[Gta04-owner] GTA04-Custom: EAGLE schematics and board file blueprint for developing expansion/adapter boards

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Am 02.03.2012 um 10:04 schrieb Timo Juhani Lindfors:

> "Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller" <hns at goldelico.com> writes:
>> As far as I know, EAGLE 6 has a new XML format. So it should be possible
>> to convert the file using the free (beer) version to XML. And from there to
>> any tool of interest.
> 
> Ok. The summary seems to be that if somebody wants to see the GTA04
> schematics they have to use non-free software, at least for the initial
> conversion step.

No, I would not conclude that. One just needs to develop a file import
converter for any free CAD software, if it does not yet exist. OpenOffice
or LibreOffice e.g. has no problem reading Word/Excel/Powerpoint files.

Or use the free(-beer) EAGLE once to do the conversion for the benfit of
all. We can upload any converted files to the same server.

Another question is why we use EAGLE for development. That
has several reasons. One is that we have it, we know it, we know
its bugs and limitations, it works, it is stable, we have a big component
library.

But the key argument is that it is challenging enough to develop
a GTA04 so that we simply don't want to develop/change tools unless
necessary because lack of functionality. We simply want to use
them and keep away from potential problems that don't improve the
result. The GTA04 would look exactly the same if it were developed by
using different tools...

Nikolaus