim Courtney - tim@ldraw.org
http://www.ldraw.org - Centralized LDraw Resources
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Feedback on everything CAD related
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| (...) Thanx for your help Tim. Again, just in case it wasn't clear the first time, my intent is not to gripe and snipe at the work of people who provide these great tools as a courtesy to the rest of us. It's just that there is a lot of focus on the (...) (24 years ago, 19-Feb-01, to lugnet.cad)
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