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gEDA-dev: pcb FAQ: how many layers?

Dear gEDA developers,

Recently I overheard some people talking about gEDA.
One of them brought up all kinds of reasons that gEDA was not "usable".

Is it true what the attached message claims:
* pcb is limited to exactly 8 copper layers and 2 silkscreen layers ?
* pcb has no way to make a "mechanical layer" to show the physical
outline of the board and its dimensions ?
* pcb has no "solder mask" or "paste mask" layer?

Is there a "pcb FAQ" somewhere that would answer that sort of question?

Rather than be offended that someone is a little mistaken about some
software that they admit they are not an expert in, I want to do
something productive with these "reasons":

* if a pcb FAQ doesn't exist, create one (perhaps on the gEDA wiki)

* update the FAQ so it clears up any FUD. Then I can email the URL to
people who don't know the answers to these questions (or, worse, have
old, obsolete, no-longer-correct "answers" to these questions). So I
can say "gEDA actually can handle all these things. The FAQ explains
how."

* Any remaining things that gEDA can't currently handle, that are
preventing people from switching to gEDA, should be added to the
buglist.

-- 
David Cary
http://opencircuits.com/User:DavidCary

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Harry Selfridge <harrys@encoreengineering.com>
Date: Apr 24, 2007 4:30 PM
Subject: Re: [PEDA] Open source equivalent to Protel
To: Protel EDA Discussion List <peda@techservinc.com>


Hi Jon,

As a person who has only dabbled in Linux for fun, I'm hardly the one
to give a definitive review of gEDA.

My impression of gEDA was that it wasn't for high tempo professional
work.  Everything is done from mostly command line stand-alone
programs - like a lot of Unix software.  The PCB program is 8 copper
layers, not total layers.  As I recall, there aren't any mechanical
layers upon which to do any of the dimensioning or commenting you
might want.  Obviously, you can't crossprobe, or do anything that
depends on functional integration.

Nothing you have done under Protel is usable in gEDA - it speaks a
language all its own.  Likewise, nothing you do in gEDA is portable
to any commercial EDA package (as far as I know).

Maintainability is at the mercy of the gEDA developers.  It's up to
you to compile the code if you're not running a Fedora or Redhat
version for which it has already been compiled.

There are some reviews online that might give you more insight than I
can.  Try: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8438 and
http://linuxfocus.org/English/December2004/article355.shtml .

Regards - Harry


At 12:06 PM 4/24/2007, you wrote:


>Harry Selfridge wrote:
>
> >I have not done any serious design work with it.  Out of curiosity, I
> >"tinkered" with it by doing a simple two-sided hobby board.
> >
> >I had to do a bit of source compiling to get it set up.  It's the
> >usual Unix collection of tools to do the job - it's not tightly
> >integrated as you expect from commercial EDA software.
> >
> >Unless they've done something with it recently, it's limited to an
> 8 layer PCB.
> >
> >
>Could you compare it in ease of use, flexibility, ability to set up
>libraries,
>etc. to P99SE?  8 copper layers (signals plus planes) would not likely
>be much of
>a restriction.  8 total layers, including silk screen, solder mask,
>paste mask, mech etc.
>would already be a limitation.
>
> >If you're looking for a free open source professional package to run
> >under Linux - it doesn't exist.
> >
> >
>I'm less concerned about free as with maintainability.  Some day my P99 CD's
>won't be readable any more, and I'll be in big trouble.  I paid a
>fortune for P99SE,
>and I'm damned if I'll pay another fortune for Altium's latest boondoggle.
>
>Jon
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