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It's hard to know which is the best option, build a brand new EDA tool and provide this service, or stand on the shoulders of giants in the past. CircuitHub has

It's hard to know which is the best option, build a brand new EDA tool and provide this service, or stand on the shoulders of giants in the past. CircuitHub has decided to go the route of allowing you to use your EDA of choice. Right now they support Altium, Eagle, and KiCAD. Reflow is tough. Getting the profile right so as not to damage components is a real pain without very expensive equipment.

wyager 13y ago
I think it's incredibly important that we get a new FOSS EDA tool with a focus on modularity and usability. I have a really hard time using KiCad because it's so clunky compared to Eagle. The UI for Eagle is better, and the design flow is much easier (for me). My dream EDA tool is a highly extensible, scriptable, and modular core performing stuff like routing, impedance matching, DRC, etc. and then have that wrapped by a nice Eagle-like UI.
- EChrisDenney 13y ago
  Hi wyager, I'm Chris Denney by the way, CTO for Worthington Assembly Couldn't agree more. I really think it's going to happen. The EE hobbyist movement is really only in its infancy. The more people that jump on this and get excited about it, the more people will invest their time in FOSS projects like you described. It's only a matter of time.
- cottonseed 13y ago
  I agree, and Eagle is utter crap compared to Altium. If the project isn't aiming to eat Altium's lunch, it isn't going to get where it needs to be. And you'd want to have relentless focus on usability. I've followed the KiCad development a bit, but I wasn't inspired. I'd love to work on such a project. I just don't know how to fund it.
  - hershel 13y ago
    I wonder, if the goal was to build a hacker friendly PCB tool: written in python[1], easy to develop for(via extensions), open etc. What would be the amount of work needed to get to a basic version ? could that be supported by a kickstarter ? If it could, maybe the rest of the way to altium can be built incrementally ? [1]there's boldport(https://bitbucket.org/boldport/pcbmode https://bitbucket.org/boldport/pcbmode) a python pcb tool , might be a good start
    - cottonseed 13y ago
      Using Inkscape as a router? Good lord. I don't think that is a suitable starting part. The right starting point is probably (1) a good choice of implementation tools (I've been sketching out some ideas. I'm thinking C++11 and Qt with python as the scripting language), (2) cannibalizing as much of the existing functionality from other efforts possible: KiCad, gEDA, etc. and (3) then focusing on useability and advanced functionality. The question is, why not contribute to KiCad or gEDA? That might be the right answer. If they don't collapse under their own complexity (would gcc have gotten to llvm given enough time?), they'll get to Altium eventually. I think the key is to focus on software architecture that enhances productivity. In my experience, that's the only way for a small effort to compete with big, well-funded teams like Altium.
      - hershel 13y ago
        OK, you don't like inkscape. but why rule out python? it's faster to code than c++ and more important, it will be far easier to get code contributors(and probably kickstarter support ).
        cottonseed 13y ago
        I like Inkscape fine. I use it often to make diagrams in papers. I just don't think it's good for designing PCBs. I said I totally agree that python should be the scripting engine.
        hershel 13y ago

wyager 13y ago

I think it's incredibly important that we get a new FOSS EDA tool with a focus on modularity and usability. I have a really hard time using KiCad because it's so clunky compared to Eagle. The UI for Eagle is better, and the design flow is much easier (for me). My dream EDA tool is a highly extensible, scriptable, and modular core performing stuff like routing, impedance matching, DRC, etc. and then have that wrapped by a nice Eagle-like UI.

EChrisDenney 13y ago
Hi wyager, I'm Chris Denney by the way, CTO for Worthington Assembly Couldn't agree more. I really think it's going to happen. The EE hobbyist movement is really only in its infancy. The more people that jump on this and get excited about it, the more people will invest their time in FOSS projects like you described. It's only a matter of time.
cottonseed 13y ago
I agree, and Eagle is utter crap compared to Altium. If the project isn't aiming to eat Altium's lunch, it isn't going to get where it needs to be. And you'd want to have relentless focus on usability. I've followed the KiCad development a bit, but I wasn't inspired. I'd love to work on such a project. I just don't know how to fund it.
- hershel 13y ago
  I wonder, if the goal was to build a hacker friendly PCB tool: written in python[1], easy to develop for(via extensions), open etc. What would be the amount of work needed to get to a basic version ? could that be supported by a kickstarter ? If it could, maybe the rest of the way to altium can be built incrementally ? [1]there's boldport(https://bitbucket.org/boldport/pcbmode https://bitbucket.org/boldport/pcbmode) a python pcb tool , might be a good start
  - cottonseed 13y ago
    Using Inkscape as a router? Good lord. I don't think that is a suitable starting part. The right starting point is probably (1) a good choice of implementation tools (I've been sketching out some ideas. I'm thinking C++11 and Qt with python as the scripting language), (2) cannibalizing as much of the existing functionality from other efforts possible: KiCad, gEDA, etc. and (3) then focusing on useability and advanced functionality. The question is, why not contribute to KiCad or gEDA? That might be the right answer. If they don't collapse under their own complexity (would gcc have gotten to llvm given enough time?), they'll get to Altium eventually. I think the key is to focus on software architecture that enhances productivity. In my experience, that's the only way for a small effort to compete with big, well-funded teams like Altium.
    - hershel 13y ago
      OK, you don't like inkscape. but why rule out python? it's faster to code than c++ and more important, it will be far easier to get code contributors(and probably kickstarter support ).
      - cottonseed 13y ago
        I like Inkscape fine. I use it often to make diagrams in papers. I just don't think it's good for designing PCBs. I said I totally agree that python should be the scripting engine.
        hershel 13y ago