I've got a board design with a number of replicated sections, and I need to
quickly churn out another board with some of the sections removed. My E-CAD
guy, due to the constraints of his tools, can't just chop out the extra
sections and scrunch the result together. I'm looking for advice on how to
explain this to someone more familiar with mechanical CAD, where you don't
have to deal with complications like netlists and schematics.

As a software guy, I could probably accomplish this by exporting the design
files into some text representation and running a clever editor macro, then
importing back into the native CAD format. But I'm not expecting that to be
in the toolbox of a CAD person, who's going to be more graphic-oriented and
will find text representations alien. (In contrast, my first E-CAD system,
ca. 1980, was a text-based system written in LISP that "compiled" text
schematic descriptions into printed graphical schematics. I used a line
editor on a printing terminal, and a pad of graph paper to figure out
layouts.)

I'd also be interested in hearing of E-CAD programs that can effectively
handle replicated circuitry (perhaps by creating template "stamps"), and
that's affordable by a tiny startup.

Kenneth Porter <> writes:
> I'd also be interested in hearing of E-CAD programs that can effectively
> handle replicated circuitry (perhaps by creating template "stamps"), and
> that's affordable by a tiny startup.

I just did a board with four identical sections, and added that
functionality to gEDA/PCB. It goes like this: Do a schematic page for
one of the sections, update the parts/net lists, and lay out that one
section on the board. I have a script that copies the schematic page,
renumbering it on the fly, to make the other three pages. Then I cut
and paste the layout block, select the new block, and run the block
renumbering plugin to make it match the other schematic pages. Then I
load the new netlist to stitch them in to the rest of the circuit.

my board: http://www.delorie.com/house/furnace/pcb2/
geda: http://www.geda.seul.org/
pcb: http://pcb.sourceforge.net/
the block renumber plugin: http://www.delorie.com/pcb/
the page renumber script: http://www.gedasymbols.org/user/dj_delorie/

Kenneth Porter wrote:

> I've got a board design with a number of replicated sections, and I need to
> quickly churn out another board with some of the sections removed. My E-CAD
> guy, due to the constraints of his tools, can't just chop out the extra
> sections and scrunch the result together.

What is he using ? Even a vanilla package should be able to rub-out and
move - or is the explanation over-simpified ?

> I'm looking for advice on how to
> explain this to someone more familiar with mechanical CAD, where you don't
> have to deal with complications like netlists and schematics.
>
> As a software guy, I could probably accomplish this by exporting the design
> files into some text representation and running a clever editor macro, then
> importing back into the native CAD format. But I'm not expecting that to be
> in the toolbox of a CAD person, who's going to be more graphic-oriented and
> will find text representations alien. (In contrast, my first E-CAD system,
> ca. 1980, was a text-based system written in LISP that "compiled" text
> schematic descriptions into printed graphical schematics. I used a line
> editor on a printing terminal, and a pad of graph paper to figure out
> layouts.)
>
> I'd also be interested in hearing of E-CAD programs that can effectively
> handle replicated circuitry (perhaps by creating template "stamps"), and
> that's affordable by a tiny startup.

PADS ?

-jg

On 15 Feb, 22:21, Kenneth Porter <shiva.blackl...@sewingwitch.com>
wrote:
> I've got a board design with a number of replicated sections, and I need to
> quickly churn out another board with some of the sections removed. My E-CAD
> guy, due to the constraints of his tools, can't just chop out the extra
> sections and scrunch the result together. I'm looking for advice on how to
> explain this to someone more familiar with mechanical CAD, where you don't
> have to deal with complications like netlists and schematics.
>
> As a software guy, I could probably accomplish this by exporting the design
> files into some text representation and running a clever editor macro, then
> importing back into the native CAD format. But I'm not expecting that to be
> in the toolbox of a CAD person, who's going to be more graphic-oriented and
> will find text representations alien. (In contrast, my first E-CAD system,
> ca. 1980, was a text-based system written in LISP that "compiled" text
> schematic descriptions into printed graphical schematics. I used a line
> editor on a printing terminal, and a pad of graph paper to figure out
> layouts.)
>
> I'd also be interested in hearing of E-CAD programs that can effectively
> handle replicated circuitry (perhaps by creating template "stamps"), and
> that's affordable by a tiny startup.

Pulsonix will do that sort of thing:

http://www.pulsonix.com

Leon