[OH Updates] Degrees of open-ness in EDA (and CAD in general)

[John Griessen]

On 09/04/2011 12:28 AM, Bruce Perens wrote:
> I submit that if we had a good format for sharing and a good library you would not have to define as many new parts every time
> you sat down to do a new board. And for each one you defined, nobody else would have to define it again.
>
> What am I missing?

It's probably just a difference of emphasis.  gEDA pcb does have a built in library, but beginners
and experienced alike hit the need to make new footprints and schematic symbols, or search for them at the gedasymbols.org
site.  Volunteers put their new footprints at that site, but they don't get sifted through for
purposes of making a universal set of non duplicated footprints.  Some of the built in footprints
are from so long ago no one wants them.  I said it is intractable because it has been an identified problem
for years with gEDA beginners, but not fixed yet.  Editing and improving footprint/symbol libraries is
something people will talk at length about without doing.

Perhaps what is needed is some code that
helps edit footprints and change their origin points with something universal and separate from the native tool format.
Such a method would need translators between KiCAD, gEDA, Eagle formats also.

John