Mail Archives: geda-user/2015/05/29/13:51:36
Mike Crowe (mcrowe AT gcdataconcepts DOT com) wrote:
> Hello All
>
> I've been using gEDA pcb for several years now have found it to be an
> excellent, stable, "meat and potatoes" tool for board layout.
>
> While there are several features I'd like to have implemented (keep out
> regions, blind and buried vias, footprints that allow generic traces,
> add pad flags 'start-round', 'stop-round'...) there is one feature that
> I'd really like to see. The ability to put slot on a board as part of a
> footprint. I'm interested in enough to volunteer time to help implement
> this.
>
> On the output NC-drill side, implementing it seems simple enough. It
> would be a start point, a "G85" keyword and an end point. There is some
> preliminary code support for viewing slots in gerbv (git version).
>
> At the footprint side, it seems to me that a new keyword identifier is
> in order, maybe "slot" It would have to properties of a "pin" except
> that it would have a start and stop point.
>
> Then, of course, there's all that stuff in the middle. Either a pin
> object would be extended to include a start/stop point, or a new object
> class would be created ( I know its "C", but the idea is the same
> regardless of the language ).
>
> I'm a relatively adept "C" programmer, and I think I'm up to the task.
> But before I dive in, I have a few questions.
>
> Is someone already working on a feature similar to this?
> If I generate a patch that works how do I go about getting this feature
> merged?
> Are there any roadmap developer docs that help lead the way through the
> code maze?
> In looking through the code, I see this "bison" stuff. I unfamiliar
> with it. What kinds of development tools are being used to implement
> this?
> Does the the above implementation approach make sense?
>
>
> Cheers
> Mike
>
>
>
Hi Mike and list members,
I think that "slot" properties resembles more to a "trace" than to a "pin".
Traces do have a start point, end point, copper clearance and width, and
could give straight "line" slots and curved "arc" slots.
Maybe drawing slots on a separate layer as lines and arcs, and post
processing the resulting gerber file for that hat layer (with awk or
sed) can be a short term solution, YMMV.
I see more and more reasons for extending the pcb file format for long
term solutions for the above mentioned features.
Kind regards,
Bert Timmerman.
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