docs/wiki/pcb-roadmap.html

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  13 <p>
  14 <em>Translations of this page are also available in the following languages:</em> <a href="pcb-roadmap.ru.html" class="wikilink1" title="pcb-roadmap.ru.html">Русский</a>
  15 </p>
  16
  17 <h1 class="sectionedit1" id="pcb_roadmap">PCB Roadmap</h1>
  18 <div class="level1">
  19
  20 <p>
  21 This is a guide to the future direction of the PCB layout editor.
  22 </p>
  23 <ul>
  24 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> <a href="geda-design_flow_and_hierarchy_roadmap.html" class="wikilink1" title="geda-design_flow_and_hierarchy_roadmap.html"> gEDA roadmap</a> has some PCB items.</div>
  25 </li>
  26 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> <a href="pcb-projects.html" class="wikilink1" title="pcb-projects.html"> PCB Projects</a> lists some wish-list items.</div>
  27 </li>
  28 </ul>
  29
  30 </div>
  31 <!-- EDIT1 SECTION "PCB Roadmap" [109-352] -->
  32 <h2 class="sectionedit2" id="general_guidelines_for_releases">General Guidelines for Releases</h2>
  33 <div class="level2">
  34
  35 <p>
  36 In general, there are three types of changes that go into PCB - bug
  37 fixes, new features, and incompatible changes.
  38 </p>
  39 <ul>
  40 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> A <em>bug fix</em> is when PCB doesn&#039;t do what it&#039;s supposed to do - this includes documentation bugs as well as code problems.</div>
  41 </li>
  42 </ul>
  43 <ul>
  44 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> A <em>new feature</em> is something that adds functionality to PCB but doesn&#039;t change any existing functionality.</div>
  45 </li>
  46 </ul>
  47 <ul>
  48 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> An <em>incompatible change</em> is anything that causes (intentional) compatibility issues with older versions of PCB, and usually means a large design change.</div>
  49 </li>
  50 </ul>
  51
  52 <p>
  53 Note that a new feature that
  54 adds a backwards-incompatible change to the file format <em>when it&#039;s
  55 used</em> is not in this category.
  56 </p>
  57
  58 <p>
  59 Bugs, patches, and feature requests should be added to the
  60 <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/pcb" class="urlextern" title="https://bugs.launchpad.net/pcb" rel="nofollow">PCB Launchpad bugs
  61 tracker</a>.
  62 </p>
  63
  64 <p>
  65 The default status <strong>undecided</strong>, bug reports with that priority will be considered “unreviewed”.
  66 </p>
  67
  68 </div>
  69 <!-- EDIT2 SECTION "General Guidelines for Releases" [353-1268] -->
  70 <h2 class="sectionedit3" id="current_plans">Current plans</h2>
  71 <div class="level2">
  72
  73 <p>
  74 The current plan is as follows:
  75 </p>
  76 <ul>
  77 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Releases every three … four months or so, until we clear the backlog.</div>
  78 </li>
  79 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Start on a PCB 5.x release that folds in some large design changes.</div>
  80 </li>
  81 </ul>
  82
  83 </div>
  84 <!-- EDIT3 SECTION "Current plans" [1269-1477] -->
  85 <h2 class="sectionedit4" id="pcb_release_schedule">pcb release schedule</h2>
  86 <div class="level2">
  87
  88 <p>
  89 The pcb release schedule can be found <a href="https://launchpad.net/pcb/+milestones" class="urlextern" title="https://launchpad.net/pcb/+milestones" rel="nofollow"> here</a>.
  90 </p>
  91
  92 <p>
  93 The remainder of this page will list the various wishes that are
  94 planned (or at least hoped for) for upcoming and future releases.
