Hello,
I worked for a telecom contracting company drawing cable placing jobs in AutoCad. Is it possible to do similar work in Inkscape? That is, mainly straight line drawing.
Thanks in advance.
Mike

I don't know much about drawing cables and AutoCad but Inkscape can do much more complicated stuff than straight lines.

To draw straight lines the easiest way is to use that mode under Pen tool. Or hold Ctrl in Normal mode.

Hi MGM,

If the work is as simple as "just drawing straight lines" then I agree with prkos answer and Inkscape might be a workable solution.

However, I used to be a process engineer before I started a career in IT, and as such quite familiar with technical drawings.
Inkscape has quite some limitations compared to Autocad. Just test it and see if it is workable.
- Use of typicals: define your standard building blocks in a separate .svg file and import/copy from that file in your work drawing. This ensures re-usability of typical elements.
- Use of custom stroke styles: often standard stroke styles are used to indicate a type of cable, wiring, casing. The default set of strokes in Inkscape is limited. You can create custom style dashes (more about that here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2400#p11950 ) but I am not sure how this would work for other types. Alternative: use markers or pattern along path.
- Use of dimensions. There are 2 extensions that help with dimension indicators on drawings: Extensions > Visualize Path > Dimensions simply draws a dimension indicator on the screen, you complete it by adding the size yourself. Extensions > Visualise Path > Measure Path calculates the dimensions from the drawing. Of course your drawing should be to scale then.
- Use the grid and snap to grid to quickly draw straight lines and align them.

I hope this adds some new perspective.

Cheers,
Syllie