kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[inkblotter <inkbottle@xxxxxxxxx>]

Another point of  reference  as  to the defects in pcbnew


Application: kicad
Version: (2014-12-29 BZR 5341)-product Release build
wxWidgets: Version 3.0.2 (debug,wchar_t,compiler with C++ ABI 1002,GCC 
4.8.3,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Platform: Linux 3.17.6-200.fc20.x86_64 x86_64, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK
Boost version: 1.54.0
         USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
         USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
         KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=OFF
         USE_FP_LIB_TABLE=HARD_CODED_ON
         BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON


Also, I used

-DKICAD_USE_WEBKIT=OFF

I cannot build with out this.

yum has no package for this at all.  I don't remember what that disables, but I can't do anything about it.


Anyway, a) The default canvas works well; pressing 'v' drops a via and switches to that layer reliably.
           The GL mode does not work  reliably when the view is  zoomed out so that traces look like lines.
           When zoomed in so the grid is visible and the view is a mm or two, GL mode works MUCH better.
 
           The push and shove router is wonderful in many respects and in this zoomed in view it almost
           always works as one would expect.  Press 'v' and a via appears; click on the via and the trace
           continues in the other layer. I would always use the GL mode.   GL mode isn't quite as polished
           yet as the default canvas but it is quite usable.

	   The cairo canvas is largely unusable zoomed out. Zoomed in the cairo canvas seems to work as
           well as the other canvases.  If you don't have a graphics processor then the cairo canvas
           appears to be quite fast and very usable.

        b) The setting does indeed do nothing visible.
          

        c) I agree with Andy's comments.   And the setting changes nothing. In the GL canvas  it clearly
           is applying the design rules in most cases.  I am not sure it is perfect at this but this ameliorates
           the lack of pad and trace clearances in the GL canvas.

        d) The only quibble I have with the default mode is that when one selects parts in either the schematic
           editor or the layout editor I wish if one selects a device in one editor it would highlight the target
           device in the other editor for at least a few seconds.  The default canvas wins this category.
           Neither the GL canvas nor the cairo canvas seem to have bothered to implement this useful feature.
           This is an opportunity for others or myself to fix this omission.

       I have my own pet peeve to complain about.  I have a directory in my HOME director called 'sitepkgs'.
       This directory is on my PYTHON_PATH and indeed I can Import kicad packages in python. But, when I do
       a make install after doing a make clean && make -j10 I do a make install, which always fails because
       pcbnew/cmake_install.cmake  insists on looking in /usr/lib/site-packages when it should be looking in
        ~/sitepkgs.  So I edit that file and replace the offending lines and then I do not need to be root
       to install a kicad build.  I first think about kicad looking in the variable PYTHON_PATH but I reject
       that since the PYTHON_PATH can include many paths, not just one.  Would you consider yet another
       cmake variable like -DKICAD_SITE_PKGS=<some path>?  Then people like me could use that flag and
       everyone else could use the default. This has the effect that one need not install as root to
       install kicad.



On 12/29/2014 12:42 AM, Andy Peters wrote:
> OK, I am back to actually using Kicad for a design. I am on BZR 5337 on OS X 10.9.5. In no particular order:
>
> a) In default canvas mode, using V to drop a via and switch to the other layer in the layer pair works as expected. In the OpenGL canvas, V (sometimes) drops the via but doesn't switch to the other layer.
>
> b) In the OpenGL canvas, mouse scroll wheel zooms and pans "rationally," by which I mean it zooms in and out smoothly without changing the center about which it zooms. In the default canvas, the zooming in and out pans the display in an unusable manner, regardless of the setting of "Do not center and warp cursor on zoom."
>
> c) Trace clearance is never shown in the OpenGL canvas, regardless of the setting of the "Show Tracks Clearance" preference. It works as expected in the default canvas.
>
> d) The jump-to-matching-selected feature (click a part in the PCB and the schematic zooms to that part, and click a part in the schematic and the PCB zooms to that part) works fine in the default canvas and is totally broken for the OpenGL canvas.
>
> These are the main issues I've come across so far.
>
> -a
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