[Ktechlab-devel] Documentation for developers?

[kitts]

On Monday 30 January 2006 06:03 IST, David Saxton wrote:
> I setup a wiki at http://wiki.ktechlab.org/ a week ago - it's still being
> tested - so not "officially" released. But it is starting to act as a
> focal point for development, and there are some useful resources there
> for development.

I have looked at the wiki and it is definitely a good start. One of the 
first things that i thought i wanted after trying ktechlab was the ability 
to move wires in the schematic. I was glad to see this in the wiki. To that 
i would like to add that it may not always be desirable to auto route even 
when the component is moved. Ability to just stretch the wires between the 
component and the wires nearest node (bend) should be an option. The auto 
route could mess up and be very frustrating for rather larger more complex 
schematics.

> > I am still hoping to see more and more microcontrollers supported. From
> > what i understand, the ktechlab is designed to accommodate others too,
> > I am interested in knowing how to make this possible. Is there any
> > documentation?
>
> There's no specific documentation (yet) for adding microcontroller
> support. So for information on it, you'll want to start by looking in the
> src/micro/ directory, and (for examples of gpsim integration): at the
> following classes: GpsimProcessor, PICComponent, PICComponentPin.

I shall take a look at the classes. Thanks for the pointers.

> > I hope KTechLab is not too PIC focussed! I would like to see easy
> > possibility to plug-in support for other micros with a common
> > interface. I hope the flow code concept can be supported too.
>
> Nope. It's mostly microcontroller neutral. But adding flowcode support
> for other microcontrollers either involves adding a different
> language-output option for flowcode (i.e. other than microbe), or
> extending microbe to support other microcontrollers.

The way i see it it would rather be better to have differrent language 
output options to flowcode. I don't know how much work this is but output 
in C / C++ can surely attract wider audience. Wonder how efficient would be 
the code it generates but its an attraction.

> > For a learning experience with KDE i could consider working on it when
> > i have the time. If there are any resources out there that can help me
> > get started...
>
> Hopefully the wiki is / will become a good resource :)

Yes! it is pretty good now and can always get better. I am really looking 
forward to this project growing much bigger with extended features.

I have seen on the wiki, the desire to have a component library. That is 
certainly necessary. However, i tend to think that with component libraries 
(hoping that they would be associated footprints eventually), it may be a 
good idea for the many (open source) schematic/PCB projects to have a 
common understanding of the file format used. I know it can be quite 
annoying but it can help reuse. Worth a try negotiating with Kicad and the 
gEDA projects?

KTechLab is more of a simulation system rather than a schematic capture 
hence it does not make much sense in giving the user something like library 
editor to edit and add symbols, but looking into the future a design that 
can later accommodate this would be nice. This with the ability to define 
the simulation model.

Sorry for my over enthusiasm here :-) I am looking forward to KTechlab as a 
complete EDA and more. A replacement for Eagle + VMLab; which are tools 
that i currently use along with the avr-gcc toolchain.
-- 
Cheers!
kitts