======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20110918 ======================================================================== This release represents over 797 commits and as such this summary clearly is not complete. See the ChangeLog file for the complete list of changes. Features -------- - Internal coordinate space is now metric. This should fix the "trace nubs on metric grids" issue. Also, units are allowed on pretty much every "coordinate" that PCB accepts. Example: 5.4in, 10cm, 0.55mm. New configure option --enable-coord64 to force (slower?) 64-bit type for coordinates on 32-bit systems (if you need a board bigger than 1 meter across). The internal precision is 1 nanometer, the internal type is "Coord". - MinGW support. - New GL mode for the gtk hid with translucent traces. - New GTK layer view/choose widget and other GUI enhancements. - GTK HID warns if the *.pcb file has changed on disk. - Enhanced grid snapping logic. - Select/report nets by name. - Auto-pan has been removed. - Zoom can zoom out beyond the edge of the board's workspace. - GTK: title string matches GNOME conventions. - Personally identifiable information is no longer stored in the PCB. - Toggling vias from hole to plated is reversible. - Gerber exporter has options for including outlines on other layers. - Edited footprint files are saved as footprints, not pcbs. - Improved gtk library search/filter. - Default layer stack is now a six-layer template with outline. - If the board has an outline layer, an outline will be shown if no other outline is specified. - Group[] string allows t/b synonyms for c/s. "top" and "bottom" are the standard names now. - PCB will save files with an older version tag if newer features aren't needed. - Autorouter has a progress dialog. - PCB will no longer let you delete the last top/bottom layer. - Refcard has been updated. - Documentation updates. - Layes with the PCB::skip-drc attribute set are ignored during DRC. - Allow numeric keys to also choose the silk layer. - Minor readability tweaks to the default font. - Via copper may overlap. - User is notified if an Import() cannot find all the footprints. Bug Fixes --------- - Optimizer won't try to optimize overlapping pads - Undo should fail less, in corner cases. - Nested key-bound actions won't crash lesstif. - Do not select invisible pads on the far side. - Protect Import() from command injection. - Fix conversion of far-side polygons to element pads. - Fix initial clearance values of text when loading PCBs. - Fix solder mask drawing on vias. - Add missing action documentation. - Fab drawing notes actual outline trace width. - Zero clearance pins and pads won't cause DRC failures. - PS export: fix draw-rectangle (used to do fill, not outline) - Gerber export no longer fills unfilled rectanges. - If there are no image formats available, the PNG hid is not enabled. - You can no longer select pins/pads of locked elements. - The m4-to-newlib converter now creates file names that match the library view. - Never set the FOUND flag on new silk lines. - Lesstif HID won't crash if both Xinerama and XRender are detected. - Lesstif menu is now internationalizable. - Refdes labels in a font-less layout can be moved. - Import can correctly update elements on the bottom side. - DRC no longer treats unplated holes as conducting. Other ----- - Updated and new translations, including Dutch. - Many polygon speedups. - Numerous build-related cleanups. - Numerous minor speed-related cleanups. - GTK 2.18 is the minimum required version. - GTS moved out of the src/ tree so it can be built with different flags. - More C++ compatible. - Expanded regex documentation. - Much code which is no longer needed has been removed. - HID init method changed to allow for hid struct expansion without breaking everything. - New HID calls for whole-pad and whole-pin drawing. - ClearAndRedrawOutput() replaced with Redraw(). - Board objects use hashes instead of lists to store parts, so pointers don't change. - DVI documentation output is no longer generated. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20100929 ======================================================================== This release represents over 240 commits and as such this summary clearly is not complete. See the ChangeLog file for the complete list of changes. Features -------- - PCB can directly import (forward annotate) schematics while running. - Many places where measurements are entered now accept units, like "5mm", and "cm" and "in" are allowed too. - Free Rotate Buffer added to menu - Polygon Hole tool. - F12 invokes the Lock tool. - Russian translation added. - DBUS is enabled by default when possible. - Command-line exporters can run action scripts too. - GTK tool tips on elements, pins, and nets. - Command-line actions in GUIs do not require (,,) syntax. - PCB can import footprints both in subdirectories