On Wed, 06 Dec 2017 08:57:09 -0800 pe...@easthope.ca wrote: > Hi, > > At https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTinker/Desktop#EDA is a list of > packages for electronics design automation. According to various > documents, Electric, Fritzing and gEDA, at least, can help to create > schematics. I use librecad but have never used schematic > construction software. Which of the EDA packages will be a good > starting point? Is any integrated with Librecad? >
I suspect they all have a bit of a learning curve. The gEDA suite is probably the most difficult, but I haven't tried any alternative, there were none when I began and I don't really feel like changing horses now. I suspect it is also the most powerful. What people like about other systems is the 'integration'. The gEDA suite is clearly two disparate major tools, with completely different file structures, but as both are text based, it's not hard to plumb one into the other. There are a number of command-line utilities, and scripts and spreadsheets to generate families of parts. I find I need to make most of the footprints I use, and a lesser number of schematic symbols: there are libraries, and many user contributions around the Net, but there are so many hundreds of thousands of parts that a lot have to be made from scratch, which isn't difficult. I'm not sure what kind of connection with LibreCAD there could be: DXF is a much more complex file structure, and I think the most that could be done would be to transfer PCB outlines and mounting points. There is some provision for component height in PCB, but no easy way to manipulate values, and I don't believe LibreCAD can do anything in the way of 3D anyway. -- Joe
