Just so happens my cheap Chinese LaserSoft program will do just that, and I'm guessing RDWorks and any other Chinese laser program WITH a cut simulator probably will too...
I typed in 'WHAT'S MY LINEAR CUT DISTANCE?' in 24pt Arial in Corel, imported to LaserSoft and entered it into the simulator; it came up with 754.58mm-
here's a screenshot of the simulator-
cut.jpg
Closeup of the upper left corner so you can actually read the 'work distance'..
cut2.jpg
so the outlines of that lettering at 1/4" tall total almost 29-3/4" total length--
I'd be glad to run some patterns thru my simulator, I use Corelx4- or you might be able to download LaserCut or some other software that will work in demo mode...