FreeCAD VS FreeCAD_assembly3

Nice! I'd add FreeCAD, and also the RealThunder fork https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD which adds enhancement(seems to be getting slowly merged to mainline).

Lithium Titanate batteries. Nothing else is lightweight, safe, currently available, and lasts 20000 cycles.

ESPHome. It's a framework for declaratively building firmware for microcontrollers, based on rules like "This pin is an input with debouncing, when it changes, toggle this".

Contributing to them has probably been the most fun I've had programming in years.

We just need power management, and a C++ implementation of the Native API client. It's so close to being able to replace most of what I'd normally code by hand in Arduino.

https://esphome.io/

RealThunder's fork of FreeCAD: https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD

They fix so many issues. Linear patterns can duplicate other linear patterns!

Vorta: It's the best backup technology I've seen. Just an easy guided GUI for Borg, which gives you deduplication. I just wish they let you deduplicate across multiple repositories somehow.

JFTR, FCStd-files produced by RealThunder's LinkStage[0] (fork of FreeCAD) is not fully backward compatible with an official FreeCAD app, and wise versa.

So, if you are planning to use LinkStage app for some large project, be ready to use only one app for the whole project and be ready to lost in whole or in part compatibility with the users of an official FreeCAD.

[0] https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD

edge is where all the exciting new features got released. It contains the latest commit from the FreeCAD Link Branch (https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD). Unlike the convention, here, the user is encouraged to try the edge release, to help improve all new features so that they can one day land in upstream FreeCAD.

I downloaded this latest version 2023.01.31 from Github but i have no idea how to install it and if it is the right version that will work with Midnigh GUI.

My setup I'm using RealThunders 2023.05.21 release

Alternative solution is to use Realthunder's build. It doesn't have that limitation in addition to a whole bunch of other QoL additions.

As for your question, better to open a ticket on realthunder's Link repo: https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD/issues

I don't know for regular FC, but Realthunders Branch allows multiple solids in a PartDesign body, so with that one, you could use Multitransform to create a Mirror and linear pattern transformation (probably before adding the grooves for the links)

try realthunders branch

If the general python API isn't enough the assembly3 docs have an interesting example which might give you some ideas for moving objects along within their constraints.

I think Realthunder's branch may have midpoint constrain you're looking for (https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD_assembly3/issues/51).

Also if you use this fork of freecad: https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD_assembly3/releases its much better at letting you attach sketches to faces without it borking things.

Take a look: https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD_assembly3/wiki/Topological-Naming-Algorithm

FreeCAD is still in development and you may have a mismatch of versions. Try .17, .18, .19, and .20 dev versions and try to find the one that doesn't show empty sketches. It may have even been made with the RealThunder branch.

Fusion 360 is probably the best choice to start. It's free and easy to use. But there are quiet heavy limitations as autodesk changed their licenses. I recently switchend from fusion to freeCAD and I'm pretty happy with it. I highly recommend Linkstage3, a freeCAD fork by a guy called realthunder. https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD_assembly3/releases

If you haven't already, take a look at Realthunders Linkstage branch. That's the one I usually use, although it can lead to adapting design practices that are not ideal.

FreeCAD fork linkstage3 supports expressions for patterns which I imagine would allow you to do this.