Hi,
I've been looking for something like this ever since I started on computers ... but alas nothing really usefull ever crossed my path. I did use some sort of simple CasCADe in the late nineties but have since lost the program and "Open Cascade" today is far too difficult for my purpose. I was quite thrilled therefore when I found Cademia on www.cademia.org .
It is an Open Source application written in Java and as such "portable" in the platform sense as well. It can be started with a provided *.exe file and seems to run on my usb-stick in the same way as it performs on the hard drive. It can read dxf in the current version and dxf export as well as jpg import is planned for the next version (1.5).
I have found these older entries for Java support:
https://portableapps.com/node/7809
https://portableapps.com/support/openoffice_portable#java
and therefore would be happy if anybody could write a wrapper with a version that includes setting up a portable version of java or links the app to an existing one.
Many thanks for the portable apps so far and I have been quite busy setting up usb-sticks for the work at office and for friends - its just fun and looks so neat.
thanks in advance
t.woelk
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This is what you want for Java. It requires it be installed on the PC you run the installer from to copy the binaries, but that's the best that can be done until Sun finishes making it open source.
I'm taking a look at the software. If it turns out to be worthwhile I may take a crack at a paf version.
formerly rayven01
Other than the developers over-doing it with the color red, it looks pretty nice. I requested the source. I'll package it up if that checks out OK.
formerly rayven01
Here's my first crack at it. I'm still waiting to receive an answer on my request of the source, so it just uses the Cademia.exe binary wrapper that it comes with for now. In the future I'll likely bypass that and run the java directly with custom settings.
It runs. It will use a Java Portable install from CommonFiles (see link above) if it exists. It hasn't been tested thoroughly. I'll create a Development Test post once I receive the source and play around with it some more.
Download here. Note this is hosted on a local XP machine, so limited connections. Please be patient if for some reason there is a run on downloads.
Edit: Fixed typos, download is now Rev_2
formerly rayven01
Didn't work for me. I got the splash screen and then the message that it can't find Java 1.5.0. I believe I have a proper install of Java on my drive. It is located in x:\PortableApps\Commonfiles. The JavaPortable.ini shows version 1.6. If I look in the bin directory, java.exe is 6.0.20.6 dated 9/14/2007.
Did you use the tool linked in the first comment of this post to install Java on the portable drive? The launcher expects it to be installed exactly how that tool does it.
formerly rayven01
I used the Java Portablizer to install it on the drive.
And Cademia is located at X:\PortableApps\CademiaPortable? If it's any deeper in the tree it won't work, it looks for CommonFiles in the parent directory. Also, how long is your path environment variable? The launcher tries to add CommonFiles\Java\bin to your path. It's possible this could fail if the path is too long (>260 characters). If your existing path is much longer than 200 characters it may be a problem.
formerly rayven01
he says: "Commonfiles". You say "CommonFiles". Does the capitalised letter make a difference?
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
No, windows ignores case in most things, including path entries.
formerly rayven01
- Remove space in Folder created: use "CADEMIAPortable", not "CADEMIA Portable" (change line 26 i.e. the SHORTNAME to "CADEMIAPortable")
- Why are their two copies of jh.jar included?
- Same question for the help.cademia_plugin file?
- Look at other apps because I believe if you have an App\DefaultData directory, the normal action is to copy the files out of that folder to where they go on install or initial launch. That way there aren't two copies of the same file in the download. (not 100% sure of that)
- What's the updateversion.vbs file used for (I'm a VBScript c0der @ work for small projects like installing printers and whatnot)
- Leftover GnuCash text on line 2 in CADEMIAPortable.nsi
- CADEMIAPortable.nsi looks to be old version. Bump up to newer launcher codebase (if possible...I'm not doing that myself yet). Look at some of the newer DevTest releases that have less code that needs to be hacked out of their launcher .nsi files.
-The launcher has "GnuCash" left over in it, yet you credit the use of the Firefox launcher in the readme.txt was used as the basis for the launcher. Is that true?
-javaportable.ini is created by the Java Portablizer so why is your version included in the \Source\Other dir? Point being it's contents are dependent on the version of Java installed and copied to \CommonFiles\Java so your file is just "extra" IMO.
-Overall solid first effort here on PoratableApps.com as all the required files seem to be in place. Welcome!
- As far as the app itself goes...I ran it and can't add a line or anything. Also can't do "Save" or "Save As" and can't close the program by clicking on the "X" (like normal). I had to kill the app via Task Manager. Using Windows XP SP2 here.
Edit: I did get the program to run and add some limes and whatnot. Very quirky app.
Cancer Survivors -- Remember the fight, celebrate the victory!
Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!
Wow wasnt expecting this fast reactions.
