Thanks for considering gEDA for SoC! > 1) GERBER IMPORTING > The gEDA SoC ideas list suggests a program that converts a Gerber file to a > metal layer or footprint for PCB. > > I wonder if this project could go further - what is realistically achievable > in importing a Gerber file?
Further would be nice. The issue is that there are many CAD programs out there, with closed file formats. The only thing they all have in common is that they produce gerber format. So, any type of importing of gerber we can do, helps migrate people away from closed formats and to open source, as well as recover "lost" designs. The closer we can get to "human generated" quality, the better. Of course, something is better than nothing, too. > 2) PCB DRC INTERFACE > It was suggested that a separate layer could exist for visual > identification of the DRC errors. I envisage one hidden layer per > real layer group, so that only the DRC failures for the visible > layer groups can be seen. > > Perhaps this project could be combined with other DRC improvements. IMHO the core of the "drc improvement" should consist of two parts: First, improving the things we check for and how we locate (meaning X,Y position) the failures, and second, storing the results in an internal data structure that we can use to inform the user of the failures. Once we have the failures, it's up to the GUIs to choose how to present that information to the user, either as a separate dialog, or as layers. We could even have a printed report, for example. > 3) GSCH2PCB PCB INTEGRATION > Instead of gsch2pcb duplicating PCB's mechanisms for manipulating > boards, it could communicate with PCB through a well-defined API. > One problem this would fix is gsch2pcb using different search paths > for components than PCB. I've often suggested that gsch2pcb should create a *script* for pcb, which does all the things that need to be done. It would mean adding more actions to pcb, specific to this purpose. > Perhaps this same API could be used to create a program for > automatic/controlled replacing/updating of PCB elements. Yup. The element attribute table could keep track of the origin (file-wise) of each footprint, and perhaps a hash signature or timestamp. > So all suggestions welcome. If anyone thinks I should be looking at > something I haven't listed please let me know. Two other projects I'm thinking about: 1. The "non-copper layers" one. Basically, each layer needs to have a type and position associated with it, so you can say "this layer is a paste keep-out for the top" etc. This change is a prerequisite to a number of other enhancements we're hoping to get to. 2. Keeping track of which nets each object on the board (trace, pin, polygon, etc) belongs to. Currently, we have to calculate connectivity the hard way - by checking for overlaps. This has many drawbacks. What we should do is have every object have a "netlist pointer" or something, so comparing pointers is all you have to do to see if two things should be connected or not. _______________________________________________ geda-dev mailing list [email protected] http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-dev
