slightly OT question about gEDA CAD tools

There was an interesting discussion on the gEDA-user mailing list
recently
that might help answer this question:

http://archives.seul.org/geda/user/Jul-2007/msg00022.html

Also, for a list of projects that people have done using gEDA/gaf and
PCB,
please see:

http://geda.seul.org/links.html

-Ales

--
Ales Hvezda
ahvezda AT seul.org
http://geda.seul.org

Bob:

There is another GPL'd PCB tool set out there called KiCAD:

   <http://kicad.sourceforge.net/>

This one is implemented using wxWidgets, so it is runs on
Windows, Linux, etc.

I'm still scratching my head try to figure out why the gEDA
folks and KiCAD folks are not collaborating on common file
formats and the like, tho'.

It is worth looking at,

-Wayne

Thanks for the response. Have you used either the geda or kicad tools?

Thanks,
Bob

[snip]


Bob:

To date, all I have done is the KiCAD tutorial and one schematic.

15 years ago, when there was basically no PCB layout tools
for the Linux platform, I wound up writing my own tool
(long story.) My tool is quite outdated (no support for
surface mount), but I'm comfortable with it, so I continue
to use it. My long term plan is to convert all of my schematics
for and PCB layouts to KiCAD from my tool format.

I would love to see a comparison chart for gEDA, KiCAD,
and Eagle, but I totally lack the time to generate such
a chart.

BTW, the reason why I'm leaning towards KiCAD is because
it is 1) cross platform and 2) it looks like an integrated
tool set.  I'm sure there are pluses and minuses to both
tool sets.  What I'd love to see is the ability to transfer
stuff between gEDA and KiCAD, so people can use whatever
is the best tool for the job.

Other people on the KiCAD users group list have commented
that KiCAD is better than the tools they have to use at
work.  Alas, I can't remember what tools those were.

I hope this helps,

-Wayne