18 Feb
2010
18 Feb
'10
4:35 a.m.
On Feb 17, 2010, at 11:08 PM, Jim Brain wrote:
It's a UNIX package. The fact that some people have managed to
build it under Windows doesn't make it a Windows package.
No,
there's *excellent* free software. For one, PCB (http://
pcb.gpleda.org/) is as good as all but the very best five-digit-
pricetag commercial stuff I've seen, and it's getting better
literally every week. I've done a number of both commercial and
hobby designs with it, as have many others.
I sure would like to know what one needs to smoke to agree with
this :-)
I tried gEDA (includes PCB). Concerning PCB:
* Can't find a Windows version that works. A few builds are
available, but they are less than usable on Windows. So, I
had to
install on the Linux box. Linux is viable as a platform, but a
lot of entries into this space are on Windows. * IMHO UI is very non-intuitive (that's saying
something from a guy
who learned the EAGLE UI)
Yes, there's a huge learning curve. The same is true for most
powerful software. There's really no way to dumb it down enough to
hide the complexities of PCB design, unless you seriously lobotomize
the functionality. See ExpressPCB for an example of that.
Now, that said, unless you've used it in the past two years or so,
you've not seen where it has gone. It is under extremely active
development, and usability has been a major focus. It even has
photorealistic board rendering now.
* Changing options (trace width, etc.) much more
cumbersome
Three clicks, or is it two? Or do you mean changing the width of
an existing trace? You actually have to type a command to do that.
* Could not find ability to change package for part
already on
board.
That's true.
* I assume there is a way to select all elements in
a drawn
bounding
box, but could not find it
Click, drag a rectangle box to select. (at least if memory
serves) You need to be in "select" mode.
* Could not find a way to put rounded edges on
polygons, like
ground
and VCC pours.
I haven't tried that. If you really want that, I'm sure one of
the developers could do it pretty easily.
* integration between gschem and PCB.
There's lots of integration already, notably lacking back-
annotation. The integration thing has been an uphill battle since
they were developed independently until the past 6-7 years or so.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL