Based on Java WebStart there is no need even to install it! Just click to lauch it!
I've developed and tested the program on WindowsXP where I know it runs and works, I've tried most of the features in Linux (Suse / KDE) and it seems to work. I've tried it briefly with MacOS-X and I know that it launches with the latest OS version but that there is an issue with hit-testing which makes it difficult to snap to line ends.
The program runs reasonably in my 2.2 GHz / 512 MB / WinXP laptop. I've tried it on a 333 MHz / 192 MB / Win2k, the speed was nothing to write home about but 15 years ago CAD programs with a performance like that were common and acceptable. A few friends who have tried the program in Linux got the impression that it is a bit slower on Linux than on Windows. If so this probably has something to do with how the Java2D works with X-windows.
If performance turns out to be an issues, there is not much I can do about it. The main performance bottle neck is (I suspect) the quadradouble buffering I use to implement the interactive feedbacks and don't think I could live without that. Fortunatelly the performance hit caused by the buffering system does not grow as the drawing gets bigger. Even if today the performance leaves something to be desired the Moore's Law works for me (and for you too every time you buy a new computer!) . After all, the average life time of a PC is two years, whereas most software worth it's salt lives for decades.
One final note, please note that the screen update takes place in a background thread so there is no need to wait for the graphics to catch up with you, just keep cliking and drawing!
| regs, | |
| Kusti / Siuntio 14.3.2004 |
P.S.
The Java 1.5 release is supposed to address some graphics acceleration issues, we will see...I hope