kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 2/12/2015 2:40 AM, Oscad Team wrote:
> Dear Wayne,
> 
> Sorry for the delay in replying to you as we were busy developing new
> modules for our project.
> 
> We have worked on KiCad, stable version released in July 2013. We made
> changes in the KiCad source code, so that it will generate a netlist
> compatible with ngspice. This is still in the beta version as we lack
> C++ developer base. Also please note that in case of any changes in the
> KiCad version can affect the generation of ngspice compatible netlist.

The current stable version of Eeschema is fairly old.  You really should
be working from the product branch of KiCad.  There has been some
significant changes to the code base that could make merging your code
difficult.

> 
> However we have another version of the project, where we parse the KiCad
> netlist to generate ngspice compatible netlist. Hence this will work
> fine as long as there is no change in the format of the netlist
> generated by KiCad.

Which netlist format, the new s-expression format or the old format?  I
can tell you that the new format will change after the next stable
release to accommodate new features planned for Eeschema.  Saving to the
old net list format has already be removed from Eeschema.

> 
> Thank you for your patience and waiting in anticipation.
> 
> Regards,
> FreeEDA team
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 3:50 AM, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> 
>     On 11/7/2014 4:54 AM, Oscad Team wrote:
>>     Dear Wayne,
>>
>>     Thank you for the quick reply. We apologize for the delay in
>>     replying as we had some name clash issues to be resolved in
>>     between and hence we have changed from Oscad to freeEDA.
>>
>>     We shall answer your queries as inline text.
>>
>>         Dear Oscad Developers,
>>
>>         Your work sounds interesting.  I have a few questions about
>>         the current
>>         state of your code:
>>
>>         1) I've been working under the assumption that you were
>>         interested in
>>         merging your work into KiCad to provide an integrated
>>         simulator solution
>>         but it almost sounds like you are developing a stand alone
>>         project so
>>         some clarification on that would be helpful.
>>
>>     Although we have used a forked version of KiCad for FreeEDA, we
>>     are ready to merge it back. This can give KiCad an added feature,
>>     namely simulation using ngspice.
> 
>     Have you been keeping up with the recent changes to the schematic
>     editor?  Within the last few month, there have been significant
>     changes in the way Eeschema is built.  Namely the kiway work which
>     allows Eeschema , CvPcb, and Pcbnew to run in the same process.  If
>     you haven't, then merging will likely prove difficult.  If you have,
>     then that should not be an issue.
> 
>>      
>>
>>         2)  Is there a source repo that we can download and build to
>>         get and
>>         idea of how well the software works, what kind of effort it
>>         takes to
>>         build on all of the platforms KiCad supports, and how
>>         difficult it will
>>         be to merge into the KiCad project?
>>
>>
>>     You can download the latest version of FreeEDA from
>>     https://github.com/FOSSEE/FreeEDA
> 
>     It make take some time for me to get around to testing this.  If
>     anyone on the KiCad developers list has time to check this out,
>     please let me know how it works out.  If you could, please test that
>     it merges cleanly with the product branch and that any changes to
>     the Eeschema code follows the coding guidelines along with the build
>     and functional testing.
> 
>>      
>>
>>         3) Have you bee keeping up with the latest changes in KiCad to
>>         ease any
>>         code merges?
>>
>>      
>>
>>         We are sure that there will be no issue as all FreeEDA
>>         functionalities like eeschema, netlist creation for
>>         simulation, PCB design, all uses KiCad components by default.
>>         Once our code is merged with KiCad, then we shall use the main
>>         trunk of KiCad for further developments.
>>
> 
>     We are planning a stable release in the not too distant future. 
>     Merging your simulation code into the product branch may have to
>     wait until after the stable release depending on the robustness of
>     the simulation code.  If that is an issue, we can create a separate
>     branch for the merged simulator code and then merge it into the
>     product branch after the stable release.
> 
>>      
>>
>>         4) If you do plan to merge your simulator code into KiCad, are
>>         you going
>>         to supply developer resources to maintain and support your code?
>>
>>     In case our simulator code is merged into KiCad, we will be most
>>     happy to provide the necessary support for this code.
> 
>     Thank you for the offer.  I'm sure we will need your help with the
>     simulation code.  I don't know if we have anyone with experience in
>     that area.
> 
>     Best Regards,
> 
>     Wayne
> 
> 
>>
>>     Regards,
>>     freeEDA team
>>
>>
>>     On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 5:01 AM, Wayne Stambaugh
>>     <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>
>>         Dear Oscad Developers,
>>
>>         Your work sounds interesting.  I have a few questions about
>>         the current
>>         state of your code:
>>
>>         1) I've been working under the assumption that you were
>>         interested in
>>         merging your work into KiCad to provide an integrated
>>         simulator solution
>>         but it almost sounds like you are developing a stand alone
>>         project so
>>         some clarification on that would be helpful.
>>
>>         2)  Is there a source repo that we can download and build to
>>         get and
>>         idea of how well the software works, what kind of effort it
>>         takes to
>>         build on all of the platforms KiCad supports, and how
>>         difficult it will
>>         be to merge into the KiCad project?
>>
>>         3) Have you bee keeping up with the latest changes in KiCad to
>>         ease any
>>         code merges?
>>
>>         4) If you do plan to merge your simulator code into KiCad, are
>>         you going
>>         to supply developer resources to maintain and support your code?
>>
>>         Thank you for you interest in contributing to KiCad.
