Hi Rick, > -----Original Message----- > From: geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org > [mailto:geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org] On Behalf Of Rick Collins > Sent: Friday, September 17, 2010 4:05 PM > To: gEDA user mailing list > Subject: Re: gEDA-user: Functional blocks and PCB format changes > > I've actually given this some thought. On one hand it seems > like a footprint file "language" > might seem like a good idea. But there is a lot to consider. > What is the real advantage over the scripts you currently > use to generate a fixed format footprint file? What is the > advantage over a footprint generator? One of the clear > disadvantages of a footprint "language" is the difficulty in > verifying that you have correctly "drawn" the footprint. You > would need a tool for that which would look a lot like a > footprint generator. It can also be problematic dealing with > bugs when the "language" gets used in the corner cases or > unusual ways. > > FreePCB has a pretty versatile footprint generator that deals > with all the standard sorts of features in the standard > footprints. It is capable of understanding the files it > generates so that it can be used to edit these footprints as > well. If you have an odd part that has some regular features > and also odd features, it can accommodate that too. I have > never needed to hand edit a footprint file when using this > tool. Best of all, it is GUI and interactive so I can see > exactly what I am doing. > > A footprint language may be quick for some things, but I > think a GUI footprint editor with a standard, > non-programmable file format is a much better general tool. > > Rick > >
For a pcb FootPrint Wizard have a look at: http://github.com/bert/pcb-fpw For the sources (git). A manual with screenshots can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ljh4timm/pcb-fpw/user-manual.html I'm still debugging, so consider this a work in progress. Changing the pcb footprint file format will not speed up a new release. Kind regards, Bert Timmerman. _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user