What's in this manual, and how to use it.

Introduction

Welcome to the BriCad on-line documentation

How to use this manual

Welcome to the BriCad on-line documentation

Welcome to the BriCad on-line documentation! This is a collection of resources concentrating on the installation, usage and configuration of the BriCad instruction builder software. The documents included here are mainly intended for the (soon-to-be) BriCad user, and may be of less interest for people who do not intend (or aren't able) to run BriCad.
More general information on the BriCad project is currently available in the "About" section on the BriCad homepage.

Why html format has been chosen for this manual

Since BriCad is a graphical application, the associated documentation is also very graphically oriented by nature, and the capabilities of in-lining .gifs into the html format cater for these needs very nicely. I am aware that postscript or .pdf formats would be better for those of you who prefer a printed copy of this manual, but these formats are very bandwith intensive and I must admit that generating and maintaining .ps or .pdf versions would simply exceed my internet resources at this time.

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How to use this manual

For a start, flip over to the Installation section. Check out if you have the suitable hardware for running BriCad, then follow the links to download your copy. Hints for unpacking and installing BriCad are also enclosed here, and you can choose between installing locally (no root permissions required) and a system-wide installation.

If you're going to use BriCad for the first time, spending a few minutes with the guided tour is strongly recommended. Learn about using BriCad's graphical user interface, and get acquainted with the BriCad system by entering some simple "models". The tour will also discuss some common pitfalls new users are likely to trap into, and suggests how to avoid or work around them.
After working through the guided tour, you might want to put this manual aside for a moment, and start playing around with BriCad a bit.

The remaining manual sections are meant for reference purposes, and there's no need for reading them top-down immediately. Instead, just read the overview contained here, and come back later if you're in need for additional information : -

The experienced user might find the set of GUI reference cards useful, featuring short summaries of BriCad's menu functions, keyboard shortcuts, and mouse actions.

If you're not satisfied with BriCad's factory settings for the window size, fonts, colors etc., look into the configuration section for command line options and other customizeable stuff in the .bricad resourcefile.

Miscellaneous topics on BriCad's usage which didn't fit anywhere else are collected in the Questions and Answers page.

Before sending in a bug report (which is highly appreciated, of course), please check out the Known problems, things to do section. It contains a list of already known problems, possibly along with some suggestions for working around the problem, if such a workaround exists. There will also be a release log soon, indicating which things changed since the last release.

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