> On Jul 5, 2023, at 10:27 AM, Thomas J Powderly <tjt...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Since this thread has 'evolved' into free 3D modeling software... > > Can I ask how to get Fusion 360 on a Linux box?
It is easy. But you need Linux on Intel. ARM-based Linux will not work 1) install a virtual machine system. VMware works well and it is free 2) install Windows 11 in the virtual machine. It is free also as long as you don’t care if it is “activated”. The only problem with non-activated is you get nagged to activate it. 3) install Fusion 360 on the virtual Windows 11 It runs surprisingly fast if your Linux machine has enough cores and RAM to run both Linux and Windows at the same time. In VMWare’s setting asign at least about 16GB and 4 cores to the Windows VM. It can work with less but it gets slow. I just moved to an Apple Mac M2 Pro. This is a 10-core Apple Silicon system. A Beta release of Fusion 360 just came out that runs native on Apple Silicon. It is very fast now. and also very cost effective. Apple is MUCH less cost than a top of the line Intel i9 A $2000 Intel i9 or Xeon with or 64 GB RAM and fast M.2 based SSD running Linux/VMware/Windows/Fusion is very usable for projects like robotics that have hundreds of complex 3D parts. But such a PC is not cheap. An Apple Mac mini configured to cost about $800 to $1,200 will give a better user experience. I actually have both of these here now. That said, I’d bet simply running Windows 11 directly on high-end hardware (with a good GPU) would be even better. For many simple projects the above is over kill. Use OpenScad or FreeCAD for many projects that have only a few parts and are very geometric. Fusion 360 (or the like) beciase needed if you project is something like a battery-operated drill that has internal gears, and complex shape housing with rubber over-molding. Fusion is good for work of about the complexity of a Millwaulkee power tool. The Mac or Intel i9 would be powerfull enough to Support the design of a typical power tool. For simpler parts less i required. I have another data point at the low end. An Intel “Core 2” with 8GB RAM and integrated graphics from 2014 is just barely able to run a VMware/Windows/Fusion stack. I would not recommend it. While my 16-core Xeon with 64 GB RAM runs it well as does the new Mac. (the Mac being a little faster) _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
