Mail Archives: geda-user/2015/01/25/12:48:19
Edward Hennessy wrote:
> I've created a GUI footprint generator for PCB.
Very nice!
I really like how the footprint source changes on the fly when I type
in parameters.
This is something the geda suite is still missing. There have been
some tools floating around.
http://wiki.geda-project.org/geda:pcb_footprints#footprint_basics
But they have not made it into the suite itself.
> I've placed a screenshot, links, and instructions on
> gedasymbols.org:
> http://www.gedasymbols.org/user/edward_hennessy/gfootgen.html
I too got error 404 for the link. Your whole section on gedasymbols
did not seem to exist. A few hours later, the section appeared and the
link works for me, now.
> The source code for the program is located in GitHub:
> https://github.com/ehennes775/gfootgen
On a weekly updated debian/testing, the compile required the package
ruby-gdk-pixbuf2
in addition the list given on gedasymbols. With this package
installed, the compile went smoothly.
Some remarks on the generator UI:
* There is no header that gives a clear indication, what footprint
template is currently in use.
Suggestion: Put a header on top of the left column. Make the header
a drop-down list with the content of the current "change..." button on
the bottom left.
* A dialog to change default style options would be nice. E.g. default
line width, default font size, default mask clearance
* I'd appreciate a way to save and read the parameters to generate a
footprint. This would increase the usefulness of the generator by an
order of magnitude :-)
Suggestion: Stefan Salewski's footprint generator is written in Ruby,
too. It is complimentary to your generator in that it comes without a
GUI but reads parameters from a file. Maybe, your generator can be
taught to read and write files in the format Stefan uses.
http://www.ssalewski.de/SFG.html.en
* Sometimes I had to guess what a property refers to. How about pop-up
help bubbles for the parameters?
* [ctrl-z] to undo a change would be nice. While at it, compliment it
with [ctrl-shift-z] to redo
* I tend to set the parameters number 2, 3, and 4 to the same string.
Before the footprint is instantiated, the refdes and the value are
rather undefined. To avoid confusion and make the identity of the
footprint very clear regardless the settings in PCB, I set them all to
the truncated name of the footprint file.
Again, a very nice tool!
---<)kaimartin(>---
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