and the named directories. - New GCode exporter. - Footprint files use ".fp" as the suffix; this is automatically searched for if needed. - GTK dialogs do not show at startup unless requested. - Stackup can be specified on the command line for command-line exporting. - Reference card updated. - The snap-point in pads is the center. - The 's' key toggles polygons to clear/notclear all pads and pins Bug Fixes --------- - Various PNG export fixes. - lesstif's magic toggle-layers-on-flip fixed. - Arc bounding box math fixed. - Fixed: sometimes, disabling silk also disabled the solder layer. - "pcb --help" prints all options again - Add mnemonic for "close without saving" - Don't select silk on the back side when it's invisible. - Various polygon rendering bugs fixed. - PNG drill bloat export fixed. - Attempts to change polygon clearance *on* polygons results in a hint. - PNG doesn't segfault if not all graphic formats are supported. - Various toporouter fixes and improvements - HID_Mixed is supported in attribute dialogs - Flipped rectangles in PS exports are drawn correctly. - Optimizer removes micro-traces under pads. - Vias, pins, and pads are now drawn under the mask instead of over. - Windows supported better. Other ----- - Sources converted to C99 - Doc extraction gives more control over categories. - Thermal documentation updated. - Actions can see the context they were invoked in ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20091103 ======================================================================== This release represents almost 200 commits and as such this summary clearly is not complete. See the ChangeLog file for the complete list of changes. - [feature] Add attributes to layers - [bugfix] Remove memory leak in attributes - [bugfix] Avoid layer buttons getting confused (GTK) - [bugfix] Fix dereference bug in hid_find_action() - [feature] Speed up some polygon operations - [bugfix] Don't let DRC change the grid setting - [bugfix] Correct URL's in some dialogs and output - [feature] Add filters to load file chooser dialog (GTK) - [bugfix] Avoid segfaults with png HID with newer versions of libgd - [bugfix] Don't disperse locked elements - [feature] Added experimental topological autorouter - [feature] Added the beginning of a testsuite. - [docs] Document FreeRotateBuffer() - [docs] Add some additional notes on the usage of the existing autorouter - [feature] Add --png-bloat option - [bugfix] Fix several bugs found with valgrind - [bugfix] Improve the pre-install wrapper script - [bugfix] Several fixes to the autorouter - [feature] Allow quoted strings and escaped characters in action arguments - [footprints] Add missing INDC3216M, remove duplicated RESC3216M - [feature] Added the ability to customize mouse events via gpcb-menu.res in the GTK HID. - [feature] Added the ability to use mod1 (alt)(option) in HIDs. Useful on OSX. - [bugfix] Fix compilation issues on centos - [bugfix] Make the detection of tools and build system around building the documentation be more robust. Users should not be worrying about --disable-doc or --enable-maintainer-mode anymore - [footprints] Add T018, T039, fix pinout of T092 to match JEDEC - [bugfix] Speed up rendering of DRC violation previews under GTK - [bugfix] Fix some crashing bugs related to polygons and thindraw mode - [feature] Added a DRC refresh button - [bugfix] Fix some pango markup in the GTK DRC dialog - [bugfix] Fix cursor warping on flipped boards (GTK) - [feature] Added preview images in the DRC violations window (GTK) - [feature] Add a DrcViolationType structure and add hooks to allow HID's to use this - [bugfix] Fix some polygon memory leaks - [feature] Add an API for registering actions with a context to support scripting languages like GPMI. - [bugfix] Fix a bug with the Report(NetLength) action and NULL pin/pad names - [bugfix] Allow exporters to work with hairlines (width of 0) - [tools] Increase autoconf version to 2.60 since we were using some features of it - [bugfix] Fix a number of polygon related issues - [bugfix] Fix a number of gcc warnings - [feature] Don't display undocumented options in help output. This helps the transition when deprecating an option. - [feature] Add outline mode for photo-mode exporting - [footprints] Put the mark on pin 1 for axial footprints to make them more likely to fall on grid - [bugfix] Fix flipping of arcs - [bugfix] Fix parsing of old-syntax arcs - [bugfix] Include explicit text/lines on silk layers in the assembly drawing output - [feature] '--ben-mode' has been renamed to '--photo-mode' - [bugfix] Fix some crashign bugs on boards with a large number of rats - [bugfix] Fix an off-by-one bug in the GTK netlist window - [docs] Add getting started guide - [feature] Add support for parsing suffixes on numbers ("um", "mm", "in", "mil") - [bugfix] Fix some configure/build issues when cross compiling - [bugfix] Fix some