schematux_20140311

This program is better than Schemat3.exe (previously posted) but has the 
"disadvantage" of running in Linux and needing Qt and Kde3.
It will view SCHEMATIC .S01 files and is very configurable regarding 
colour, linesize, pagesize, and even object positioning!
It will export to .PS or .PDF  or configured printer and will handle 
enormous files. A1 diagrams in high resolution colour are possible.

This is the first release of alpha code and there will be difficulties!
The program can be unpacked by issuing the command;
tar -xzvf schematux_20140311.tar.gz 
from a directory you have downloaded the compressed file to.

You will find all the source code to compile the program and hopefully
issuing ./configure will set up makefiles which will work on your system.
Then issue make and make install in the usual way.

Alternatively, there is a compiled executable
~/schematux/debug/src/schematux that will run in slackware12.

Dependencies: Kdevelop_3

BUGS: printing can be unreliable in that cropping of the image happens. 
Re-opening the program and leaving the image at top left seems to work,
and also setting margins to zero in the print dialog box.

MISDIRECTIONS: On first startup the window can be a silly size and not
display the drawing. The answer is to minimise and maximise, and to
reset the background colour (black!) with the schematux/configure menu.
Also there are tick boxes to turn on "value" etc to the right of the
colour squares display, and possibly off-screen, like on this computer.
We will have to write  a config file for start-up that presents authentic
DOS colours and fonts!
Configuration and history information is kept in
~/.kde/share/config/schematuxrc 

DEVELOPMENT:
Obviously this program is very close to an open source CAD package, a rare
thing. Already objects on the page can be moved around with the mouse,
useful for tweaking layout for printing.
But to date there is no ability to place objects on the canvas or to save
alterations to a .s01 file. Output is to .ps or .pdf format or any
configured printer and we have made no attempt to built a facility for
translating circuit diagrams to other formats. The "save as" option on the
file menu is notional and does nothing.

Please send bug reports and comments to kali@flowtrack.com.au

Kali