BRLCAD available on Power Series?

[Phil Dykstra]

[FYI there is a list "cad at BRL.MIL" for discussion of BRL-CAD, but since
you asked here I'll answer it here.]

    I am not (as yet) a BRL.CAD user.  However, a colleague and I got into a
    discussion about the merits of BRL.CAD and he made a statement something
    to the effect that either BRL.CAD did not work on the Power Series, or a
    version for the Power Series is unavailable at this time, or that BRL.CAD
    on the Power Series had certain problems.  Could someone verify this ....

Our last release of BRL-CAD (3.7) came out in June 1989.  We did not get
our first Personal Iris until shortly after that release.  There are a
few problems with the Personal Iris related to use of the color map and
a couple of glitches in the software compilation/installation procedure.
These problems do not exist on the 4D Power Series machines.

    Also, I am interested in using BRL.CAD.  Some basic questions first:
    1)  How does one obtain BRL.CAD?

In brief send us a tape and a letter stating that you agree to a few
conditions (mostly that you won't sell it or give it to 3rd parties).
We fill up the tape and send it back along with one copy of the manual.
You can find details by anonymous ftp from ftp.brl.mil (a.k.a. vgr.brl.mil)
in the brl-cad directory.  I will send you an email copy.

    2)  Is it available to Government and Private Industry alike?

Yes.

    3)  Is there a cost for Government or Private Industry?

No.

    4)  How much space does it take on the Iris computers?

The source tree is 22MB including contributed code; installed binaries
are ~30MB.

    5) Approximately how long does it take one (who is well versed in
       computer graphics and basically understands CAD systems
       in general) to become capable as a basic user of BRL.CAD?

It varies a lot and depends on what you try to do with it.  If you
say follow some tutorial examples in the MGED manual you can get a
good jump on things in just a few days.  A few weeks or more to learn
other parts of the system.

- Phil
<phil at brl.mil>
uunet!brl!phil