gEDA-user: Some (newbie?) problems GSpiceUI, PCB

[Richard Rasker <rasker@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello fellow *nix & electronics users,

I've been quite a happy PCB user for the past few years, and now I
decided to install the whole gEDA suite. Most things seem to work OK,
but several issues crept up which I couldn't resolve so far.

Some information in advance:

gEDA version: cd-rom ISO image, version 20060124
Linux distribution: Mandriva 2006 PowerPack (kernel 2.6.12-12mdk)

By the way, I didn't actually burn the ISO image to CD-ROM, but simply
mounted it as a loop device:

  mount -o loop geda-install-20060124.iso [mount_point]

Perhaps this is a useful tip to be included into the INSTALL file?


Now about the problems I encountered.

1. The GSpiceUI build is aborted with the following error message: 

/usr/lib/gcc/i586-mandriva-linux-gnu/4.0.1/../../../libwx_gtk2_core-2.6.so: undefined reference to `pango_x_get_context'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [../bin/gspiceui] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory
`/home/razz/electronics/geda-sources/gspiceui/gspiceui-v0.8.08/src'
make: *** [all] Error 2

Failure executing command make, ReturnCode = 2


Apparently, pango_x_get_context is deprecated and no longer supported.
Is there a way to work around this problem? I was really looking forward
to the GUI version of GSpice, and this is a bit of a disappointment.


2. PCB's print command seems quite buggy in PS/EPS format; George M.
Gallant, Jr. has already reported some of the the problems on this
mailing list, but so far without a reply or a remedy:

"Printing with "Mirror image" is identical, except for the time stamp,
 as a straight print. It also leaves slivers of white at thick bevel
 junctions. Printing with a home-brew print utility works correctly so
 it is not the printer.
 I was hoping that the mirror image would just flip one side so that
 the print would be usable with double sided iron on transfers."

A PS file looks OK on screen, but is printed with straight line endings,
resulting in the mentioned slivers of white. The EPS format has its own
problems, but I'm not sure PCB is at fault here: when printed, no paper
margins are taken into account, so that a few millimeters are missing
from the left and lower edges. This can be remedied by adding a ten
millimeter blank edge at the left and the bottom, but that's hardly an
elegant solution.

Also, I miss the mirror image functionality; I often make single-sided
pcb's with transparency sheets, and I'd like the toner layer to rest
directly onto the pcb.

I can render the (E)PS file in the Gimp, and do the mirroring and
printing from there, but in the desired 1200 dpi quality, the file
becomes huge, and every manipulation takes forever.

Other image processing tools such as ImageMagick's convert -flip can
mirror the (E)PS file much faster, but the results can only be described
as totally horrible.

And finally, after printing an inverted positive/negative image, PCB
won't print a noninverted image any more until it's shut down and
restarted.


Can someone point me in the direction of a solution for these issues? I
can live with PCB's printing quirks, but I'd really like to get GSpiceUI
to work.

Thanks in advance, regards,

Richard Rasker