Re: gEDA-user: essential library -- please comment.

[Kai-Martin Knaak <kmk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Colin D Bennett wrote:

> First, I'll say that I am an advocate of lightweight symbols, and I
> want to draw my schematic once, not having to delete and re-add
> symbols when I decide to change a resistor from 0805 to 0603
> footprint;

Hmm, heavy symbols don't force you to do that. Footprint attributes 
are promoted by default. So you can double click the symbol and change 
the value of the footprint attribute. Footprints in the essential lib 
are visible, too. They can be clicked and changed directly.

If all components are to be changed, this gets tedious. Unfortunately, 
there is no search&replace available in gschem. But you can do:
   sed -i s/footprint=0805/footprint=0603/ foobar.sch
Any other text editor will of course also do. The helper application 
gattrib needs a bit more interaction. But it is still much more convenient 
than re-adding symbols. And then there is DJs CSV scripts. I heard, they
mix quite nicely with makefiles.


> or when I change a 2 row, 6 contact connector to a
> single-row 6-contact connector; or most significantly when I change a
> SOT-23 (3-lead SMT) transistor to a 4-lead package including a tab;

Same as above, if pin names of the footprints are compatible. If they 
don't match, light symbols would create a hard time, too. I seem to 
have missed something important in your argument. 


> If gschem could
> present the user with the list of possible footprints, then this
> would be a decent way for new users to get started and would give
> good flexibility too.

In a way, it already does. The list of footprints is shown as 
inherited attribute in the attribute editor dialog. Unfortunately, 
these items cannot be selected for copy/paste. But you can read
the list and type in the desired value at the footprint attribute.
This is not only for newbies. Advances users like me, who still 
don't know all their footprints by heart may find a preselected 
list helpful. 

You are right, gschem presenting the list as options to choose 
from, would be the next step. In my dreams, this would be 
complemented with a preview and a way to select from the 
footprint library. This would mean, PCB is run as aservice to
gschem -- heaven forbid! ;-)

---<)kaimartin(>---
-- 
Kai-Martin Knaak
Email: kmk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://pool.sks-keyservers.net:11371/pks/lookup?search=0x6C0B9F53
increasingly unhappy with moderation of geda-user



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