Re: gEDA-user: is gEDA a good choice for designers?

[Larry Doolittle <ldoolitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Duncan -

On Tue, Jul 03, 2007 at 09:52:00AM +0200, Duncan Drennan wrote:
> I decided to give gEDA a go as my design tool for a project (I've
> previously used PCAD and ORCAD), but now that I'm about to put pen to
> paper I'm questioning whether using gEDA is a good long term solution.
> [chop]
> So what do you think? If you were in a situation of choosing a design
> flow solution that you plan to use for a couple of years, what would
> you choose?

Others have already given some excellent answers.  Let me add
a couple of thoughts.

Many of us have been badly bitten by the closed, proprietary
nature of commercial offerings.  Vendor lock-in, support that
comes and goes on someone else's whim, etc.  If freedom matters
to you, gEDA is the natural choice.  Quoting Robert Harper
from 1798, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!"

By the nature of both the license and the community, once you
learn gEDA, and have adapted it for your needs, you can use it
forever.  Your "couple of years" time frame sounds short to me.
The "millions for defense" part of the previous quote translates
in this case to "months of time invested on the learning curve."
But it is a true investment, one that pays rich dividends.  It
has for me at least, and it sounds like it has for others as well.

Disclaimer: I got started on gEDA before gschem was in a useful
state, so my flow is Xcircuit + PCB + Icarus.  I have my most
recent project files online as examples:  http://recycle.lbl.gov/llrf4/
They do push the envelope in some ways.

   - Larry


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