Well, maybe not a new subject - just an eternal one - grids

I've seen lots of posts to and about LibreCad complaining about the metric grid being the only option.  Surely the maintainers could include an option for imperial measurements (feet and inches).  I've even seen posts that show some kind of code that appears to do that - but I don't know how to incorporate it.  And I don't want to mess with it.

So I'll have to continue dual booting Linux and Windows just to run TurboCad (2D).  And yes, I could run TurboCad in Linux via the Windows simulator, albeit a little flaky (yes, I've done it).  But I don't understand what the reluctance is to add the imperial measurements.

Let me explain why that's so important to me.  I'm a model railroader.  I like to build my own rolling stock (box/tank/stock/etc) and structures (factories/houses/stations/barns/granaries).  Not only is it satisfying, but it also saves considerable money.  It would be so nice to do it in LibreCad.  

I've looked at other 2D CAD packages that run under Linux, but LibreCad appears to be the best.  If only it spoke English!

Read the note in https://librecad-docs-dev.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ref/fundamentals.html#units

Imperial grid is supported as well as metric one.

In order to enable it - you need to change drawing units of the drawing (in Drawing options dialog) to one of imperial units (like inches).

It's probably not the grid, because LibreCAD just works in units. And the meaning of an unit is set in drawing preferences. Thus you can work with 1 unit is 1 inch.

The issue is the non linear scaling and fraction system of imperial units. It's more worse when it comes to architectural sizes when foot and yard are involved.
From programmers point of view this is a nightmare. It is not just text to number conversion, it is advanced parsing needed to get units and fractions correct. And the reverse procedure is needed for annotating.
There is no fixed grid in LibreCAD, grid is increased/decreased by factor 10 on zoom in/out. In imperial this is also not easy, using factor 4 or 8 for the grid might work for zoom in, but zooming out it will be wrong as it does not match with foot/yard factors.

Basically this is possible, for sure, but it will need a considerable amount of effort to do it correct.
There was no developer so far and none in sight, who take this battle.

There are some work arounds here in the forum how to handle the imperial issues, try to search for inch might deliver some usable results.
So it is possible to enter math expressions in command line and most input fields when units is set to inch.
E.g. for 3/8" enter 3/8 or 2 7/8" is 2+7/8 or 2'5" is 2*12+5.
For annotation you have to modify the dimension manually with Modify->Preferences to have imperial notation.

I'm used to decimal units, but I rarely rely on the grid myself. I prefer using the command line where I can enter accurate relative distances or construct shapes using parallel, angle and circles with appropriate snap settings and trimming afterwards.

Actually, it's not hard to tweak the grid to follow the english architecture grid normals.

I am pretty sure it's about one week's work. With the current AI coding capabilities, it probably mean a solid day's work in developer time.

LordOfBikes wrote

It's probably not the grid, because LibreCAD just works in units. And the meaning of an unit is set in drawing preferences. Thus you can work with 1 unit is 1 inch.

The issue is the non linear scaling and fraction system of imperial units. It's more worse when it comes to architectural sizes when foot and yard are involved.
From programmers point of view this is a nightmare. It is not just text to number conversion, it is advanced parsing needed to get units and fractions correct. And the reverse procedure is needed for annotating.
There is no fixed grid in LibreCAD, grid is increased/decreased by factor 10 on zoom in/out. In imperial this is also not easy, using factor 4 or 8 for the grid might work for zoom in, but zooming out it will be wrong as it does not match with foot/yard factors.

Basically this is possible, for sure, but it will need a considerable amount of effort to do it correct.
There was no developer so far and none in sight, who take this battle.

There are some work arounds here in the forum how to handle the imperial issues, try to search for inch might deliver some usable results.
So it is possible to enter math expressions in command line and most input fields when units is set to inch.
E.g. for 3/8" enter 3/8 or 2 7/8" is 2+7/8 or 2'5" is 2*12+5.
For annotation you have to modify the dimension manually with Modify->Preferences to have imperial notation.

I'm used to decimal units, but I rarely rely on the grid myself. I prefer using the command line where I can enter accurate relative distances or construct shapes using parallel, angle and circles with appropriate snap settings and trimming afterwards.