[solved] Installing On A Chromebook

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khreha
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Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2022 3:47 am

[solved] Installing On A Chromebook

Post by khreha » Mon Dec 05, 2022 3:58 am

My Asus i3 Chromebook has no problems running LibreCad, (which I understand is a fork of qcad), but I can not figure out how to install qcad on this Chromebook. And I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable about Linux on a Chromebook can help me out since qcad is more up to date, and in my opinion, a better option for me that LibreCad.

The instructions on the qcad webpage are out of date. There is no qcad program available on the Chromeweb store, (at least not in the USA !). And since the terminal program on a Chromebook functions some what differently than the move conventional Debian distributions, none of those suggestions work either. (NOTE: There is a installer for LibreCad but not for qcad. And also, double clicking on the qcad download file does nothing. And furthermore, there is no way to "right click" on the downloaded file to change it's properties on a Linux running Chromebook that I can find.)

Does anyone know how to install the downloaded Linux qcad3.27.8 file, stored in the Chromebook "Linux Files" directory ? Again, the Linux virtual machine on a Chromebook is different from the more conventional Linux directory structure. Yet everything I search for assumes it's a typical Debian files structure.

Thanks

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andrew
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Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:07 am

Re: Installing On A Chromebook

Post by andrew » Mon Dec 05, 2022 10:16 am

Unfortunately, I have no experience with Chromebooks or their operating system. As far as I know, this is mostly an Internet access device with very limited capabilities for local software installation.

Our instructions are indeed for regular Linux installations, not the Chromebook type. Perhaps, you can try to download the tar.gz and extract it instead. This might work since your Chromebook has an Intel processor. For ARM Chromebooks, there is currently no way to run QCAD Professional.
khreha wrote:
Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:01 am
There is no qcad program available on the Chromeweb store, (at least not in the USA !).
Confirmed. We exclusively distribute through our website. The Chromebook is not a supported target platform at this point. QCAD might or might not work on such a device / system.

tmntmn
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Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2024 2:56 pm

Re: Installing On A Chromebook

Post by tmntmn » Sat Feb 03, 2024 3:09 pm

Hi All

Tried to install the qcad-3.29.3-trial-linux-x86_64.tar.gz on a i5 chromebook.

To my surprise it started up and everything worked just fine. I opened old files without any issues. But after a couple of minutes the trail version expired.

But when I tried to run the program once more, it could not start anymore.

thomas@penguin:~/QCAD/qcad-3.29.3-trial-linux-x86_64$ ./qcad
QCAD version 3.29.3
15:04:02: Debug: loading plugins...
15:04:02: Debug: RDwgPlugin::init: trial
15:04:02: Debug: RPolygonPlugin::init
15:04:02: Debug: RProScriptsPlugin::init: trial
15:04:02: Debug: RTracePlugin::init: trial
15:04:02: Debug: loading static plugins...
15:04:03: Debug: loading plugins...
15:04:03: Debug: loading static plugins...
15:04:03: Debug: loading plugins...
15:04:03: Debug: loading static plugins...
15:04:04: Debug: loading plugins...
15:04:04: Debug: loading static plugins...

The Qcad window opens but icons are greyed out.

My question is. Is there a chance this will work with the payed version? If so I would be happy to upgrade.

Best regards

Thomas

CVH
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Re: Installing On A Chromebook

Post by CVH » Sat Feb 03, 2024 4:11 pm

tmntmn wrote:
Sat Feb 03, 2024 3:09 pm
But when I tried to run the program once more, it could not start anymore.
The Qcad window opens but icons are greyed out.
A trial version is limited in time per session and can be opened a limited numbers of times.
Perhaps it failed to register the session after the initial run ... Guessing.
I can't ensure you that a licensed copy would run or would run more stable.

IMHO: If it runs once it should run again but from your list it seems to hang somewhere loading plugins.
Does that keeps on repeating?
So far it doesn't report something critical ...

Remark that:
- Icons are normally grayed out without an open drawing.
(Except New, New from.. , Open, Windows tools and those of the Help menu)
- Buttons of tools that require a selection are grayed out without an active selection.

Regards,
CVH

tmntmn
Registered Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2024 2:56 pm

Re: Installing On A Chromebook

Post by tmntmn » Sat Feb 03, 2024 7:33 pm

Hi Again

Found the problem.

I was using a dock with external displays. The qcad was starting correct, but the "nag" trail popup window was only showing on the close chromebook.

Afterwards I've tried about everything including printing and everything seems to work very smooth.

So with the correct hardware Qcad works on chromebooks :-)

Best regards

Thomas

postpoopzoomiez
Registered Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2024 6:51 pm

Re: [solved] Installing On A Chromebook

Post by postpoopzoomiez » Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:18 pm

I wanted to add this on here in case anyone needed it. I'm new to Linux and was having a lot of trouble getting QCAD to run on my chromebook, and everything I found online wasn't very helpful. I eventually figured out how to get it to run, and how to pin it directly to the shelf as you would any other app.

I apologize if I have forgotten any steps. This has been a big learning process and I wasn't taking notes, so I'm going from memory lol.

My chromebook is a Lenovo flex 5i with an Intel core i3. I installed the qcad 3.29.4 pro version.

You will need a text editor program, as well as a file manager program, to do this.

------------------------------------------------

1.Download the qcad tar.gz and extract to My Files > Linux Files (to make things simple I renamed the extracted folder to QCAD. I suggest doing this to make following along easier)

2.open up the terminal and type the following:

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cd /home/”username”/QCAD
3.Once in QCAD directory, type:

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chmod u=rwx,g=r,o=r ./qcad
then

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chmod u=rwx,g=r,o=r ./qcad-bin
4.Next we need to create a .sh file to execute qcad. In the text program type:

#!/bin/bash

cd /home/”username”/QCAD

./qcad


5.Save as “qcad.sh” in the QCAD folder

6.Next we need to create a .desktop that we can add to the chrome os laucher and pin to the shelf. In a new text program type:

[Desktop Entry]

Type=Application

Name=qcad

Exec=/home/"username"/QCAD/qcad.sh


7.Save as “qcad.desktop” in the QCAD folder

8.Now in the terminal (still in QCAD directory) type:

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chmod u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx ./qcad.desktop
9.Now we need to move the desktop file into the correct folder. In a separate terminal window (non QCAD directory but default), type:

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sudo su root
to enable root. next, type:

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chmod o=wrx /usr/share/applications

10.This will allow us to drop the file in the correct folder. Using the file manager, copy the qcad.desktop file from the QCAD folder and paste it into the /usr/share/applications folder. (At this time you can go to properties for the .desktop file and change the icon to the qcad icon in the QCAD folder, if you want to)

11.At this point qcad should appear in the launcher with the other linux apps, and you should be able to pin it to the shelf. before we finish, in the terminal window with “root”, type the following to lock the applications folder again:

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chmod o=rx /usr/share/applications
12.Now you should be all set and hopefully qcad launches properly

------------------------------------------------

I hope this helps anyone who was struggling like I was!

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