gEDA-user: RFC: Footprint Builder

[Robert Fitzsimons <robfitz@xxxxxxxx>]

I've been working on a design for a software define radio and some of
the components I'm planning on using don't have existing footprints.  So
while thinking about the steps needed to create the slightly different
footprints I needed, I decided to try knocking up a interactive program
which could be used to create the footprints.

So if we now move on a couple of weeks, I've now got a prototype Java
program which is able to display a number of different footprint styles,
(saving out to file is still on the TODO list).  And it's now at the
point where I would like to get more input on the usability and any
missing features.

At the moment the main goals are:
- Interactive GUI
- Scriptable with XML (?) input files
- Support multiple output formats (pcb, kicad, etc)
- Extra package details (height, keepout, etc)

The prototype code is written in Java, but I'm willing to rewrite it in
C/GTK if it makes sense.  Another point is that it should be possible to
use it to create complex or compound footprints.

Also was it was pointed out in IRC that the qfp-ui program exists in the
pcb source, which would have saved me from starting if I had known. ;)

The program requires a minimum of Java version 6, for some just clicking
on the first link [1] will work, but if that doesn't work try
downloading the second jar file [2] and run it using 'java -jar
footprintbuilder.jar'.

I've to take a bit of a break until the weekend to work on another project,
but I would appreciate your comments.

Robert

1. http://cyclerecorder.org/footprintbuilder/footprintbuilder.jnlp
2. http://cyclerecorder.org/footprintbuilder/footprintbuilder.jar



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