Re: gEDA-user: strange build failure

[msokolov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Sokolov)]

Andy Peters <devel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> While it's not likely a serious PCB editing tool will be text based  
> (top-shelf PCB layout people have excellent visual and visualization  
> skills and can do a great job of using the least amount of PCB real- 
> estate while getting the least-congested routing),

Yes, that's why I think it would be best for me to simply outsource the
layout step to someone more apt at it than me.

When looking for someone to hire for the layout, I would still prefer
someone who would do it in GNU pcb (or some other free open source tool
with an open text-based file format if there are any) rather than some
proprietary tool -- even if I hire someone else to do the job, I would
still like to "own" the product in the sense of being able to modify it.

> "schematic" design  
> entry can be done, and done well, in a plain-text format.
>
> At my last day job (before the company was bought out and half the  
> staff shit-canned, but I digress), we used a text-based pinlist  
> design entry method.

Yes, I know of course that this can be done.  Foregoing the graphical
schematics and writing the netlist directly in vi would indeed be much
easier for me and would allow to me work on my design from anywhere and
not just from the one single physical location where I have an X11
display, but there is one big disadvantage.  The traditional schematic
drawing is a really important piece of documentation for a circuit.  I'm
nowhere near a professional HW engineer, so I would certainly like to be
able to show my design to other engineers for review.  A circuit without
schematics would probably be seen by most people the way we software
hackers look at software without source code -- as useless.

For these reasons I've decided to bite the bullet, go outside my comfort
zone and use a graphical drawing program like gschem, and have my
circuit design captured in the traditional schematic form.

And it still comes as a great aid that the .sch files are text-based!
I can maintain them in CVS with no sweat, and I can even edit the vector
graphics by editing the file in vi -- if I want to move an object, I
don't have to drag and drop it with a mouse, I can edit the coordinates
in the .sch file instead.  This is very useful to me, and I'm very
thankful to the gEDA developers for this ability.

BB,
MS


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