On Wed, 20 Sep 2006, Arthur Baldwin wrote:
Well, I tried using Yumex to install gEDA from Fedora Extras on a clean and fully updated FC5 machine. What I ended up with is a much less integrated collection of useless tools than I did with the "recompiler installer" which I said before was a "nightmare". No menu items were added to my KDE desktop at all. Paths were not added to any desktop startup files. And so nothing works like it should. Perhaps I missed a critical rpm file of some kind...but I used the search term "geda" without any case sensitivity to search for uninstalled items with that term anywhere in the package name or description. Does anyone besides me see a problem here?
Yes, Arthur, there is a problem here: you. GEDA is an open-source project created by volunteers who write these apps for their own use, usually as a kind of hobby. They then share the apps with the wider world in the hopes that the apps will be useful to others. The developers do tend to respond to bug reports and feature requests, but since the project is a hobby and not a business, the developers have no obligation to fix particular bug or write any particular app at anybody's request. Scores (perhaps hundreds) of people use gEDA for their design projects. I'm using it to do a four layer board at work right now. Enough people have been successful (and posted their projects to the web) that I suspect your problems stem from *your* unwillingness or inability to figure out how to use the software. For example, you say:
...No menu items were added to my KDE desktop at all....
GEDA is a GTK app. It won't do anything about linking icons to your KDE desktop since that is a different desktop environment. I suggest you go away and read the FAQ, written by a cast of helpful volunteers, and freely available for you (and anybody else) to read here: http://geda.seul.org/wiki/ After that, if you can't make the software work to your satisfaction, you have the following remedies available to you: 1. Modify the apps yourself so they please you. They are open-source so you are free to hack the code to your heart's content. Then, if you are interested in helping others, you can submit patches to the project, and they will be integrated if the meet the gEDA project's quality standards. 2. Ask nicely on the developer list for some features. If you're nice, somebody might take pity on you and implement your desired feature. 3. Hire a programmer, and pay him to implement your desired features/fixes. 4. Try Kicad -- it has been getting good reviews from folks looking for entry-level CAD, and may be more your speed. 5. Buy some commercial software and use it intead of gEDA. Hope this helps, Stuart _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list [email protected] http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
