Re: gEDA-user: Matching footprints with symbols

[Matthew Wilkins <matthew_m_wilkins@xxxxxxxx>]

    It seems like there is room to add a footprint selector utility that
    would interface between gschem/gattrib and PCB without impacting
    non-PCB users in any way.  In fact if PCB had an HID where it just
    starts up as a footprint browser and nothing else, you could use PCB
    itself to assign footprints to symbols from within gschem or gattrib.
    An option in the gschem config file could allow  users to define a
    command line to start PCB in that mode, and PCB would output the
    selected footprint attribute value before exiting.
    Users of other workflows might be able to use a similar type of browser
    utility to work with other types of libraries  -- gnucap models?
    verilog models?  I don't know if that would be useful or not...
    Anyway, the point is that this type of feature can be added and could
    be be completely invisible to other workflows, unless they want to use
    it.
    --- On Fri, 4/16/10, DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

      From: DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>
      Subject: Re: gEDA-user: Matching footprints with symbols
      To: "gEDA user mailing list" <geda-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
      Received: Friday, April 16, 2010, 6:16 PM

    > Perhaps the shortcoming is in your expectations.
    I think that (1) our tools are mature enough that users should expect
    *some* sort of seamless integration and co-operation between them, and
    (2) we're mature enough to not have to insult our users when our
    software acts in an unexpected way.
    > The two projects are able to work together *because* they were
    > intentionally designed with clean interfaces,
    Irrelevent.  Having clean interfaces doesn't preclude using those
    interfaces in a seamless manner, giving the impression of integration.
    > One thing that sows confusion here is that "footprint" has different
    > meanings
    Hence the Terminology chaper in the Getting Started guide, which
    defines what PCB means by footprint:
    ``A footprint is the pattern on a circuit board to which your parts
       are attached. This includes all copper, silk, solder mask, and
       paste information. In other EDA programs, this may be referred to
       as a "land pattern". "Footprint" sometimes is used to refer to a
       footprint file. "Footprint" refers to the pattern; "element" refers
       to the instance. For example, your layout might have four elements
       that use one footprint.''
    If you're talking about PCB, please stick with PCB's meanings of the
    terms.
    > And some design flows don't have footprints (VLSI, simulation,
    > symbolic analysis, ...), although perhaps the hydraulic design
    > process recently discussed here has something analogous ;-)
    And some programs aren't EDA programs, but that doesn't help with his
    problem.
    > Ugh! Yuck! IDE = Inflexible, Dumbed-down Environment. Some prefer
    > that, but shouldn't there remain toolkits for those of us who need
    > flexibility and high productivity automation?
    Please stop trying to push your personal flow onto others :-)
    Despite you pushing your personal way of doing things (very vocally, I
    might add), a clear majority (not "some") of the geda users DO want a
    simple schematic -> pcb flow that's well integrated and easy to use.
    Your personal choice is *not it*.  Yes, we want to make your flow
    *possible*, but we really need to make the "dumbed-down" environment
    easy to use and streamlined, because that's what most people want.
    > The commercial package owners have a strong incentive to restrict
    > the flow to tools they control, and make it easy to get sucked into
    > their environments. They have little incentive to give you paths to
    > flexibility or higher productivity once you're caught.
    Flexibility and ease of use should not preclude each other.
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