X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f
X-Recipient: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2015 16:03:58 GMT
From: falcon AT ivan DOT Harhan DOT ORG (Spacefalcon the Outlaw)
Message-Id: <1509041603.AA10864@ivan.Harhan.ORG>
To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: [geda-user] [OT] looking for a PADS layout person
Reply-To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com

Mitch Davis (mjd+geda-user AT hackvana DOT com) wrote:

> There's a flaw in your logic (false dichotomy): Saying that it has to be
> done in PADS because gEDA can't do what you want, doesn't allow for options
> which are open source, but *will* do what you want.

There is one additional complication to this picture.  The reusable-
as-is Calypso GSM block PADS layout I got from Openmoko is triband,
and I would really like to make my FreeCalypso GSM devices quadband in
the long term.  However, replacing Openmoko's triband RFFE with Epcos
M034F (the magic component that allows a quadband design with the
unchangeable Rita RF xcvr from TI) cannot be done (or at least I don't
see a way to do it) without redoing the whole layout in a different
way, using TI's Leonardo and E-Sample component placement as a guide,
totally different from Om's arrangement.  Hence nothing beyond
footprints can be reused from Openmoko when going the quadband route.

When the time comes to redo the whole PCB layout anew for the quadband
version, *that* would be the ideal time to do it properly in Free SW
tools.  As for the triband version (FCDEV3B) I seek to build currently
by reusing Openmoko's layout as mindlessly as possible, it is merely
an interim step, a way to allow other FreeCalypso subprojects to
proceed ASAP, subprojects which are currently blocked by lack of
hardware.

Hence I am trying to see if I can find a PADS person who could do the
first quick & dirty version of my board for a price I can afford.

> FWIW, KiCad supports blind and buried vias (and plated slots), and is open
> source.

Thanks for the info.  When the time comes to do the quadband version
of my FreeCalypso GSM gear in FLOSS, I will need a PCB layout program
that can do blind & buried vias, among other things.  I've been
thinking about hacking up a version of our PCB with this support
kludged in, but now I'm going to be looking at KiCAD first.

> And it also has a mode where you can set the background to be an
> image, which you can then trace over when laying out the board.  That image
> could be a bitmap of a board done in another tool.  It's a useful tool when
> recovering designs done in older proprietary software.

Are you or anyone else offering to recreate Openmoko's Calypso GSM
modem PCB design in FLOSS (any tool, any version) by this method?  If
so, for how much $$$?  If not, the notion is irrelevant.

> (Curiously enough,
> the Openmoko team, and in particular, Wolfgang Spraul, were quite keen on
> KiCad)

If you are referring to the abandoned gta02-core project, that one
specifically excluded the one part of the original PADS-made GTA02
which is of interest to me: the Calypso GSM modem.

SF