The ideal is obviously using a totally open source environment to develop things with a RepRap/MakerBot. For the most part I use open source software – FireFox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Pigin, PHP, MySQL, WordPress.
However, I’m still tied to certain closed source proprietary software. I still use Windows and haven’t made the leap of faith to Linux/Ubuntu. I really like the ease of use and intuitive nature of Google’s Sketchup. But, I can’t help feel like a little bit of a sham – still clinging to Windows and Sketchup because they’re easy and familiar. All the while cranking out wonderful plastic goodness with my open source hardware ‘bot.
I have a feeling I could get used to Linux/Ubuntu if I gave them a shot, but the alternatives to Sketchup I’ve seen and tried are nearly unintelligible. Does this mean I try to run Wine or break down and spend the time to learn something else?
actually solid works and Visual C# is what I miss most.
My Wife and I made the switch on our computers to ubuntu about a year ago.
I really enjoy your blog, keep it up. I am waiting for my makerbot (batch 10) to arrive.
I’m so complacent with my Windows XP on my favorite beat up laptop. I have Vista on my nice new(ish) laptop, but I’ve basically disabled everything that I can to make it look and act much more like XP. I’ve heard great things about Ubuntu and hope I’m brave enough to make that leap.
Congratulations on buying a MakerBot!!! There are a lot of really great design features to Batch 9+ you’re going to discover as you build. I’ve never built anything like this before and thoroughly enjoyed it.