Mail Archives: geda-user/2014/02/17/10:28:40
On Feb 17, 2014, at 10:04 AM, Michai Ramakers wrote:
> Hello,
>
> [ I post this in 'geda-user' instead of 'geda-help' because answers
> might not be short or simple, and might not benefit new users ]
>
> I've been using KiCad for a number of years now, and am considering
> moving to a new EDA suite - gEDA looks like a good candidate. In fact
> when choosing an EDA suite back then, KiCad and gEDA were the only
> realistic options as far as I could see.
>
> Reasons for looking for a KiCad-alternative are subjective, and
> basically boil down to KiCad not being mature enough to use in a
> production-environment. (This is my opinion, not a request for
> flaming.)
>
> Before wading through docs and giving it a serious try, I'd like to
> ask here whether gEDA could provide what I'm looking for in a EDA
> suite; 'yes', 'no' or more elaborate replies are more than welcome.
>
>
> - runs Linux/*BSD (I use NetBSD mostly)
Yes.
>
> - is stable and mature - no drastic sudden changes in workflow or
> file-format or similar
>
Yes. I use it for stuff that goes into space, and such projects take many years. I have had few problems.
> - uses plaintext file-format for interchange between suite-components
Yes.
>
> - comes with complete and detailed documentation - that includes
> file-format details, so I can script against that, and these scripts
> will continue to work over releases
Yes.
>
> - has a coherent project-website (or rather, one-stop source of
> information, not scattered throughout the web)
Yes.
>
>
> I think that for most of these, it is easy to say whether gEDA
> qualifies or not, but comments and mentions of corner-cases are
> welcome.
>
> Furthermore, it would be nice to have a proper auto-router. I was
> impressed by the 'freerouting.net' autorouter, and read various mails
> about gEDA interfacing to the input-/output-formats that
> freerouting.net supports, with no definitive answer. I suppose I'd
> have to test the gEDA internal autorouter to know how it compares to
> the freerouting.net one (or not?).
You seem to assume that you'll use the "pcb" component for layout. You don't have to do that. One of gEDA's strengths is netlist export.
>
> Thank you in advance,
> with kind regards,
>
> Michai
>
John Doty Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.
http://www.noqsi.com/
jpd AT noqsi DOT com
- Raw text -