Re: gEDA-user: PCB & Gschem

[DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Oh Well if a newbie cant work out what footprint you might as well
> scrap Geda right now It will be consigned to the grave yard of
> electronics programs.

If a newbie can't hold a part up in front of them, and compare it with
pictures on the screen (yes, this is what you have to do sometimes),
they really shouldn't be designing circuit boards.  *We* certainly
have no idea what you're holding in your hand, or if it happened to
match the one we had when we designed the footprint.

Many companies have an entire group that does nothing but design and
certify footprints for the parts they know their people will be using.
It's very easy to use the wrong footpring, and the user MUST decide
what they want, verify it's correct, and take responsibility for any
mistakes.  It's not something we, as gEDA's authors, can do much
about, although we could probably improve the situation some by
organizing pcb's footprint collection a little better.

And if it's any consolation, *I* got that wrong on my first board.
Yup, had to scrap three brand new boards because I chose the wrong
footprint for a part and couldn't work around it, and I used to design
PC motherboards for a living.

Making PCBs is *hard*.