Which distro has a good assortment of 3D CAD programs in the repository?

Blender won't do what I need, afik.

Thanks.

Here's a list of what's available, both free and commercial
http://linuxappfinder.com/graphics/3dmodellingrendering

Anything can be compiled on any system, such as PCLinuxOS, but Debian has the largest repository. Check out package lists via
http://pkgs.org/

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you are not going to want to hear this but
for 3d CAD

install Windows7 64 bit on a box with 32+ gig ram
then buy AutoCAD

Thanks, I got Qcad to download from the pclos repo. Opencascade downloaded and went into hiding

If Qcad won't do what I need, I'll check with the Mepis folks.

Opencascade running on OpenInverter is a bit fun to get everything going

Qcad is a basic cad program and is 2d

"Art of Illusion" but it requires java 1.5
not the current 1.7 or older 1.6


have a look at
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/...d-alternatives

and freeCAD
http://www.freecadweb.org/


but what exactly is it you want to do

I want to draw an out of production spark plug insulator for 3D printing.
It is a simple 5" cylinder with a central hole. ID and OD both change
near the bottom and there is an OD taper involved. Measurements need
to be precise and I'm led to believe Blender can't handle that aspect.

you are correct in that blender dose not use English or metric
it uses it's own units

have a look at FreeCAD

I looked at Qcad and it is 2D and I need 3D.

I installed PC-BSD and tried a couple of the solid modeling software offerings such as Wings3d and K-3D. Neither seem to let you draw to any kind of precise measurements.

FreeCAD seems to be what I want. Not after anything fancy, just something that works.

PCLinuxOS does not show it in their repository and I'm not signed up to make a request.
I didn't see it in the Mepis repo either, nor in the PC-BSD repo.

The wiki states: "On most recent distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora or Arch, FreeCAD is included in the official distribution's packages repository, and you are advised to preferably get FreeCAD from there, to make sure you have a version that is 100% compatible with your system. The pivy python module (usually named python-pivy) is needed by FreeCAD from version 0.9 or above. If it is not available on your system, you must download it from here too."

Thanks to everyone who offered help.