On Mon, May 09, 2005 at 04:48:23PM +0200, Carlos Nieves ?nega wrote: > El lun, 09-05-2005 a las 13:40 +0200, Leva escribi?: > > On Mon, 09 May 2005 13:21:50 +0200 > > Bernhard Kraemer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Hello, > > > > > > I am creating a pcb board on which I have four times the same structure > > > (four voltage stabilisators together with their resistors and > > > capacitors). It would be very fine if I could copy one structure in a > > > way that all the three other structures, together with their wiring, > > > will look equal and straight. If a tool like this exists, I'd like to > > > use it for another circuit where a couple of ever-the-same filters > > > appear. Does a tool like this exist ? > > > > Bonjour, > > > > Well.... copy to the buffer, and then past buffer to board. This will mess > > up > > the refdes'. > > > > I was trying to create such things, but if you make very crowded boards, > > your > > power supply will always be different too. > > Or not... it depends on the design. However, you can copy the layout > without the traces or nets you don't want to be copied, and then paste > the structure of those nets. > > I guess this is not yet implemented, but how about using a hierarchical > blocks for that?. I mean: > - Draw the basic structure in a single schematic. > - Draw a new schematic with as many instances of the structure as you > need (each as a block). > - Now go to pcb, and do the layout of one structure. > - Copy it to a buffer. > - A new operation "Paste instance from buffer" is defined, which takes > the structure from the buffer, finds another instance of the block > (based on schematic blocks and subcircuits), and changes the refdes' to > the new one. It can also ask the user which one should be used. > > Something like this is implemented in high-level programs, and it's very > useful. The problem is that there should be a tight integration between > gschem and pcb, or at least pcb should know the block hierarchy of a > component/block within the whole design.... This is something I'd really like to see in both gschem/gnetlist and in pcb.
In gschem, I think all the needed stuff is there. gnetlist really could use some better hierarchy support. As near as I can tell, gnetlist really only supports putting out a flattened netlist. I'd love to see it learn to preserve hierarchy in the output. For pcb, here's a big reason I'd like to see hierarchy support. Suppose you have a something like a combline filter. The layout is now truely a critical part of the circuit. It would be nice to lay that out as a subcircuit and be able to move the filter as a block around. -Dan --
