gEDA-user: Design Flow Roadmap starting point

[John Griessen]

Dan McMahill wrote:
  how should PCB behave with a hierarchical
>>> schematic?


  by default for each cell to be an entity that
> you can grab and move around.  The ability to visually toggle all 
> hierarchical instances between the contents and a box is fairly useful. 
[jg]As in Cadence.  To save on redraw time for big designs.

>  If you want to edit the contents, you have to descend into the block to 
> edit it. 
[jg] Some have hinted they want to create unnamed versions on the fly by doing this, but I like to keep the main 
reuse-identical-cells value at front and have the editing affect all placements of that same named cell.  If I want to make a 
separate version of a layout instance, I have to save as some-new-name to get it.

  You almost certainly want a mode where when you descend you
> only see that block in its zero rotation as well as an edit in place 
> mode where you edit the block while all the rest of the board is 
> visible.  I'm saying this based on having done quite a bit of 
> hierarchical layout in the ic world.  Haven't done it in the board world 
> although I've wished for it a few times.

[jg]And I think when organic printable semiconductors become more real, we will be wanting the IC layout style more and more.  Our 
IC's will just be organic and naked-eye-visible is all...

I'll add the visual toggle concept to the wiki, along with zero-rotation-as-in-the-orginal on edit by default.

http://geda.seul.org/wiki/geda:design_flow_and_hierarchy_roadmap

The other ideas Igor and DJ already asked for.  And I second all those motions.

John Griessen