C
curt wuollet
Hi Ken
Just a couple points:
gEDA does not "suffer" from a lack of integration. It is a *NIX suite and follows the time tested, maximally flexible, *NIX pattern of tools that do one function well and can be used separately or piped or scripted together in new and ingenious ways. Any one piece can be upgraded or replaced.
Integration, like most buzzwords, is a two edged sword.
Integration can make GUIs easier to use and provide some consistency and a few other advantages.
Integration can also produce enormous, ugly, monoliths that are nearly impossible to maintain and extremely difficult to change or improve because at some point a minor change can have obscure and far reaching effects. It also tends to make software inflexible and lacking in APIs for reasonable adaptation.
This is a difference in philosophy and is why Windows requires a fast, modern PC or go home. And the same Linux can run on tiny embedded processors or an IBM360.
It is an important distinction, because I have made entire large, viable, projects myself by simply stringing modules together because they are all written to be used that way as much as possible. It would take man-years to write the whole ball of wax for an integrated solution.
One shouldn't wish for too much integration. The sad part is that the cries for integration are causing too much bloat in Linux too. Fortunately, most can be be trimmed off for technical use, as it's modular bloat.
The other is a minor detail. gEDA is not the parent of PCB. PCB predates gEDA by a long time. It was started on an AtariSt in 1990 and ported to UNIX and X11 in 1994. It's getting a little bloated as well.
Regards
cww
Just a couple points:
gEDA does not "suffer" from a lack of integration. It is a *NIX suite and follows the time tested, maximally flexible, *NIX pattern of tools that do one function well and can be used separately or piped or scripted together in new and ingenious ways. Any one piece can be upgraded or replaced.
Integration, like most buzzwords, is a two edged sword.
Integration can make GUIs easier to use and provide some consistency and a few other advantages.
Integration can also produce enormous, ugly, monoliths that are nearly impossible to maintain and extremely difficult to change or improve because at some point a minor change can have obscure and far reaching effects. It also tends to make software inflexible and lacking in APIs for reasonable adaptation.
This is a difference in philosophy and is why Windows requires a fast, modern PC or go home. And the same Linux can run on tiny embedded processors or an IBM360.
It is an important distinction, because I have made entire large, viable, projects myself by simply stringing modules together because they are all written to be used that way as much as possible. It would take man-years to write the whole ball of wax for an integrated solution.
One shouldn't wish for too much integration. The sad part is that the cries for integration are causing too much bloat in Linux too. Fortunately, most can be be trimmed off for technical use, as it's modular bloat.
The other is a minor detail. gEDA is not the parent of PCB. PCB predates gEDA by a long time. It was started on an AtariSt in 1990 and ported to UNIX and X11 in 1994. It's getting a little bloated as well.
Regards
cww