I'm not sure if this will meet the criteria for submission since the original author has abandonned it and there is no defacto "home page" for it anymore but here goes.
There is a small (2.24 MB unzipped) vector graphics drawing freeware program called "Grids" which I have had around for years and is very easy to use. The last update was many years ago but it is still very useful. I used the software to design an addition to my home and also a large gambrell style 2 car garage. In many ways it's like using electronic graph paper so it makes laying things out straight forward and intuitive. The print outs are especially nice.
It will run from a USB drive or any other place you dump the files without installing it. A more detailed description (found on http://www.myfreewares.com/software-189 ... nload.html) is below.
"Designed as a simple vectorial drawing software as there are not a lot on Windows. Its principal functions is dedicated to schemes drawing, thus you can generate libraries with symbols which can be easily used (many symbols are provided with Grids). Because of its design, it can be run very quickly in an easy way. Indeed, the documents created with Grids can be managed like folders, each folio can be composed of several pages. It can be used for networks schemes, for electrical schemes, for databases conception, flow charts, etc...Several original functions complete it: it can create a reverse-engineering of JCL files (welcome to the IBM world), it allows you to draw guitar tabs and grids (for guitarists of course), and also calendars ; it can execute midifiles, open www sites, and even a full screen mode which can be used as a midi prompt!"
Even though the project is dead and the author no longer has a site for it you can still find it on many different websites via a simple Google search for "engrids.zip" Below are several working links to the zip file.
http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/pub/tools/engrids.zip
ftp://ftp.astro.ulg.ac.be/pub/pc/window ... ngrids.zip
ftp://ftp.jaring.my/pub/simtelnet/win95 ... ngrids.zip
It does not appear to write anything to the registry but I'm not the expert here. The only problem I have ever had with the file is that the CPU usage will max out high when you are using the program but it has never locked up any PC I have used it on or even bogged it down at all. It's just a little unnerving to see that at first but since it does no harm I find the program very useful.
Grids (vector graphics drawing program)
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Andrew Lee
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Andrew Lee
- Posts: 3064
- Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:19 am
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I tried it on WinXP, and it works. It doesn't work on Win2K and Win95 though. Loading a document, or creating a new one, resulted in a crash on both systems.
Even on WinXP, there were some problems. It maxes out the CPU as reported, and causes problems for some programs that probably has some lower-priority threads running. For example, PStart stopped responding. I also had a VirtualDub session going in the background running in "Below Normal" priority, and that grind to a halt.
I don't think I will add this app to the database due to the above.
Even on WinXP, there were some problems. It maxes out the CPU as reported, and causes problems for some programs that probably has some lower-priority threads running. For example, PStart stopped responding. I also had a VirtualDub session going in the background running in "Below Normal" priority, and that grind to a halt.
I don't think I will add this app to the database due to the above.