gEDA-dev: Call for gerbv-2.0.0-beta testers!

[Stuart Brorson]

Hi --

> Very pretty, but the refresh is SLOW.  I mean, 4-5 seconds per refresh
> (regardless of the "rendering" selector box).  This on a Core 2 Duo.

Yeah, known issue with cairo rendering.  You can try ./configure
--disable-cairo to get GDK rendering, which is much faster.  4-5
seconds is not acceptable, however.

Is anybody reading this a cairo expert?  We would be interested in
hearing tips about making cario render faster.

> Tool icons need tooltips - they're not all obvious enough to go
> without them.

Good point.

> It would be nice if it automagically sorted layers based on PCB's
> naming scheme ;-)  Nicer if it assigned colors and opacity to match
> physical boards.  Maybe a checkbox or plugin for these?

I like the idea of creating a plugin facility since it would allow
others to do interesting things with gerbv.  Personally, I'd like to
see gerbv become a useful tool for CAMming, meaning that it will allow
you to fiddle with tracks, give you info about the Gerber codes you
have, maybe allow you to change them, etc.....

> The high-quality renderer makes a mess of PCB's default polygon
> dicing.

Hmmmm..... can you send one of us a board (or couple of layers)
showing this happen?

Thanks for the useful comments!

Stuart