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Re: Default Canvas for v5

 

Hi everyone,

I want to add from a users view:
In the current KiCad 4.0.7 (Windows 64 bit) you can't drag traces in OpenGL/Cairo, only in legacy. (With this I mean: move a segment of a trace and it stays attached to the other segments of the trace (Hotkey: 'G')). Hotkey 'M' moves segments in OpenGL but moves 'connections' in Legacy (segments stay connected). More often than not I need the behaviour of Legacy and not that of the OpenGL canvas.

Values are not displayed in OpenGL/Cairo, only in Legacy.
And "transparency" is better in Legacy. With only 2 layers you can see the traces on the bottom layer better than in OpenGL/Cairo.

Just for this few reasons I still use Legacy more often than OpenGL when modifying an existing PCB design.

From my view OpenGL is nice because you can manipulate single items (segments of traces) better/more comfortably than in Legacy. And initial layout work feels smoother.

Just my 2 cents. :)

Happy new year,
  André

PS: as a side note: When I switch from "Standard/Legacy" or OpenGL to Cairo the PCB view goes white and only after a few seconds displays the PCB. In the other direction there is no delay.

Am 2017-12-31 um 22:28 schrieb Jon Evans:
For your consideration, a patch is attached that implements the above.


On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 2:24 PM, Jon Evans <jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

    I think that getting automatic OpenGL detection and recovery
    working for 5.0 might be ambitious.
    Maybe Chris can detail what the next steps are for his approach
    there, but in case we want to push that to a later release, here's
    what I propose:

    1) Rename the View menu options based on my proposal "Legacy",
    "Modern (Accelerated)", "Modern (Fallback)"
    2) Change PCB_BASE_FRAME::SwitchCanvas to save the canvas config
    value after calling UseGalCanvas() rather than before.
    3) Show a first-run dialog like the mockup in my earlier email, IF
    canvas is not OpenGL and the dialog has not been shown before
    44) If user clicks "yes" in the first run dialog, then:
        (a) set the config value to prevent the dialog from showing again,
        (b) Set the canvas config setting to Cairo (but don't switch
    the GAL to Cairo), then
        (c) switch to OpenGL canvas using SwitchCanvas()

    That way, if the app crashes in step 4c, it should come back up as
    Cairo on the next launch (assuming we crash right away when trying
    to set up the canvas)

    Any concerns with the above?

    -Jon



    On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 1:55 PM, Jeff Young <jeff@xxxxxxxxx
    <mailto:jeff@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

        +1

        No menu items.  Just a checkbox for Enable Hardware
        Acceleration in Preferences.

        On 31 Dec 2017, at 18:36, Andy Peters <devel@xxxxxxxxx
        <mailto:devel@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

        - In the case of graphics glitches, inform the users in the
        FAQ/Manual
        that they can fall back to software renderer in the View menu.
        - Don't use the term 'canvas' or 'view'. Just 'Enable HW
        acceleration’.

        I like that. The fewer technical/programmer terms, the better.


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