Hi again -- >> What do we do with new elements if it's just an update? Eventually, >> I'd like to have some separate container for "unplaced elements" but I >> mean, what do we do for now? I'm wondering if disperse or autoplace >> is smart enough to do something useful if we place the parts and >> select them, on a partially laid out board. > > What I find myself doing is growing the board area enough to have some > "free space", sprinkling the new parts out in this area, and then > manually moving them onto the board. Once they're all in place, I > shrink the board area back down to what I want it to be. [...]
Although I agree that this is a possible workflow, I do think it is a PITA that one must grow and shrink the board size to do it. My own vision of how this should work is exemplified by <Father forgive me> Visio </Father forgive me>: The drawing area is a highlighted white sheet of paper surrounded by a blue background. You can draw anywhere you like, but only the white sheet gets printed. To use this example in PCB, the board size setting would define the size of the white drawing area, but the program would allow you to place components anywhere -- on sheet, off sheet, or half on/half off. Then, when exporting Gerbers, only the stuff on the white sheet would get exported; the remainder would be clipped. Note that the issue of how to hang a connector off the board is a FAQ, this scheme would take care of that. Another benefit is that this scheme would allow PCB to put new/updated footprints on the background area, ready for placement on the white sheet. Cheers, Stuart _______________________________________________ geda-dev mailing list geda-dev@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-dev
