X-Authentication-Warning:	delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f
X-Recipient:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com
DKIM-Signature:	v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
	d=gmail.com; s=20120113;
	h=x-received:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:references:user-agent:date
	:message-id:mime-version:content-type;
	bh=oumdvp0ywiCIJ9OwdBQl8tTanIwJsoh1QEYqd8SNEaw=;
	b=tb95WE+fZvlVm8ZLhLInGkmYn+491x1VioWwM0P6LiKL3ityroU/uQVEb8yr/EMYAg
	/49sgsfRAANiyvvIqqa43L7bdWPv/QgoV9KZ6o27+FBWPR3zfFPAz3CgQHo9DmTv05/m
	yMobjT9/jq38QRoGnIUJdRxCr8Dxq3eQGBmtbT+w6ELj9GiEj9E7b2CKf+JntK43EPD1
	GIozy8tX5FkBuWw3S6CKqdjwlC2g16mbFTdIee/W2v/w1G74quEMnhnN6ttbN7r7PTiB
	iC5iLRE0jZQDY9hpa7FCspv7s3wSiiGUHIwWPhSH2rxCmrx72br7NSnUJvM3zzJJAzC4
	bZAA==
X-Received:	by 10.52.23.10 with SMTP id i10mr5222236vdf.128.1358438717485;
	Thu, 17 Jan 2013 08:05:17 -0800 (PST)
From:	Ben Gamari <bgamari DOT foss AT gmail DOT com>
To:	John Doty <jpd AT noqsi DOT com>, geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: [geda-user] geda-skeleton-project: Lowering the cost of a starting a gEDA project
In-Reply-To:	<3BC32DEF-2C9E-4FE3-BE18-1B65A4139C65@noqsi.com>
References:	<87wqvhd4tw DOT fsf AT gmail DOT com> <859D19F5-2072-408E-9632-324C2C943163 AT noqsi DOT com> <87bocrviz3 DOT fsf AT gmail DOT com> <40E88AEA-9556-40D5-9567-9DEFCAFFBCFA AT noqsi DOT com> <201301170126 DOT r0H1QVNO006895 AT envy DOT delorie DOT com> <90674A9C-F296-412F-A99C-372DDA7C70F0 AT noqsi DOT com> <201301170331 DOT r0H3VHsL022134 AT envy DOT delorie DOT com> <3BC32DEF-2C9E-4FE3-BE18-1B65A4139C65 AT noqsi DOT com>
User-Agent:	Notmuch/0.14+240~g0ab5e9f (http://notmuchmail.org) Emacs/23.4.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
Date:	Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:05:15 -0500
Message-ID:	<87librvlqc.fsf@gmail.com>
MIME-Version:	1.0
Reply-To:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Errors-To:	nobody AT delorie DOT com
X-Mailing-List:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com
X-Unsubscribes-To:	listserv AT delorie DOT com

John Doty <jpd AT noqsi DOT com> writes:

> On Jan 16, 2013, at 8:31 PM, DJ Delorie wrote:
>
>> New gEDA users want the easiest/fastest path that results in them
>> getting their project done.
>
> Yes, exactly. What if pcb isn't the right tool for that? In my
> opinion, based on experience, it probably isn't in many cases.
>
I've been sitting out thusfar but I feel I should note that I disagree
with your assessment of pcb. In my experience, pcb, after an initial
learning period, is an extremely productive environment for my needs. Of
the projects in this space that I have experience with (admittedly quite
few: Kicad, Eagle, and pcb), pcb has by far been the best tool for the
job (especially among FOSS offerings). That's not to say that it is
without issues but I have yet to find a design for which it proves to
be inadequate.

I understand that others may have a different view on this, but I
think it's fair to say that there exists a number of people who happily
use pcb as their layout tool of choice. Where the majority stands on
this issue I do not know.

>>  If the first thing we tell them is to find some other software
>> package to get their job done, we are doing ourselves a huge
>> disservice.
>
> If the first impression that they get is that they must use something
> that they are likely to find unusable, we do both them and ourselves a
> huge disservice.
>
> If we downplay gEDA's unique strengths, particularly its ability to
> export designs to most common layout and simulation systems, we do
> both them and ourselves a huge disservice.
>
I didn't mention the fact that gEDA can target multiple downstream tools
as I wanted to present a simple interface, which appears to be what
my audience expects. That being said, I can add a bit to the README
mentioning the existence of other tools this would help.

Out of curiosity, what is your preferred layout tool?

Cheers,

- Ben

- Raw text -