Re: gEDA-user: Adding groundplane?

["harry eaton" <bumpelo@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> The first is that when I use the line tool to manually place a line, I
> often can't get the line to touch the pad -- the crosshairs just won't
> go there.  I'm guessing this is an issue of screen resolution, and that
> when the board is laid out, things will join up.  Is that correct?

You need to disable "auto-enforce DRC". The program will not let you
route to what it believes is not supposed to be connected. With this
feature enabled you need a netlist, rats displayed and up before starting
the
trace, then the intended connecting nodes will be highlighted and you can
route to them.

> The second is the subject line of this message.  After placing all the
> lines, some via autoroute and some manually, when I then use a rectangle
> over the whole area to add a groundplane, only a few of the lines remain
> visible; it seems others are overwritten by the rectangle tool.  How do
> I "flood" the board to put a groundplane, without losing the lines that
> I've previously laid?

As pointed out you need to ensure that all lines have the "clear polygon"
flag before placing the polygon. Since you didn't create them all that way
what you should do is place the polygon, note the lines that "disapeared"
then undo the polygon and change the attribute of those lines (j key over
the traces) then put the polygon down.