[gta02-core] KiCad wish list

[Álvaro Lopes]

Werner Almesberger wrote:
> ?lvaro Lopes wrote:
>> What I'd really like is to split symbols from devices, much like eagle
>> does.
> 
> Hmm, you can have a symbol, edit its name (e.g., "PNP" becomes
> "BC327"), then assign any footprint, and finally even make some
> board-specific changes to the footprint (such as adjusting the
> pad size).
> 
> So it seems that all the flexibility is there, or did I
> misunderstand you ?

Imagine a symbol (like PNP) which maps 1->N to several devices. Each device has a symbol and a package associated. If you change that symbol, that reflects on
all devices which use it. This symbol does not have pin numbers associated with each pin, but only pin names. The device includes mapping between symbol pins
and package pins (not necessarly 1-to-1).

Example: reuse all N-Channel MOSFET symbol and map it to several devices (3-pin, 4-pin, whatever). Example: use a standard NOR gate symbol for all NOR gates on
the design (independently of the device having 1, 2, 3 gates, independently of other pin (power) assignments).

What I'd really like is to abstract even more, like to have a symbol (design), an intermediate device (how symbol maps to functionality) and a real device (how
functionality maps to pins).

Not sure if I made myself completely understood though. This is not as simple as people may believe.

What do we (and others) have to gain here: annotation (we can change the concrete device [manufacturer,pinout,footprint,technology, soldering, so on] without
disturbing the schematic), gate-swap/gate-merge (like the NOR gate example above), and maybe others I cannot recall right now.

The main point is - a PNP transistor is always a PNP transistor. A resistor is always a resistor. True for schematics. Those differ on their specifications
despite having the same symbol (like a 1/2W 10% resistor vs. 1/4W 1% resistor). Their footprint changes also on concrete layout (SMT,so on...).

But having to remove/re-add resistors each time we need to change a non-schematic (visual) property forces us to spend quite a few time when all we actually
want is to change parameters not related to "visual schematic" at all.

Again, I understand this is a very very hard thing to hack on KiCad (or any other EDA), I am not proposing to do this for the time being, but it would be
certainly a very welcomed modification on KiCad's behaviour.

Best regards :)

Alvie

> 
> - Werner