X-Authentication-Warning:	delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f
X-Recipient:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com
X-UW-Orig-Sender:	fpm AT homer01 DOT u DOT washington DOT edu
Date:	Mon, 25 Jul 2016 08:48:50 -0700 (PDT)
From:	"Frank Miles (fpm AT u DOT washington DOT edu) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" <geda-user AT delorie DOT com>
To:	"Dave McGuire (mcguire AT neurotica DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" <geda-user AT delorie DOT com>
Subject:	Re: [geda-user] Stay or go?
In-Reply-To:	<f1a80c17-5aec-9d4b-81cb-d5a89812e842@neurotica.com>
Message-ID:	<alpine.LRH.2.01.1607250832050.23468@homer01.u.washington.edu>
References:	<98D1C4E4-581D-4A03-94E4-E0330960EADF AT wellesley DOT edu> <f1a80c17-5aec-9d4b-81cb-d5a89812e842 AT neurotica DOT com>
User-Agent:	Alpine 2.01 (LRH 1217 2009-02-23)
MIME-Version:	1.0
X-PMX-Version:	6.2.1.2493963, Antispam-Engine: 2.7.2.2107409, Antispam-Data: 2016.7.25.153917
X-PMX-Server:	mxout26.s.uw.edu
X-Uwash-Spam:	Gauge=X, Probability=10%, Report='
	TO_IN_SUBJECT 0.5, HTML_00_01 0.05, HTML_00_10 0.05, SUPERLONG_LINE 0.05, BODYTEXTP_SIZE_3000_LESS 0, BODY_SIZE_2000_2999 0, BODY_SIZE_5000_LESS 0, BODY_SIZE_7000_LESS 0, DATE_TZ_NA 0, IN_REP_TO 0, LEGITIMATE_NEGATE 0, MSG_THREAD 0, NO_URI_HTTPS 0, REFERENCES 0, SINGLE_URI_IN_BODY 0, __ANY_URI 0, __BOUNCE_CHALLENGE_SUBJ 0, __BOUNCE_NDR_SUBJ_EXEMPT 0, __CP_URI_IN_BODY 0, __CT 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __FORWARDED_MSG 0, __HAS_FROM 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __IN_REP_TO 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __REFERENCES 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __SINGLE_URI_TEXT 0, __SUBJ_ALPHA_NEGATE 0, __TO_IN_SUBJECT 0, __TO_MALFORMED_2 0, __URI_IN_BODY 0, __URI_NS , __URI_WITH_PATH 0, __USER_AGENT 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

On Sat, 23 Jul 2016, Dave McGuire (mcguire AT neurotica DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com] wrote:

> On 07/23/2016 10:16 AM, James Battat (jbattat AT wellesley DOT edu) [via
> geda-user AT delorie DOT com] wrote:
>> I?ve used gschem/pcb for several (modest) boards now, and love many things about it.
>> I do not love what I perceive to be deep friction and lack of cooperation among developers.
>>
>> It makes me wonder how long gschem/pcb will endure.  And therefore I must decide if, as a user, I should invest any more effort to learning the platform and building up custom footprint/schematic libraries, etc, or instead transition now to another platform.
>>
>> This may be an unfair question to ask on this forum, but here goes:
>>
>> What do you see as drawbacks to KiCad (wrt gschem/pcb)?  I?m on the fence about transitioning away from gschem/pcb.  Why should I stay?
>
>  One big drawback to KiCad that I ran into a little less than a year
> ago is that it's very difficult to get running if you're using a Linux
> installation more than, say, a month old.  I'm not one of those guys who
> reinstalls my OS at the drop of a hat (I come from the commercial UNIX
> world, not the Windows world) so that just doesn't work for me.
>
>              -Dave
>
> -- 
> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
> New Kensington, PA

That's old information, at least in Debian - known in some places as one
of the least bleeding-edge distributions.  For the current "stable" version
(Jessie), you can either get an older version of Kicad or get a relatively
recent release with some substantial enhancements with the debian-backports
version - i.e. compatible with jessie.  I would think that Ubuntu has as
current a version.  If you're still running wheezy (oldstable), only the
older version will be readily available.

There are a limited number of options for those interested in using a
mixture of geda and kicad.  I use gschem for my schematics, and kicad
for board layout.  If you want to try this, you can get my gnetlist-kicad
netlister at:
 	http://www.gedasymbols.org/user/frank_miles/

It's my impression (haven't tried it) that kicad can use geda/gschem
symbols and/or pcb footprints.  That's a nontrivial matter for people
with lots of schematics or established footprint libraries!  One of the
key things that got me into gschem was the ability to convert from my
old schematic package (OrCAD) into gschem.  Kicad will certainly gain
by making conversion from gschem/pcb into their package.  If geda/gschem/pcb
could convert from kicad it might unskew their advantage.  Users, most
of all, would benefit as they could experiment without fear of stranding
their work with a seldom-used design package.

 	-Frank

- Raw text -