kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Dick Hollenbeck <dick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Vladimir,

Tonight : definitions and some questions
Tomorrow: a proposal to share/split the work and how to do it

If you can look over the questions and clear any confusion on my part that would
be appreciated.  Thanks very much.


Definitions:

*) Board Internal Units (BIU). This is a pseudonym for the engineering units
used by a BOARD when it is in RAM, and only when it is in RAM.  BIU is
perhaps nanometers in the future, and deci-mils currently.
A BIU refers typically to a measurement or a position on an XY grid, and this is
because this grid is dimensioned in BIUs along both its X and Y axes. Both X and
Y can be either positive or negative on this grid. In the case of measurements
or scalars, there can be a radius, a diameter, a distance (length), and all of
these can and should be expressed in BIUs, when we are in RAM and when we are
talking about the objects within the class BOARD instance. One special
feature of XY points within the BIU coordinate system is that they will always
be integers. In contrast, distances and other forms of measurements are not
subject to the same limitation by the very nature of physics. Coordinates are
always integers because we use signed whole numbers to represent these BIU
coordinates.

*) Snap grid. A snap grid is a subset of the full set of possible XY coordinates
in the BIU coordinate system. Points falling on the snap grid are evenly spaced
in X and Y directions and are some integer multiple apart in this 2D space,
usually greater than one BIU apart.

*) Metric Board. This is a pcb board that has a great number of coordinates and
distances that happen to be some multiple of the BIU that is also a multiple of
a metric engineering unit such as micrometers.

*) Imperial Board.  This is a pcb board that has a great number of coordinates and
distances that happen to be some multiple of the BIU that is also a multiple of
an imperial engineering unit such as mils or inches.


Assumptions:

a) It is OK to modify the board file format in order to handle the BIU change.

b) Boards saved on disk in the new format will not be readable using old software.

c) Since we have no backwards compatibility obligation, we can make significant
changes to the file format while we have this disruption opportunity.


Questions:

1) Is it not possible that the board could be saved on disk using engineering
units other than the BIUs?

2) Once the BOARD is in RAM, is it not possible that all objects within the
BOARD* object use BIUs as their spatial coordinates and BIUs as units of
measured distances?

3) Is it not true that the main difference between the user interface in play
while working on a metric board vs. an imperial board, is the grid snap distance
(and various computer screen fields and menus) ?

4) If sufficient resolution is preserved, is there not some advantage in
disconnecting the chosen engineering units in a saved BOARD file from the BIU?
(On the theory that if the BIU needs to be changed again in the future, that you
do not also have to change the BOARD file format, a situation we currently find
ourselves in?)

5) Is is not simply a matter of scaling other engineering units like millimeters
when loading a BOARD file into the RAM resident form where BIUs pertain? In
reverse direction for disk saves?

6) Is it not simply a matter of scaling to other engineering units like
millimeters or mils when exporting a RAM resident BOARD (of course using BIUs)
to other formats such as gerbers?

7) Which items among 1) through 6) are new?

Dick