kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Adam Wolf <adamwolf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'll set my PPA to whatever is decided.  I am also considering making
a "scripting PPA" with the scripting support turned on--if it's still
something that has to be turned on.

Adam Wolf
Wayne and Layne, LLC

On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 2:30 PM, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 10/11/2012 11:31 AM, Dick Hollenbeck wrote:
>>
>> On 10/11/2012 05:27 AM, Brian Sidebotham wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Guys,
>>>
>>> Would it be beneficial if I changed KicadWinbuilder to build with the
>>> new nanometer units?
>>>
>>> It should get more people testing the nanometer support and provide
>>> some feedback. I think quite a few people use Winbuilder to get access
>>> to the latest versions, but don't change anything in the setup. This
>>> way it will gradually get you some more nanometer beta testers and
>>> feedback.
>>>
>>> Let me know as I will only take a few minutes to change.
>>>
>>> Best Regards, Brian.
>>
>>
>> I am using the nanometer build without issue.
>>
>> (My only suspicion is with respect to grabbing zone borders with the mouse
>> pointer.  I
>> have felt for some time that the hit testing there should use pixels to
>> measure acceptable
>> distance, not IU which are subject to variances on zoom factor.  Pixels
>> are not subject to
>> zoom factor.  Its in the TODO.txt file.  It is painfully hard to select a
>> zone boarder
>> reliably in the nanometer build.)
>>
>>
>> I like the idea of forcing folks to smoke out problems.  Because it has to
>> happen
>> sometime.  There are no beta testers on some kind of payroll.
>>
>>
>> Pcbnew files (even legacy format files) created from that point forward
>> are not compatible
>> with the deci-mils build.  So it is a bridge which is difficult to
>> traverse backwards across.
>>
>>
>> I've found that the Eagle plugin needs the nanometer build to avoid
>> rounding errors,
>> because coming from metric to deci-mils is and has been a problem
>> regardless of plugin.
>> This was the whole impetus to move to nanometers as a means of avoiding
>> rounding errors
>> even within legacy files in the first place.
>>
>> The fork in the road looks like this:
>>
>> a) change now, generate a bunch of new mm based footprint libraries and mm
>> based legacy
>> board files, which are not compatible with deci-mil builds.
>>
>>
>> b) wait until the *.kicad_pcb files and s-expression footprints are fully
>> supported, those
>> will only ever be in mm, meaning this is mandatorily the nanometer build.
>> Legacy files
>> generated from this build are also not compatible with deci-meter builds.
>>
>>
>> a) and b) both have the same disadvantage.
>>
>>
>> I have personally chosen to go the a) route, because I can get more
>> accurate footprints
>> and boards in play now.  I never have to use an older version of the
>> software anyway.
>>
>>
>> I cannot speak for other users, only for myself, and for the benefits to
>> the project.
>>
>> Mostly we might be speaking about new users being affected by your change
>> to your script.
>> For them I might be inclined to lean towards a) also.
>>
>>
>> If there was a pause point in the script's execution, or a way you can
>> explain how to
>> change from the default of nanometers to rebuild, that might be enough to
>> make everyone
>> minimally grumpy.
>>
>>
>> On balance, I find your suggestion more positive than negative.
>>
>
> I think it's a pretty good idea.  You might want to see what the Ubuntu PPA
> folks are using just so we're all on the same page.  There may be a few
> corner cases like print and plot scaling where things are not quite 100%.
> It also might be a good idea to get the nanometre stuff fixed before we
> unleash the new board and footprint library file formats.  I'm sure there
> will be some grumbling because board file unit changes will create a large
> diff when they didn't make any changes to the board but that is to be
> expected.  No good deed goes unpunished.
>
> Wayne
>
>
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