Mail Archives: geda-user/2016/02/15/02:26:39
On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 09:56:08AM +0100, gedau AT igor2 DOT repo DOT hu wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am doing a major cleanup on pcb-rnd. While doing so, I started to
> wonder if any pcb user/developer actually use the following features
> in pcb.
>
> Please reply if you have used any of these in the past few years or
> you plan to use them in the near future. A simple "yes" is enough
> but comments/details/use cases are also welcome.
>
> 1a. Do you ever use the toporouter?
No.
>
> 1b. More generally, any of pcb's built-in autorouter?
>
No, I dislike the autorouter results, and autorouters are useless
for RF signals.
> 1c. Alternatively, any external autorouter with pcb?
>
No.
>
> 2. Do you use libstroke? (Gesture recognition lib)
>
No.
>
> 3. Do you use dmalloc? (Dynamic allocation debug library)
>
No.
>
> 4a. Do you use the renumber() action? (It should rename all elements
> on the current pcb and optionally save a file that should be usable
> for back annotation)
>
No, I actually wrote my own code for it, and generate a file to renumber both
PCB and schematics through awk scripts¹.
> 4b. If you use renumber(), do you also do the back annotation part?
>
No, although my program ends up dowing back annotation.
>
> 5a. Do you build pcb's texi documentation?
Yes, although I can't remember the last time I actually used it.
>
> 5b. Do you edit (contribute to) pcb's texi documentation?
>
No.
Gabriel
¹) I'm not sure whether my code would interest someone. The input to my
code is the pcb file and a description file which lists polygon delimited
areas of the board (areas can correspond to top side, bottom side, or both).
The order of the file defines the order of the areas, and typically each
area corresponds to a functional block of the PCB. Components or parts
(elements in PCB parlance but I refuse to use this term, I think that
any new format should use another word, component or part are my first
choices for this) are then sorted by coordinates in each area. My code
right now also imposes that top side components are always sorted before
bottom side components: in my last board (347 capacitors), I easily know
from the number whether a capacitor is on the top (1 to 251) or the bottom
(252 and up) side.
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