Update: see this later post before following the instructions below.
I don’t care for most of the DXF editors available. They seem a bit clunky and not too friendly. But I do like Inkscape. Unfortunately it doesn’t export DXF files.
Here is a way of getting Inkscape 0.46 to export DXF files which can then be processed in a CAM program to generate g-code for a CNC machine.
Firstly install Inkscape 0.46. It must be this version.
Next go to this post on BobandEileen.com, right click on the link to “dxf_templates.py” and save it in C:\Program Files\Inkscape\share\extensions.
Next step is to go to another post on BobandEileen.com, right click on the two .py files (”simpletransform.py” and “better_dxf_outlines.py”) and save in the same place. Then do the same for “better_dxf_outlines.inx”.
Restart Inkscape.
Create a drawing and then move it to the bottom left corner of the page. This corner ends up being the origin. If you want your drawing centered on the origin then center it on the corner of the page.
Go to File -> Save As…
From the list of file types in the save dialog window choose “Better DXF Output (*.dxf)” and save the file.
Now open the DXF file in your favourite CAM program, such as CamBam.
Note that you may need to scale the drawing in your CAM program. Even though I had my drawings correctly sized in Inkscape, they seemed to be quite a bit bigger. If anyone knows how to solve that please post a comment.
Recently I needed to restore a backup made with Acronis True Image, however when I booted using the True Image recovery CD it didn’t work. Instead of restoring the image it rebooted the PC. Not very helpful.
After a bit of research it turns out that Acronis uses Linux for their recovery CD and sometimes this has problems with the hardware. An alternative is to use a free tool to create a Windows based recovery CD that runs True Image. The software is called BartPE.
Download BartPE (PE Builder) and install it.
If you have Acronis True Image 10 then you already have the BartPE plugin. If you have Acronis True Image 11 then I believe you have to register your copy and log into the Acronis site for the free download. For True Image 10, go to C:\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome and rename the BartPE folder to “AcronisTrueImage”.
Copy the AcronisTrueImage folder to the “plugin” folder inside the BartPE installation folder. In my case that meant copying it to C:\pebuilder3110a\plugin
Run PE Builder from the Start menu.
Select the location where your Windows installation files are
Click on “Plugins” and make sure that Acronis True Image is enabled (should be by default).
Choose desired media output.
Click on “Build”.
This will either generate an ISO file for burning to a CD or burn the CD for you (depending on the options you choose).
Next, boot your PC with the BartPE CD inserted. Once you have gone through the network options, Acronis True Image can be found on the Go menu at:
Go -> System -> Storage -> Acronis True Image