Re: gEDA-user: Toporouter Updates

[Bill Gatliff <bgat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Anthony Blake wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I've recently updated the toporouter website with some screenshots 
> showing the recent changes.
>
> http://www.wand.net.nz/~amb33/toporouter
>   

Amazing!  Very, very exciting work.

I have a very small, mixed through-hole and smt design that I'd be happy 
to throw at you.  About 70 components, the board is pretty sparse at 
4"x1.8"--- but a much denser version is in the works.  :)

Due to connector placements, the board has some power and signal paths 
that must cross--- with the power traces getting priority because I want 
them to be as short as possible.  I hand-route the power traces, as well 
as the power supplies to the ICs, and then tell the autorouter to route 
the rest with the "signal" trace style.  I also hand-route a GND trace 
around the perimeter of the board, both to make sure that the board's 
mounting holes have good grounds, and to help mitigate ESD concerns as 
the board must be frequently handled.  (It probably doesn't help much, 
but it makes me feel a little better).

The autorouter (geda-gschem-1.4.3-2b1 deb package) is unable to route 
the remaining rats using only "power"-sized traces, but does a decent 
job if I use "signal" ones.  When it has problems, it's almost always 
because a previous trace boxed it into a corner--- usually because it 
ran two traces in parallel on the top and bottom layers, or by putting 
traces too close to pins.

The autorouter also has this annoying tendency to run a really long GND 
trace somewhere other than the GND trace I laid down 10mil away in the 
other direction.  Odd.

Anyway, let me know the best way to get this file to you, both the 
version I'm having built now and unrouted ones that you can play with.  
And whatever else you'd like.


b.g.

-- 
Bill Gatliff
bgat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



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