Re: gEDA-user: Documentation for convert_sym README file

[Mike Jarabek <mjarabek@xxxxxxxxx>]

Kipton Moravec wrote:
> "Program name: convert_sym
> Written by: Mike Jarabek
> convert_sym takes ViewLogic Viewdraw schematic or symbol and outputs a
> gschem compatible file. This utility should be considered a work in
> progress. Be warned, this program has quite a few limitations. See the
> README file in the utils/ directory for more info. This program is
> written in C. There is also an awk version which is old and no longer
> supported, however it is included in the distribution as reference."
>   
The old Awk script was replaced with a C program some time ago, as you 
found out:
> <SNIP>
> There is only one file with the string convert_sym and that is the
> executable file.
>   
That's the right file.

You can use this program on the Viewdraw schematics, and all symbol 
files, running it should give a brief command line synopsis.  When you 
set up your geda project, I would recommend putting the schematics in 
one directory, and the symbols in another. Follow one of the tutorials 
to configure the geda config files for your project to look in the 
symbol directory for your converted symbols, and look for the schematics 
in the schematic directory you created.  It's probably good to use the 
'reset-component-library' command to flush the built in list of library 
searches in case one of your Viewdraw symbol names clash with one of the 
shipped symbol names.  (Look on the wiki at 
http://geda.seul.org/wiki/geda:faq-gschem under Gschem 
configuration/customization for information on the configuration files.  
You will only need a few lines in each to accomplish what you need.  If 
you set up your various conversion projects similarly, you can probably 
copy the config files from one project to another.)

There is another utility included with the geda distribution called 
'smash_megafile', which will break one of the Viewlogic '.lib' library 
files apart into the individual symbol files.  You may need to do this 
on one or more Megafiles if you have used any of the stock components.  
Do this in a separate directory, as unpacking one of these can create 
many small symbol files.  You will have to look at the gschem output log 
to see which files should be copied into your symbol directory.

The process is somewhat manual, but can get the job done with some patience.

Note that not all the Viewdraw attributes map into geda equivalents, so 
you may have to use gattrib on the resulting schematic to pound them 
into shape if you are planning to go to layout with PCB.

It's been quite a while since I have played with these utilities, so 
please let us know how things work out.
> I do not know how to find the README. Can someone give me the full path
> to the README for convert_sym?
>
>
>
>   



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