I am thinking like you that supporting an open format has a lot of potential. While the developers may be off "re-inventing the wheel" we all owe them a lot of gratitude for the work they have done, and to those like yourself who are willing to share freely when they can. Do the developers monitor this board?
dp --- In [email protected], "Frank" <bennet...@...> wrote: > > > > > --- In [email protected], "profittd@" <profittd@> wrote: > > See UltraLibrarianHelp/BReader.html <http://UltraLibrarianHelp/BReader.html> > > Dose anyone know of a conversion > > utility (to kicad) for one of these formats? > Netlist formats? > > > > Accel 15 / PCAD 2XXX > > Cadence Allegro (all versions) > one of my favorites because it includes footprint references! > which KiCad supports, if I'm recalling correctly. > > ... > > PowerPCB / PowerLogic 4 (or newer) > > > I have code for a UltraLibrarian ASCII format code parser as a > start of a converter to KiCad which I can share to an developer > who would be interested in taking this forward. Which would > import more than just a netlist. This format is a good candidate > for a KiCad Native Library format, but the KiCad Developers are off > re-inventing the wheel. > > UltraLibrarian (http://www.accelerated-designs.com) > has an agreement with National to use the binary version of the > Vender Netral file (VNF) on there web site to download a > symbol/footprint for their parts. http://www.national.com/cad/ > where you can also give the demo Ultra-librarian version a spin. > Other part vendors may follow Nationals lead. I find this would > be a good alternative to what is typically found (an OrCad > schematic symbol and the user is required to find or construct > a footprint) > > Frank Frank, Accelerated Designs has a reasonably priced tool > for creating a footprint library with a neutral database, a library > manager with revision control, edit symbols/footprints entered > once then can be exported to the PCB design package of choice. > This would be real handy for PCB designers that have to re-design > boards across different EDA platforms, adding new parts, > referencing/designing/importing symbols, footprints as their > primary design function, doing that one time. > > Frank Frank's provide a document of the ASCII Library version > and using his software allows the binary parts from a vendor's > site to be imported, then exported as ASCII from his database. > He mentions his database follows an IPC-7351 standard for > footprint quality. > > I mention this primarily as references for ideas. The world got > into this mess from the history that schematic and PCB lay packages > originated from separate proprietary binary sources. > > Frank Bennett >