>>
>>         Regards,
>>
>>         Wayne
>>
>>         On 8/18/2014 6:10 AM, Oscad Team wrote:
>>         > *
>>         >
>>         > Dear KiCad Developers,
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > Greetings from Oscad Team, IIT Bombay!
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > In continuation to the earlier discussions, we would like to
>>         propose the
>>         > following roadmap:
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > Integration of ngspice to KiCad
>>         >
>>         > Currently, Oscad uses KiCad for schematic creation and uses
>>         ngspice for
>>         > simulation. Ngspice has its inbuilt plotting mechanism but
>>         it is not
>>         > interactive. Therefore we come up with interactive plotting
>>         using python
>>         > matplot library.
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > How the Python plotting works?
>>         >
>>         > Ngspice can print all the plotting data using “print allv”
>>         and “print
>>         > alli” command which can be easily stored in a text file. The
>>         file is
>>         > then parsed in such a way that it contains only time
>>         information and
>>         > value of voltage or current at a particular node. After
>>         parsing text
>>         > file, it is send to the plotting function which plot the
>>         data. We can
>>         > also plot any arithmetic function on this data. Note: The
>>         plotting is
>>         > available only for analog node as there is no command to
>>         print all
>>         > digital voltage in ngspice.
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > Below are the questions your team had asked in the earlier
>>         communication:
>>         >
>>         >
>>         >> - What type of simulations should be possible? Spice,
>>         digital, S-parameter, IBIS for signal integrity, other?
>>         >
>>         >   *
>>         >
>>         >     Spice, digital,S-parameter are supported
>>         >
>>         >> - How a user would set up and run a simulation.
>>         >
>>         > There are two ways to do it set up the simulation:
>>         >
>>         >   *
>>         >
>>         >     Directly generating KiCad netlist from the schematic that is
>>         >     compatible with ngspice.
>>         >
>>         >   *
>>         >
>>         >     The generated KiCad netlist is modified to be compatible
>>         with ngspice.
>>         >
>>         > A button can be provided in the KiCad interface to run the
>>         simulation.
>>         >
>>         >> - What type of UI would be offered to the user? Would e.g.
>>         plots be automatically re-calculated and displayed if a
>>         parameter is changed in the schematics? How would stimuli be
>>         entered? How would you probe signals and select them for plotting?
>>         >
>>         > The simulation opens up a python based UI.
>>         >
>>         > When the parameters are changed in the schematic, the
>>         simulation can be
>>         > done only after generating the modified netlist. So the
>>         simulations will
>>         > not change automatically.
>>         >
>>         > A dialog box based entry is provided to enter the parameters for
>>         > simulation,
>>         >
>>         > To probe the signals we can use global label and save the
>>         netlist with
>>         > name. After that by using python plot we can take the outputs by
>>         > selecting the name which is given as a global label.
>>         >
>>         >
>>         >> - Formats of any output files the user would get.
>>         >
>>         >   *
>>         >
>>         >     You have the options to print or just view the
>>         simulations. In
>>         >     python plotting the user can save the simulation in png
>>         and jpg
>>         >     formats.
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > As KiCad is looking at integrating QUCS for simulation, ngspice
>>         > simulation and python plotting can serve as added capability
>>         to KiCad.
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > We are open to your inputs and suggestions.
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > Regards,
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > Oscad Team,
>>         >
>>         > IIT Bombay.
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > *
>>         >
>>         >
>>         > On Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 8:43 PM, Javier Serrano
>>         > <javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx
>>         <mailto:javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx>
>>         > <mailto:javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx
>>         <mailto:javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>>         >
>>         >     On Thu, Jun 12, 2014 at 9:26 AM, Javier Serrano
>>         >     <javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx
>>         <mailto:javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx>
>>         >     <mailto:javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx
>>         <mailto:javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>>         >     >  Functional specifications can be discussed
>>         >     > before even writing the technical specs, and would
>>         include things
>>         >     > like:
>>         >     >
>>         >     > - What type of simulations should be possible? Spice,
>>         digital,
>>         >     > S-parameter, IBIS for signal integrity, other?
>>         >     > - How a user would set up and run a simulation.
>>         >     > - What type of UI would be offered to the user? Would
>>         e.g. plots be
>>         >     > automatically re-calculated and displayed if a
>>         parameter is changed in
>>         >     > the schematics? How would stimuli be entered? How
>>         would you probe
>>         >     > signals and select them for plotting?
>>         >     > - Formats of any output files the user would get.
>>         >
>>         >     One more idea: Python scripting support for interacting with
>>         >     simulation would surely be very popular with KiCad users.
>>         >
>>         >     Cheers,
>>         >
>>         >     Javier
>>         >
>>         >
>>         >
>>         >
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> 
> 
> 
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