Re: gEDA-user: gEDA schematic footprints

[kai-martin knaak <kmk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

blueeagle2@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

> I was going through the gEDA tutorial and though it lists footprints for
> the tutorial, it does not say how I would determine what footprints to use
> for other components.

You just hit a major weakness of the geda-pcb work-flow. There is not much 
in the tools to aid the selection. In particular, there is no footprint 
choosing mechanism in gschem. You have to know by yourself which footprint 
fits and type in its name. The gattrib tool may reduce the amount of typing. 
But it also does not help choose a correct footprint. 

I settled for the following work-around: 

1) add a default footprint to all the symbols I use. So I automatically get 
this default footprint if I instantiate the symbol. That way, I don't have 
to enter that 0805 Footprint attribute again and again. This covers about 
90% of the cases.

2) organize my footprints in comprehensive layout sheets. That is, a pcb 
with all the capacitors, one with all the generic two pin SMD footprints, 
one for the connectors, etc. If I don't remember the exact name of a non-
default footprint, I look at these sheets with pcb. I check the names of the 
pins with the D key.
If you pull a complete copy of the gedasymbols.org repository, my 
comprehensive footprint sheets will be included.

---<)kaimartin(>---
-- 
Kai-Martin Knaak
Ãffentlicher PGP-SchlÃssel:
http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x6C0B9F53



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