> I just gave up, as it wasn't routing anything on a pass, so I finished > routing by hand back in pcbNew. It seemed easier to do it there than in > Freeroute. > > Chris
Chris, It takes about a day to learn how to use freerouter's manual routing capability but this is an investment that does pay off, particularly if you have a complex board. The "push and shove" manual routing capability is invaluable. Some high density boards simply cannot be done without it. Here is a 6 layer board that was done using the manual routing capability of freerouter: http://dl.softplc.com/ds_Smartboard.pdf The pathway to and from freerouter (Specctra DSN format) has gotten polished quite a bit in the most recent PCBNEW developments, and these should be released in 1st quarter 2010. The new netclass support is very useful to this end. Currently, one of the important steps do be done before exporting to freerouter is to manually edit your *.brd file with a text editor and establish your layer names so they are meaningful, and to establish the purpose of each layer especially power layers. Power layers are then removed from the layer selection menu in freerouter, simplifying things a bit. The layer naming and type identification are two of the remaining items that will be polished before the next Kicad release in 1st quarter, such that you will not have to use a text editor to establish these. In any case, freerouter is the horse that you want to bet on. Spending the time to learn it is worth it if you ever plan on doing something as complicated as a 4 layer board or greater, and maybe this threshold should be lower. This is not to say that other external routers cannot be used. In theory the Specctra DSN format is an industry standard, and toporouter and others claim to be compatible with it. So doing the round tripping to other routers should be possible now. But to be candid, I am finding freerouter to be more than up to the task. I recently did 4 layer board in freerouter with Kicad in 5 days, again manually routed in freerouter, not auto-routed. Dick
