Mail Archives: geda-user/2015/03/24/01:02:41
On Tue, 24 Mar 2015, Kai-Martin Knaak wrote:
> gedau AT igor2 DOT repo DOT hu wrote:
>
>
>> However, what we are talking about now is not a generic solution,
>> but an entry level lib for beginners. In my opinion this necessarily
>> means a much narrower scope: out-of-box support for much less
>> devices. The purpose of the lib is to help those who start
>> experimenting with geda and do their first few "blinking led"
>> boards.
>
> My section of gedasymbols contains a subsection that tries to deliver
> just that -- The "Essential gEDA Library"
> http://www.gedasymbols.org/user/kaimartin_knaak/essential/essential.html
>
> This is a set of symbols and footprints for the most common
> components. It is meant to work out of the box. That is, all symbols
> contain a footprint attribute. The footprint attributes all point to
> footprints that are in the essential lib. There is no reference to the
> default library or any other third party lib.
>
> These symbols and footprints are intended as examples for good
> practice. Therefore, the symbols include a few attributes which are
> technically not necessary but desirable nonetheless. E.g. the author,
> licenses, or a symversion.
>
> The essential lib is a subset of the library I work with on a daily
> basis. So they are all vetted in real world projects -- I eat my own
> dog food ;-)
>
> Please take a look at the selection. Do you miss something essential?
> (The connector section still needs to be populated. I am not decided
> yet. What connectors are "essential"? Pin headers? BNC? SubD? RJ45?)
> Comments welcome.
Looks good. A few comments, tho:
1. the link for res_horiz.sym is broken; the sym for igbt is listed twice
2. the link for negative fixed vs. negative variable regulators are named
the same on the index page (the links are correct, tho)
3. I'd definetly make the default lib a bit smaller, with less option:
only one resistor symbol instead of 3, I'd remove some non-generic
devices (e.g. photodiode_BPW34, perhaps the whole specific/ in fp,
lm13700). I think keeping the thing small in this case is more important
than trying to make it useful for an 5th board out-of-the-box: we don't
know what the 5th board will be and it'd lead to bloating up the lib with
random "this must be useful" parts. Also refer to B. on the list below
4. I'd remove even some generic items for the same reason: a beginner
learning the toolchain probably wouldn't use them the first few boards:
igbt, varistor. Also refer to B. on the list below
5. I'd rename some symbols that seem to have German names: Ub+, Ub-,
elko* (to elcap, as it's written in the comment).
6. I'd rename some symbols for sake of consistency: if I have elcap, I
wouldn't have plain cap* but crcap* for example. Less confusion for
hobbysts who are learning the most basic electronics in the same time as
learning geda.
7. I see you choose the other way around to solve the transistor
pnp-npn-ebc-cbe problem; it seems to support only one pinout, tho, which
may not be a problem (however I still find my idea better).
8. as you mentioned, connectors... I think bnc and rj45 are not really
essential for the first few boards. I'd only have single row and dual row
100 mil spacing headers of different pin count, dsub9 f/m, dsub25 f/m and
powerjack (these are all missing now). The AKLs are nice, but I am not
evne sure I'd keep them in the essential lib - this is not something I'd
use on my first few boards (or if so, why this, and why not 10 other
similar specific devices?).
Btw, what about the other parts? To get this to fly, we need three things:
A. replace the current default lib shipped with gschem and pcb; in a way
that doesn't break the setup of old users on a software upgrade (I have a
few ideas on this). I don't remember reading reactions of the devs; is
this idea backed up at all?
B. make it easy to download and import new symbols/fps, and in general to
maintain your own footprint lib(s). (I have a lot of ideas for these too,
but these may require minor code changes in geda and pcb; I don't mean
adding networking/web/VCS support directly into the tools, but simple
ways allowing the user to work what he's downloaded already)
C. fix up all the tutorials, documents and examples to refer to the new
lib
Regards,
Igor2
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