Mail Archives: geda-user/2015/09/11/18:05:46
On Sep 11, 2015, at 2:09 PM, Nicklas Karlsson (nicklas DOT karlsson17 AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com] <geda-user AT delorie DOT com> wrote:
>>> Don't believe it? Well, then use gschem to draw a layout and send the
>>> result to a PCB house.
>>
>> I get gschem designs to production just fine. This includes PCBs and ASICs. But geda-pcb is too difficult to use and too restricted. I’ve asked the various layout people I work with to look at it: nobody likes it.
>
> I look in my wallet and if I choose the others I have to do the layout hungry.
>
Yes, I understand. One big problem for me is the "feast or famine" nature of my business. My projects usually start out on very small scale, usually without any funding at all. One colleague jokes that I love to do science fair projects. I wind up doing a lot of the design ahead of funding, just to convince somebody that its feasible. That gEDA is free is a boon.
For printed circuits, especially in the early phases, the best flow I’ve found is geda-gaf->Osmond PCB. It’s free (as in beer) for small boards. The full version is not expensive. It’s very well documented. But what I really like about it is that the board designer at MIT who I work with is *extremely* productive with it. Perhaps it’s just him, but he just flies through layout using Osmond. “Time is money.” Other designers I work with are not nearly as fast. They also prefer more complex, expensive tools. So, if I find myself doing layout in the future, I expect I’ll use Osmond.
John Doty Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.
http://www.noqsi.com/
jpd AT noqsi DOT com
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