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Re: gEDA-dev: Project Manager

On Saturday 29 March 2008 16:26, Peter TB Brett wrote:
> With a Makefile, in order to update your PCB, you have to:
> - Save in gschem
> - Switch to PCB
> - Save in PCB
> - Switch to a terminal
> - Run make
> - Switch to PCB
> - Revert to saved in PCB
> - Load new components to buffer
> - Place new component buffer
> - Execute command file

10 kicks.
It isn't that many steps for me.  Looks rather roundabout, but some of 
it is scriptable.
No doubt, there is a need for improvement.

I recall the primitive flow as 

1. save in gschem
2. run gsch2pcb
3. load into pcb

> With xgsch2pcb, in order to update your PCB, you have to:
> - Save in gschem
> - Switch to xgsch2pcb
> - xgsch2pcb will detect the change and ask you if you want to update
> your PCB, so click "Update"
> - Switch to PCB

5 kicks.
That's about what I remember.

> In my experience, xgsch2pcb has significant *advantages* in terms of
> "kick me".

A different flow will result in a different number of kicks.  Regardless 
of the comparison, it needs to be simplfied.  That should be a goal of 
the project manager.

Let me describe a good flow:

1. save in gschem.
2. switch to PCB, the changes are already there

and take it a step further and make all the transitions like that.

The schematic to pcb transition is one I use a lot less than back and 
forth between schematic and simulation.  

I understand what xgsch2pcb does, and the windoze users need something 
like that.  It's a nice helper for cases where the user needs help with 
command line switches and the like, which I believe is what you 
intended it to be.

There are several other tools like Easy-spice and gspiceui that are 
similar, except they apply to the schematic to simulator path.  I don't 
use them either.  You might say that they build simulator commands, and 
so appear to simplify, but they really don't.

Any criticism of existing tools here is intended only to help Newell 
make a better project manager.

We need a project manager that does all of this, makes it trivial, and 
doesn't interfere with not using it.



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