  95 </p>
  96
  97 </div>
  98 <!-- EDIT4 SECTION "pcb release schedule" [1478-1735] -->
  99 <h2 class="sectionedit5" id="wish_list">Wish List</h2>
 100 <div class="level2">
 101
 102 <p>
 103 This section lists possible projects for future releases, which either
 104 haven&#039;t been agreed on, or haven&#039;t been scheduled.  If you&#039;d like to
 105 work on one of these, go ahead <img src="images/smileys/icon_smile.gif" align="middle" alt=":-)" />
 106 </p>
 107 <ul>
 108 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> <a href="geda-pcb_layers.html" class="wikilink1" title="geda-pcb_layers.html"> New Layers</a> proposal is here.</div>
 109 </li>
 110 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Multiple fonts in a design (<a href="geda-pcb_fonts.html" class="wikilink1" title="geda-pcb_fonts.html"> description of feature branch</a>)</div>
 111 </li>
 112 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Other <abbr title="Graphical User Interface">GUI</abbr> cleanups.  Gtk upgraded to “best practices”.  Importer config.</div>
 113 </li>
 114 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> import/wizard plugins (as well as exports)</div>
 115 </li>
 116 <li class="level1 node"><div class="li"> <a href="pcb-drc.html" class="wikilink1" title="pcb-drc.html"> Design Rule Checker</a></div>
 117 <ul>
 118 <li class="level4"><div class="li"> status report active on drawing space when “DRC Active” toggled &#039;on&#039; in Connects menu.</div>
 119 </li>
 120 <li class="level4"><div class="li"> DRC profile files (for different mfg processes).</div>
 121 </li>
 122 <li class="level4"><div class="li"> General code clean up</div>
 123 </li>
 124 <li class="level4"><div class="li"> Modularization</div>
 125 </li>
 126 </ul>
 127 </li>
 128 <li class="level1 node"><div class="li"> Variable-angle arcs. </div>
 129 <ul>
 130 <li class="level4"><div class="li"> file footprints support this, it&#039;s a graphics issue.</div>
 131 </li>
 132 </ul>
 133 </li>
 134 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Better support for free-rotated components: assert that pads at funky angles are rendered correctly, fix autorouter for components at weird angles (the latest git version has a tendency to either ignore the route command or to segfault, depending on the specifics), add rotation to the <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>R</kbd> report, etcetera.</div>
 135 </li>
 136 <li class="level1 node"><div class="li"> Ability to copy a footprint&#039;s name from the library dialogue (so it can be pasted into gschem&#039;s attribute list).</div>
 137 <ul>
 138 <li class="level3"><div class="li"> it should be a feature of gschem to open .fp libraries.</div>
 139 </li>
 140 </ul>
 141 </li>
 142 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Ability to edit netlist in-situ (possibly by drawing on the rat lines layer) - e.g, when you want to add a heatsink soldered to ground, it will always show up as shorted until the netlist is edited to incorporate it.</div>
 143 </li>
 144 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Trace impedance calculator, with automatic adjustment capability (fill in thickness, stray capacitance and desired impedance, and the width is adjusted to satisfy the conditions).</div>
 145 </li>
 146 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Integrated footprint lookup and fetch from gedasymbols.org.</div>
 147 </li>
 148 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Hierarchical pcb model - subcells, footprints-as-pcb, etc.</div>
 149 </li>
 150 <li class="level1 node"><div class="li"> A shape I&#039;ve often wanted on a pad is circle with the sides cut off.  This is slightly different than an oval.  Something like Inkscape&#039;s boolean operations would be excellent.</div>
 151 <ul>
 152 <li class="level2"><div class="li"> PCB file footprints support &#039;obround&#039; or pill shaped pads.</div>
 153 </li>
 154 </ul>
 155 </li>
 156 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> How about text at not-90 degree angles?  Or support for rotated square pads (I know, the file format doesn&#039;t support those two.)</div>
 157 </li>
 158 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Editing on the grid has got to go!  Counting grid points is the worst possible way to enter positional information into a computer.</div>
 159 </li>
 160 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Make every field in object reports editable.</div>
 161 </li>
 162 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Allow direct entry of offsets and absolute positions when editing.</div>
 163 </li>
 164 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Add “offset” and “trim” feature à la 2D CAD programs.</div>
 165 </li>
 166 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Add “point to tangent” and “tangent to tangent” line drawing feature à la 2D CAD programs.</div>
 167 </li>
 168 <li class="level1 node"><div class="li"> When silk layer is off, show refdeses in very thin, small type for all footprints, say over pin 1, or the diamond mark.</div>
 169 <ul>
 170 <li class="level3"><div class="li"> similar to &#039;lock names&#039;, but done in order to clear up the board real-estate.</div>
 171 </li>
 172 <li class="level3"><div class="li"> this would be &#039;drafting mode&#039; as opposed to &#039;output mode&#039; where silk would be 1:1.</div>
 173 </li>
 174 </ul>
 175 </li>
 176 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Selection improvements: make it possible to select the endpoint of a specific trace, if two endpoints are coincident, you can&#039;t know which will be selected.</div>
 177 </li>
 178 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Trace centerline dissappears when moving trace endpoint in thin-draw mode.  this is undesirable behaviour.</div>
 179 </li>
 180 <li class="level1 node"><div class="li"> Filled circles</div>
 181 <ul>
 182 <li class="level3"><div class="li"> Currently, to get a filled circle you create a zero-length trace of the right width.</div>
 183 </li>
 184 <li class="level3"><div class="li"> Are there actually electronics components that require filled circle copper?</div>
 185 </li>
 186 </ul>
 187 </li>
 188 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Unification of shortcuts in gschem and PCB, or at least an easy option for PCB to mimic gschem&#039;s shortcuts.</div>
 189 </li>
 190 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> CAM engine?  (i.e. ability to say “draw outline on top soldermask” via script/config)</div>
 191 </li>
 192 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Automatic least version required file saving.  (goal: accomodate new features gracefully)</div>
 193 </li>
 194 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Put various commands which are only accessible via a :command(foo) into the top menu. Newbies want to see what actions are in the menus since that way they know what PCB can do.</div>
 195 </li>
 196 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> Make the difference between editing footprints and PCBs much more obvious. If you&#039;re in footprint editing mode, then perhaps make the background color change. (Architectural)</div>
 197 </li>
 198 </ul>
 199
 200 </div>
 201 <!-- EDIT5 SECTION "Wish List" [1736-] --></body>
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