On Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:25:26 -0500 DJ Delorie <d...@delorie.com> wrote:
> > Stefan Salewski <m...@ssalewski.de> writes: > > I guess all this was discussed on the list multiple times in the > > past, > > My thoughts: http://www.delorie.com/pcb/component-dbs.html > > You should be able to defer the selection of packages, pinouts, and > part numbers until later in the design cycle. 100% right. There is (1) the schematic, with symbols, (2) the PCB layout with footprints and tracks, and then there is what I think should be part (3) a mapping from each schematic symbol to PCB footprint. Currently in the normal gschem/pcb workflow the footprints will be defined in the schematic. However, by extracting the symbol->footprint mapping to a separate (3) entity, you can create multiple different PCBs from the same schematic, or change footprints without revising the schematic itself. In theory you could create a through-hole component PCB and surface-mount component PCB from the same schematic. The orthogonality of these three pieces (schematic, footprint mapping, and PCB layout) is pleasing to me, but I have to admit that you would rarely find a need to create different PCBs from the exact same schematic. Still, by separating the footprint mapping entirely from schematic capture, you can stay focused on one task at a time. Regards, Colin _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user