I have succesfully frozen the program several times after attempting to toggle the grid. I'm not sure though wether this is a fault in Cademia, my slow pc or due to the fact that I ran it from usb-stick. I did run into other actions that just took very long so for half a minute or so the program wouldn't react to anything. Also loading large dxf files (30mb and more) can take really long. This has been addressed on their forum. If this freezing is a bug in Cademia we could maybe ask the developers to tweak their app for use on an usb-stick environment. All in all I think this could be really usefull even if I only use it as open source dxf viewer that I can bundle with some dxf files on a portable media.
t.woelk
Do you have regular java installed on that machine on C? If so, try running it directly from CADEMIAPortable/App/Cademia/Cademia.exe. See if you get the same issues. That will rule out the launcher and/or Portable Java as the cause.
Also they recommend java 5 even though java 6 is the newest. If you have 6 installed that may cause issues.
formerly rayven01
oops my bad
I simply hadn't switched myself from grafic design draw programs to technical drawing CAD programs. Simply pressing the escape key several times solved most of my freezing issues. Cademia was simply waiting for me to enter some values or commands in the box at the bottom of the window. Should have known.
Yeah that got me a couple of times at first too.
formerly rayven01
- Remove space in Folder created: use "CADEMIAPortable", not "CADEMIA Portable" (change line 26 i.e. the SHORTNAME to "CADEMIAPortable")
Fixed. (Typo in the installer)
- Why are their two copies of jh.jar included?
- Same question for the help.cademia_plugin file?
- Look at other apps because I believe if you have an App\DefaultData directory, the normal action is to copy the files out of that folder to where they go on install or initial launch. That way there aren't two copies of the same file in the download. (not 100% sure of that)
Fixed (Ran the installer in place on my testing version, so it had already been copied)
- What's the updateversion.vbs file used for (I'm a VBScript c0der @ work for small projects like installing printers and whatnot)
Helper script to automatically update the version on all files that need it on new releases. I left it in since it's tiny and may be useful to other developers.
- CADEMIAPortable.nsi looks to be old version. Bump up to newer launcher codebase (if possible...I'm not doing that myself yet). Look at some of the newer DevTest releases that have less code that needs to be hacked out of their launcher .nsi files.
It was definitely one released within the last month or so. They all seem to be slightly different. Everything that's in there is in there for a reason, not just left over from a cut & paste. The only old thing I noticed was I was using the old newadvsplash plugin, that's been fixed.
- Leftover GnuCash text on line 2 in CADEMIAPortable.nsi
-The launcher has "GnuCash" left over in it, yet you credit the use of the Firefox launcher in the readme.txt was used as the basis for the launcher. Is that true?
What exactly seems out of date? It was created from a mix of several of the newer releases, with a lot of stuff like comments, Readme etc cut from GnuCash Portable since I'd already written that (thus the line 2 typo, and Readme.txt mentioning Firefox). I actually can't remember which app's launcher I started from.
-javaportable.ini is created by the Java Portablizer so why is your version included in the \Source\Other dir? Point being it's contents are dependent on the version of Java installed and copied to \CommonFiles\Java so your file is just "extra" IMO.
Removed. I copied this in thinking I may need it since it was in my OpenOfficePortable Source folder (the last released app that uses CommonFiles\Java), but I didn't end up needing any of that Java code.
-Overall solid first effort here on PoratableApps.com as all the required files seem to be in place. Welcome!
Thanks! GnuCash was actually my first effort. By "First Crack" I meant my first try at this app.
- As far as the app itself goes...I ran it and can't add a line or anything. Also can't do "Save" or "Save As" and can't close the program by clicking on the "X" (like normal). I had to kill the app via Task Manager. Using Windows XP SP2 here.
Edit: I did get the program to run and add some limes and whatnot. Very quirky app.
Hmm.. I haven't had any problems. Any ideas what caused it at first?
formerly rayven01
On first glance the launcher looked to be using older code in the .nsi file. Later on, the more I looked though the code the more newer it looked. I think the early morning testing threw me off.
BTW: I'm using the locally installed Sun Java which is version 6 (not portabalized) so that may account for some of the flakiness I've seen.
Cancer Survivors -- Remember the fight, celebrate the victory!
Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!
I would apprieciate very much eventually finding a CAD Portable app here ....
That would be very nice ..... and useful
I just downloaded Portable CAD and am giving it a try. It seems to be stable on my laptop and, when I get it home, I'll try to load in and manipulate some AutoCAD files (I run AutoCAD on my home computer).
I'll report back my results and comparisons to AutoCAD. One thing I didn't notice (but maybe didn't inspect all of the options) is the ability to add layers. Is it there somewhere?
Paulf
Yes, I saw it in one of the menus.
formerly rayven01
As an update, I still have not received a reply to my request for the CADemia source, so I've not gone any further on this. I resubmitted my request today.
formerly rayven01