NAME

       xgsch2pcb - gEDA/gaf gschem -> PCB workflow GUI

SYNOPSIS

       xgsch2pcb [project]

DESCRIPTION

       When  designing a printed circuit board (PCB) it's often desirable to create a 'schematic'
       which shows the components to be used and their connectivity in an abstract fashion.   The
       connectivity information is then used to help when designing the actual circuit board.

       gsch2pcb  is  a  command-line  tool, part of the gEDA suite, which is used to generate and
       update a PCB layout.  It works with schematics created by gschem, part of the gEDA  suite,
       and layouts created by pcb, a PCB layout system commonly used with gEDA.

       xgsch2pcb provides an intuitive, user-friendly graphical interface to gsch2pcb.

       The main window is divided into three main areas:

       •  The  toolbar  at  the  top offers the usual options to quit the program and to load and
          save project files.

       •  The left hand 'Schematic' frame shows a list of schematic pages  that  the  PCB  layout
          will  be  based  on.  The  'Edit  schematic' and 'Edit attributes' buttons respectively
          launch gschem and gattrib to edit the selected schematic page.

       •  The right hand 'Layout' pane shows the name of the PCB layout file associated with  the
          project. The 'Edit layout' button launches pcb to edit a file, and will offer to update
          your PCB layout if necessary. The 'Update layout' button forces an update  of  the  PCB
          layout even if one isn't strictly necessary.

       The  update  process  will  carry  out  the following actions to modify your layout, after
       launching pcb if isn't already running:

       1.  Remove any elements from the layout that are not in the schematic.

       2.  Find any elements that are in the schematic but not in the layout, and add them to the
           layout  (in  the  top  left corner). N.b. that it's probably a good idea to leave this
           corner of your layout clear until the layout is more or less finalised, to  avoid  new
           elements interfering with elements which have already been placed and routed.

       3.  Clear your rats and load a new rats nest.

       4.  Update the component pin names to match the pin names on the schematic symbol.

       Note  that  the  update  process  won't  modify  your PCB file on disk, and will take into
       account any changes you have made since you last saved.

                                         02 January 2010                             xgsch2pcb(1)