kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Dick Hollenbeck <dick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 06/30/2014 02:34 PM, Javier Serrano wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 7:48 PM, Lorenzo Marcantonio <l.marcantonio@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 
> wrote:
>> I see the commits. Could have be useful to know before since both me and the cern 
>> people were already working on that.
> 
> I confirm we had a phone conversation with Lorenzo about this work and were planning
> to write a blueprint for him to start (actually continue) working on this. My 
> understanding was that this was with us (CERN + Lorenzo), but there was maybe a 
> separate discussion that I missed. Dick, what are the status and (if applicable) plans 
> for this work package now?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Javier




JP, Wayne and I developed the following working blueprint and attached spreadsheet.
Spreadsheet from JP.

> Objectives:
>
> 1) Wanted 32 CU layers, but wanted the stack flipped to match what the specctra format
>  used.  This is consistent with our layer setup dialog, it uses that same 
> sequence on presentation.
> 
> 
> 2) Wanted 32 technical layers slots, although these have yet to be defined and I defer 
> to others on what is needed.   If a feature comes in a pair of layers, then they should
> be allocated in contiguous indices so as to not clutter the available space.
> 
> 
> 3) Did not want to re-purpose any layer index, other than the CU layers.
> 
> 
> 4) Did not want to rename any technical layer, because wanted folks to be able to 
> look at the pretty format an understand it.  This means no translations or renaming.
> 
> 
> --------------------
> 
> I would suggest some iterators which can walk through a layer set.




> Tasks:
> 
> 0) Define the new layers by name and purpose.
> 
> 1)  Save/Load support to *.kicad_pcb.  It would be a good time to kill the 
> LEGACY_PLUGIN::Save().
> 
> 2) LEGACY_PLUGIN::Load() would need to be reworked if the CU bit sequence
> is different in RAM.
> 
> 3) LAYER_WIDGET needs to show many more CU layers, might need a third tab and separate 
> technical and CU layers.
> 
> 4) The layer setup dialog would need to be reworked.
> 
> 5) Would need to redo some plotter outputs based on the new CU bit order, and in the 
> course of doing that, we should go to a vector or array of LAYER_NUMs to establish a 
> specific order up front.
> 
> 6) Add UI support for the various new layers.
> 
> 
> I think I could do tasks 1) through 5) in a few days.  I am not volunteering for tasks
>  0) or 6).


>From that, I got a go ahead.  Then did a good bit of it, the patch was over 35,000 lines.
Jean-Pierre helped, and that was appreciated.  Obviously something might have gotten broken.



0) is not done, but made easier by having completed the other items.  We did add (2)
CrtYd, (2) Fab, and (1) Margin layers however, along with the 16 additional Cu layers.

3) is not done.

6) is not done.


Everything else is pretty much done.

Spreadsheet attached.

(Don't load your version 4 *.kicad_pcb files into the version 3 *.kicad_pcb program.
The files *won't* load, but if you get the idea of doctoring the file to make it load,
then you will likely break the file.  1) Keep backups, or 2) don't try and go backwards.

Footprints are the exception, the pretty format is compatible, right up until you save
with CourtYard or Fab layers in place.)

Attachment: layers_definition.ods
Description: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet