Re: gEDA-user: Spice netlister

["a r" <nbs.public@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 21, 2008 8:47 PM, John Doty <jpd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> It seems like netlists, not schematics, are the basis here. I don't
> see why that is at all a problem for gEDA as currently structured.
> Either a separate tool or a gnetlist back end could do this. I don't
> see why you think a spice-subcircuit-LL component could get in the
> way here.

I don't want to put backend specific components on the schematic. If
the "spice-subcircuit-LL" is _the_ way of making hierarchical
schematics, and "spice-subcircuit-IO" is _the_ way of connecting them,
then I have no objections against using them. But for now they look
strongly tied to the spice-sdb backend only.

> I don't know what open source tools exist here. It would be
> interesting to investigate incorporating them into a gEDA flow.

The flow is very rigid. You still _have to_ use the "blessed" flow, at
least for sign-off. Sure, you can use some cheaper tools meantime but
to really make a difference these tools would have to be 100%
compatible with rule sets provided by the fab and work reasonably
well. Very similar thing happens with simulators. For sign-off you
_must_ use the simulator (often in a specific version) your fab
requires (together with their models). Otherwise, in the best case,
you are left without support.

Good place for gEDA to start spreading in this industry is to
concentrate on design entry tools (schematics editor, netlisters),
logic simulators and data viewers (simulation results etc). This is
because these tools are relatively simple, non-critical, easy to adopt
and its commercial counterparts can be expensive. Analog simulation is
a next step - this is more difficult because of higher compatibility
requirements but still it would be possible to compete with commercial
simulators by price. Often it is necessary to start a large number of
simulations and then number of licenses becomes an issue. (BTW. that's
one of reasons why I would like to see monte-carlo analysis in
gnucap).

Then, once the deployment barrier is broken, there would be more
interest in building up on top of gEDA.

-r.


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