Re: gEDA-user: My uEDA-designed open source hardware board works!

[David SMITH <dave.smith@xxxxxx>]

On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 04:12:12AM +0000, Michael Sokolov wrote:
> * Being unhappy with the too-much-GUI-for-me EDA programs like gEDA, I
>   wrote my own non-GUI, non-WYSIWYG, totally Makefile-driven EDA system
>   (uEDA) to make this board and others in the future, and this board
>   project is naturally uEDA's first.  GUI-indoctrinated "professional
>   hardware engineer" types may scream in horror at the thought of
>   non-GUI, non-WYSIWYG EDA, yet I've designed a board of this complexity
>   with it and it works!

Not necessarily - this is a change that the ASIC world went through many
years ago.  When I first started (mid 90s), we were using synthesis tools
to generate sub-block netlists, but then the top-level integration was
done using schematic capture.  Nowadays, it's done by writing HDL (VHDL
or Verilog) text netlists which connect them together.

I could certainly see the attraction of text-based netlist generation
for a heavily digital board, particularly one with lots of busses
flying around.  For the stuff I design at home, though, I think I'd
stick to GUI-based schematic capture, as virtually all of my digital
stuff goes inside a single EPLD/FPGA, and the schematic is all the
analogue stuff (PSU, I/O signal conversion, etc.)

However, I think you'd have a problem with non-GUI PCB layout.  Whilst
you could automate all of the routing and some of the placement, I'd
really struggle without a GUI for placing the parts where their location
matters (e.g. connectors, front panel stuff, etc.).  I suspect that
doing this textually would be a rather tedious and long-winded process.

Again, there are parallels with the ASIC world, in that a GUI tool is
usually used to create a floorplan for a block, which defines the layout
perimeter, the locations of all I/O pins, and sometimes the placement of
a small number of cells within the block, but the placement and routing
of most of the cells is left entirely to the automatic tools.

For professional PCB layout of complex boards, the PCB designer will
usually place the connectors, switches, displays, etc. and some of the
critical components, and then let the tool auto-place and then route
the rest.

-- 
David Smith            Work Email: Dave.Smith@xxxxxx
STMicroelectronics     Home Email: David.Smith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bristol, England          GPG Key: 0xF13192F2


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