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Re: gEDA-user: moving slotting to pcb?



John Doty wrote:

> You're not thinking of reuse at the same level I am. Consider a Sallen-Key
> low pass filter. Why should we have to draw that more than once? Somebody
> could post a symbol along with a source schematic on gedasymbols, and then
> we could all use it.

see the block paragraph in my section of gedasymbols. E.g:
http://www.gedasymbols.org/user/kai_martin_knaak/symbols/block/opamp_with_booster.sym

Currently, there is a catch, though:
The symbols are embedded in the schematic. The gschem GUI provides no way to 
get them out of the schematic. The unembed action simply fails, if it can't 
find a matching symbol in the local library. If it saved the symbols locally 
instead, embedding would provide a powerful way to distribute reusable 
circuits. The schematic itself knows best, which symbols it contains. No 
need for a separate application to collect symbols. No packaging of files 
required. Just a single *.sym file.


> But each application requires different component
> values, a different op amp, etc. So a file like:
> 
> R1      value   51.1k
> U1      device  OP90

IMHO, it is nice to dream about perfect solutions. But we need to get the  
basics straight. The basics in this case is a way to distribute the symbols 
needed for a particular circuit without involving a whole infrastructure. Be 
it a data base, a whole library, or a set of design rules to adhere to.

That said, it looks like your are talking about using an editor for the the 
job gattrib does? That would be neat. Even better would be, if the file were 
in spread sheet format. Seems to me, gattrib has a hard time reinventing the 
spread sheet GUI wheel. The result feels pretty awkward when compared to 
gnumeric, oocalc and the like.

How about this: Use the gschem parser of gattrib to synthesize an 
intermediate file in comma separated spread sheet format. Pipe this file to 
gnumeric/oocalc/whatever. The user manipulate values and attributes and 
saves. The non GUI gattrib application detects the changes and writes them 
back to the original gschem file. I haven't inspected the code yet. But I'd 
expect the this rewrite back-end to be already there in the gattrib source. 
If a user feels like not using a spread sheet application he or she can use 
scripting to manipulate the intermediate file as well.
Ouups, I am guilty of dreaming about perfect solutions, too ;-)

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



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