Re: gEDA-user: Gerbv-2.0.1 for Windows released, but not working!

[Stuart Brorson <sdb@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> At 11:12 AM 9/3/2008, you wrote:
>> > I also can't seem to find any documentation on this program.  I would like 
>> to
>> > read up on what features are supported and how they operate.  I am having
>> > trouble doing anything other than just looking at Gerber files.  Even 
>> printing
>> > doesn't seem to work well.
>> 
>> There is no documentation.  The man page is probably several years out
>> of date.
>> 
>> Please tell us specifically what you want to do and we can try to give
>> you some instructions.
>
> I have been trying to use the project save and load feature.  I can't figure 
> out what it actually does or how to use it.  I can save a project, but when I 
> load it I see nothing.

According to Dan, the ability to load a project file is broken under
Windows.  This has to do with the back-end scheme functionality which
is used to read the project file and then find the appropriate
Gerbers.  Dan is working on it, but since he is a busy guy a fix might
take a few days.

> The other issue is how the XYRS feature is supposed to work.  I have no idea 
> of how the file is to be formatted or what it should do when loaded.

Look at the .xy file linked to here:

http://gerbv.cvs.sourceforge.net/gerbv/gerbv/example/pick-and-place/

That file reads in to gerbv successfully.  You can use it as a
template.  There is an associated .gbr file also linked with is the
front silkscreen of the board.

> I can't seem to produce a decent print to a PDF file.  I have selected 
> Black&White, but it comes out gray (I guess that's black and white at the same 
> time, right?) and looks more like a picture with small pixels instead of lines 
> and circles.  Many of the smaller drawing features are missing.

Hmmmmm.... printing bug.  We apparently just got printing working
under Linux, so I'm not suprised it's buggy under Windows.

>> Gerbv is designed and built for Linux and other unix platforms.  The
>> Windows port is possible only because some of the associated libraries
>> have been ported to Windows.  However, since all the libraries and the
>> basic functions in gerbv assume things work in the unix way, you'll
>> probably experience a number of teething problems.
>
> I can't say I understand that.  I am not familiar with Linux coding, but I 
> don't see how any of that would affect the user interface.

gerbv is built on GTK which is built on XWindows, the unix windowing
system.  The GTK port to MS Windows is ragged, and apparently has
problems if you don't write your code in a specific way.

The stuff which reads project files makes assumptions about the
underlying file system, which differs between Linux and Windows.

> Is there something 
> special about Unix that puts requirements on the user interfaces?  I have seen 
> some Unix based apps that seem to run very well under Windows and I have seen 
> some that run ok, but have clear differences in appearance.  Then, of course, 
> I have seen others that just don't run...

Apps which run on both Linux and Windows usualy have lots of
#ifdef/#else clauses to do this on Linux, and that on Windows.  We
have only begun to do this work in gerbv.

>> If you're willing to be patient and provide bug reports, then I am
>> sure Dan will poke away at fixing the bugs you find.  This would be a
>> win-win for everybody, since we'd be able to iron out the wrinkles in
>> the Windows version.
>
> Sure, that's why I'm here.  But it is hard to report bugs if you don't have a 
> basic idea of how the software is supposed to work.

Thanks for being the Windows guinea pig!  As for how it's supposed to
work:  The program is more or less self-documenting.  You open one (or
more)  Gerber(s) and view it (them).  Or you open a project file and
it opens your previously saved Gerbers.  You can open drill files and
save them.  You can open pick-and-place files and look at them.

You're just stuck in hell because we have lots of Windows
bugs, so lots of menu items don't work as they should.

>> Alternately, if you really want to use gerbv without fiddling around,
>> get yourself a Linux box and run it there.
>
> "Without fiddling around"...  I think you underestimate the level of 
> difficulty this presents for many of us.  I used Unix some 30 years ago when 
> all computers were consol based.  It was not much different, just different 
> command names really.  Once Windows hit the scene the differences have 
> blossomed.  I even bought an *X* machine once.  It has Lindows running on it. 
> But it came with few apps and those crashed a lot.  In the end I had to 
> install Windows on it to be able to do anything useful.  But I have a box 
> sitting here that I will be brining up in the next couple of weeks.  Maybe 
> I'll try Linux on it.  If I could only choose one of the many, many 
> versions...

Get a spare computer and load it with Ubuntu.  The user experience is
quite smooth.

Cheers,

Stuart


_______________________________________________
geda-user mailing list
geda-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user