X-Authentication-Warning:	delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f
X-Recipient:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com
DKIM-Signature:	v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
	d=gmail.com; s=20120113;
	h=mime-version:date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type;
	bh=qzDXrRVguCI7UkBROf31znNXKLkxLjFO/zd7TWPzQTI=;
	b=a7jks8N8MOwAr+sztlOFqimOZHgcurTBZbNpgGEAY1H6SEOkMCzsZ08K8gyYtkUYbG
	O9t5BPHoy2xDS6PEb9T1gXu5FeVeWcHFON6IaMVV/LoKMTn6Ff+4Dz1EPqB9m3/pEPms
	OR3f3KErk9AtE93Tqb1grwmQPsxbvocUoZgHBdUSfdQ1q+k2bdkF1S4FuJaQh7gPkCRB
	aGB0ikjmqTFzHG52ioavpNnh9eZ4GsPwuNMRlCFSv/iX+9E1+k1cORNjwH/B3T4UiNGe
	N4twjkUs90h7Bh+aDEU5A50LChYJ7S0o4C1Td9gSipLvJ5cIcL5EK/upq/qlpX7BxUtM
	n27g==
MIME-Version:	1.0
X-Received:	by 10.50.43.170 with SMTP id x10mr17027213igl.20.1392649498388;
	Mon, 17 Feb 2014 07:04:58 -0800 (PST)
Date:	Mon, 17 Feb 2014 16:04:58 +0100
Message-ID:	<CADefDOFZpsbx909CVRp91AQwKq5+FjvhCacdKtGj5uh-QwyWPA@mail.gmail.com>
Subject:	[geda-user] gEDA as alternative for KiCad (for me)?
From:	Michai Ramakers <m DOT ramakers AT gmail DOT com>
To:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Reply-To:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com

Hello,

[ I post this in 'geda-user' instead of 'geda-help' because answers
might not be short or simple, and might not benefit new users ]

I've been using KiCad for a number of years now, and am considering
moving to a new EDA suite - gEDA looks like a good candidate. In fact
when choosing an EDA suite back then, KiCad and gEDA were the only
realistic options as far as I could see.

Reasons for looking for a KiCad-alternative are subjective, and
basically boil down to KiCad not being mature enough to use in a
production-environment. (This is my opinion, not a request for
flaming.)

Before wading through docs and giving it a serious try, I'd like to
ask here whether gEDA could provide what I'm looking for in a EDA
suite; 'yes', 'no' or more elaborate replies are more than welcome.


- runs Linux/*BSD (I use NetBSD mostly)

- is stable and mature - no drastic sudden changes in workflow or
file-format or similar

- uses plaintext file-format for interchange between suite-components

- comes with complete and detailed documentation - that includes
file-format details, so I can script against that, and these scripts
will continue to work over releases

- has a coherent project-website (or rather, one-stop source of
information, not scattered throughout the web)


I think that for most of these, it is easy to say whether gEDA
qualifies or not, but comments and mentions of corner-cases are
welcome.

Furthermore, it would be nice to have a proper auto-router. I was
impressed by the 'freerouting.net' autorouter, and read various mails
about gEDA interfacing to the input-/output-formats that
freerouting.net supports, with no definitive answer. I suppose I'd
have to test the gEDA internal autorouter to know how it compares to
the freerouting.net one (or not?).

Thank you in advance,
with kind regards,

Michai

- Raw text -