On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:41:44 +0200, Amand Tihon wrote: > It could be due to my distribution (Debian), but I always get lost in > the symbols and footprints libraries that come with gEDA. Finding the > right footprint with correct pin numbering has always been a challenge.
You are not the only one. This is consequence of a number of unresolved issues: 1) Unlike other EDA applications, there is no notion of a "package" that contains both: symbols and footprints. 2) gschem and pcb are historically distinct. There are strong forces in the developer community that discourage any closer relationship between than the current import-export. 3) There is consensus, that the current library is in poor shape. But there are diverging opinions how a good default library should look like. > For instance, there are 3 different LED symbols. One in "Basic devices", > two in "Diodes (generic)". Two of them have the anode on pin 1, the > third one has it on pin 2. > When trying to find a footprint for it, there are more than five for > each of 3mm and 5mm LEDs. For *none* of them does the silkscreen > indicate the position of the anode or cathode. LED3 and LED5 from > pcblib/~geda actually present this information in their > name/description: "(pin 1 is +, 2 is-)". In pcblib/~optical, however, > the squared pin is named "-" (in red in preview, still not on the > silkscreen). The default library of gschem is a known weakness. It was already in exactly the same shape in 2005 when I started to work with geda. > How do you usually handle this ? I don't use the default lib and rely entirely on my homegrow symbols/ footprints. See my section on gedasymbols.org. > Maybe you are able to remember what > footprint will match which symbol, but I don't use gEDA often enough for > that. No. All my symbols contain a default footprint. One of my favourite feature requests is the ability to give a list of default footprints. > Or do you build your libraries of symbols and footprints that you > *know* (or hope) are correct ? yes. > Perhaps the state of the SMDs footprints is not that bad ? > > I'm now slowly building my own libraries of footprints and heavy-wheight > symbols, to avoid mismatch between symbols and footprints. Please consider uploading them in your own section at gedasymbols.org :-) ---<)kaiamrtin(>--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak tel: +49-511-762-2895 Universität Hannover, Inst. für Quantenoptik fax: +49-511-762-2211 Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover http://www.iqo.uni-hannover.de GPG key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=Knaak+kmk&op=get _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user