Re: gEDA-user: PCB - How To Find A Component?

[Ben Jackson <ben@xxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 02:35:51AM -0500, gene wrote:
> I have a large board, around 3000 components.  It's hierarchical so the 
> refdes's are long and sometimes obscures the little parts.

First off, if you are placing that many components you'll want to make
sure your elements have the refdes's in the right location to begin with.
I put up with elements with text "over" the element when I do a ~50 element
board, but it would be a lot easier to fix it in the element for a ~3000
element board!

> devices are 0603, so they are pretty small in a large sea of dispersed 
> parts.

If you haven't tried it already, get my Smart Disperse plugin (it's linked
from gedasymbols).  It's like DisperseElements() but it uses the netlist
as a hint.  So if you have an LED with a series resistor, they will almost
certainly be right next to each other.  With 3000 parts you might even
try tweaking my plugin's sort function to meet your needs.  It could easily
be made to obey hierarchy directly (rather than inferred by the netlist) --
I just didn't think of it.

What I really want to do is implement my "tetris" plugin idea which feeds
you the elements in a "natural" order for you to place.

-- 
Ben Jackson AD7GD
<ben@xxxxxxx>
http://www.ben.com/


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