gEDA-user: gEDA vs commercial product

[Alessandro Baretta]

I'm very sad to say that after about a year of work with gEDA I have had to 
switch to a commercial alternative. Not that I like it better; on the contrary, 
I'm much less productive with my new 4500€ CAD than with gschem, but I simply 
could no longer do without the additional features of the other product. Two 
above all: a complete IEC symbols library for automation and distribution 
systems, and support for multipage projects. There are other features which I 
also consider paramount, which gEDA, to my knowledge, lacks: the automatic 
production of cabling diagrams and loop diagrams, and support physical layouts 
of the components referenced in the topological diagram.

I'm not advocating the use of commercial CAD instead of gEDA; hopefully this is 
clear. I'm expressing concern regarding the roadmap of gEDA, which is not 
growing at such a pace to be able to keep up with commercial software for 
designing electrical automation and distribution systems. Let me add that I 
would gladly have contributed my 4500€ to the development of gEDA rather than to 
a commercial product, had this opportunity existed. Once already, months ago, I 
proposed to pay gEDA developers to add the features I need and are missing. I'm 
sure other electrical engineering professionals would be interested in making 
significant financial contributions. It's a pity that the gEDA team is not 
tapping this resource, to be able to make the project mature faster.

Hopefully in future gEDA will reach such a degree of maturity as to enable me to 
abandon commercial solutions. Meanwhile, I'll have to stick with Windoze 
garbageware, and I'll have to cope with the idiosyncracies and the crashes this 
implies.

I'm sorry for posting this rant, but I could not restrain myself from doing so. 
Hopefully, I will not start a flame war, but a constructive discussion on how to 
further gEDA at a faster pace.

Alex Baretta



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Ing. Alessandro Baretta

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