On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 5:17 AM, Nicklas Karlsson (nicklas DOT karlsson17 AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com] <geda-use= r AT delorie DOT com> wrote:

gschem is actually rather versatile. It works: circuit boards, cable drawin= gs, VHDL, linuxcnc configuration, mathematica, tango, ... and should work w= henever there is a need to draw a schematic with symbols there pins are con= nected together with lines, for example a hydraulic circuit. Is is possible= assemble several signals into a bus which is like a cable with several str= ands.

What=C2=A0 attracted me to Cschem= was the promise that it would be workflow agnostic. The problem with gsche= m,kicad and about all other schematic capture tools is that they are all de= signed to be PCB front end tools. You can have any feature as long as it wo= uld be useful in a PCB tool flow.

We need a tool that is = targeted to the embedded system architect that also supports state machines= , flow charts etc. A tool for the architects would be a superset of all oth= er engineering tools and would satisfy everyones needs. Make it modular so = that it doesn't become bloated.

IC designers abandone= d schematic capture back in the early 90's when plopping down gates cou= ldn't keep up with growing gate counts but in doing so the system archi= tects lost a valuable tool for block diagrams.

We need to get that back with Cschem. Open source is the only way to do i= t because a engineer can take their toolkit with them as they move between = companies.

=C2=A0

It is a little bit hard to figure out what is wrong/missing in gschem:
=C2=A0+ Something make movement of symbols with connections a little cumber= some.

The PCB world has a lot of great = tools for moving parts on a board with a ratsnest, auto placing parts and a= utorouting. I would love to bring these into a schematic capture tool. Auto= routing is a lot easier if you can cross lines and not make a connection un= less you put a dot on it.

=C2=A0

=C2=A0+ Then connecting from a bus it should be possible to select which si= gnal should be used.
=C2=A0+ netlist so that available net could be listed and assigned attribut= es, not just net segments.
=C2=A0+ It should be possible to see names of nets in busses.

gschem doesn't really have true busses. It has s= calers and vectors. True busses would let you do all of that. IC design too= ls can do it but they never made it into the PCB world

= =C2=A0
=C2=A0- Mapping of pins to footprints should be a plugin or backend, not al= l circuits need this.
=C2=A0+- Available standard attributes would come from plugin or backend se= lected from symbol.
=C2=A00 Choice between embed/link is already available.
=C2=A0+ bus pins.
=C2=A0+ backend may provide online design rule check.
=C2=A0? backend need to be available on context, different symbols have dif= ferent backends to make list of available attributes or?

=C2=A0
I came to the conclusion gschem is very versatile with quite little missing= but something is missing. To add support for different clearances between = net a backend would be needed to specify clearances between nets but this o= nly make sense for physical electric circuits. Support to select track widt= h or cable dimension could could be done with the same approach. a netclass= or track width attribute could be added to net as is today but it might be= better to point the other direction and list the net names?

<= br>
Yes, Use Cschem for entry, editing and viewing. Use separate = backend tools to o the real work.

John Eaton

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=C2=A0