gEDA-dev: SoC: Gerber, DRC, gsch2pcb and D-BUS

[Justyn Butler]

Hi,

I'd very much like to apply to Google Summer of Code to work on parts of the
gEDA project. I'm particularly interested helping with PCB and the related
tools, but I'd happily work on any part of the suite. I'm sorry for not
emailing sooner, but I'd not previously intended to apply for SoC.

My background:
I am in my third year of a four-year Electronic Engineering degree at the
University of Southampton in the UK.

I've been using gEDA for a few months now, and I'm really enjoying it.
Specifically I have used gschem, gsch2pcb and and PCB to create a board for
a robotics project, and I am currently in the process of making a design
based on the BlackfinOne for a university project.

Previously I'd been using Eagle for much of my PCB work although I have some
limited experience with Orcad and Proteus.
I have programmed almost entirely in C (except assembler, but that's not
much help here ;-) ) but I have begun to experiment with Python and would be
happy basing a project on it if called for.


I was planning on submitting a couple of proposals (all to gEDA - Google
allows up to twenty, of course only one can be accepted). I could submit
just one if it was preferred. I only have a few days left to submit, but
first I'd really appreciate any comments. These are the ideas from the
website that have leapt out at me:

1) GERBER IMPORTING
The gEDA SoC ideas list suggests a program that converts a Gerber file to a
metal layer or footprint for PCB.

I wonder if this project could go further - what is realistically achievable
in importing a Gerber file? I was considering whether an interactive process
could separate the components from the tracks etc, for example, and end up
with a PCB file and footprints indistinguishable from a project built with
PCB from scratch (and of course with working back-annotation the schematic
could be created as well).

This pdf: http://www.numberone.com/downloads/datasheets/Intelligent%20*
Gerber*%20*Import*.pdf suggests their software can do just that.

Has anyone got any experience with this kind of thing?

2) PCB DRC INTERFACE
It was suggested that a separate layer could exist for visual identification
of the DRC errors. I envisage one hidden layer per real layer group, so that
only the DRC failures for the visible layer groups can be seen.

Perhaps this project could be combined with other DRC improvements.

3) GSCH2PCB PCB INTEGRATION
Instead of gsch2pcb duplicating PCB's mechanisms for manipulating boards, it
could communicate with PCB through a well-defined API.
One problem this would fix is gsch2pcb using different search paths for
components than PCB.

Perhaps this same API could be used to create a program for
automatic/controlled replacing/updating of PCB elements.

4) D-BUS
I get the impression that various people are already working on using D-BUS
to integrate gEDA tools. I don't have any experience with D-BUS but I've
looked at some documentation and it seems very interesting. I'd be happy
working in this area.


So all suggestions welcome. If anyone thinks I should be looking at
something I haven't listed please let me know.

cheers,
Justyn.
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