improperly used automake conditionals - [bugfix] Fix some uninstall of shortcuts issues under windows Vista - [feature] Add additional crosshair shapes - [bugfix] Various windows build script improvements ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20081128 ======================================================================== This release represents over 70 commits and as such this summary clearly is not complete. See the ChangeLog file for the complete list of changes. - Minor bug fixes in RS274-X output. -.Bug fixes in postscript output - DRC checks for annular ring on pads only uses the mininum annular ring drc setting instead of also checking minimum copper width. - Fix postscript output for zero length lines. - Improve the 'save before closing' dialogs. - Fixed bugs where objects attached to the cursor vanish sometimes. - Various minor code portability improvements. - Enabled additional gcc warnings (when using gcc) - Allow outline layers to have only arcs. - Added "Ben Mode" png output which provides a simulated "photograph" of the board. Very nice for publications. - Fix poly clearance around rotated pads. - Fix the batch HID which had bit rotted a little. - Display net names hierarchically. - Various speed improvements in the GTK HID. - Various speed improvements in the autorouter. - Minor improvements to the windows port. - Other various bug fixes. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20080202 ======================================================================== This release represents over 180 commits and as such this summary clearly is not complete. See the ChangeLog file for the complete list of changes. - Added a footprin preview in the library window - Added gnome/kde desktop integration files (app and mime icons, and .desktop file) - Added i18n support - Updated dbus support - Fix a number of GCC 4 compiler warnings - Make the gtk gui more robust against malformed menu resource files - Added checking for duplicate hot key definitions in the menu resource file in the gtk gui. - Improved support for building on win32. - Removed automake/autoconf generated files from cvs - Fixed some parallel make bugs - Fixed some scrolling/panning bugs in the gtk gui. - Added the ability to load edif netlists - Closed a number of bugs in the sourceforge tracker - Fix a bg in the x-y output files where the y values were mirrored and offset - Add XRENDER support to the lesstif HID to support layer transparency - Fix some polygon dicer bugs - Fix a handful of bugs in the png export HID - Avoid vias snapping to pins and moving elements snapping to their own pins/pads - Fix a number of undo bugs - Fix printer calibration - Add global puller - Various improvements to the postscript export HID - Improve all the GetXY prompts in the menu resource files - Improved the pin/via report - Improved pin/pad vs grid snapping - Various footprint improvements o fixed some drill sizes o fixed some silk sizes o Added a handful of QFP family footprints o Converted the QFP family to the hi-res format - Several other bug fixes ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20070912 ======================================================================== This release represents nearly 200 commits and as such this summary clearly is not complete. See the ChangeLog file for the complete list of changes. - Many many bug fixes. Too many to list. - Added keystone, C&K, Nichicon, and Optek footprint libraries - Add attribute editor to the GTK HID - Add a fileselect() function to the HID spec - Fix ps output with drill helper on - Add a visual indicater when elements are locked - Corrections to the manual - BOM can export in mm as well as mil - Fix a ps output bug with arcs - Fix some memory leaks found with Coverity - Added autoconf test for buggy versions of m4 - Fixed some footprint drill sizes - Add user customizable menus for the gtk HID. The gtk HID now is capable of reading the same format menu resource files as the lesstif HID. This represents significant rework of the menu code and menu callback code. - Added Center() action - Store the file format in the .pcb file. This will let pcb know when presented with a file which is too new. The code for checking the format was present in the prior snapshot. - Fix DRC checking of square pads to square pads - Added window panning/cursor warping - Add the ability to directly load a footprint from a file as if it were a complete layout. - Add a Popup() action ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20070208 ======================================================================== - Add polygon clipping code. This is a big change to how polygons are handled. The new code now removes islands and correctly identifies open circuits caused by a trace fully cutting through a polygon. In addition, the RS-274-X output is now simpler and works with some board houses that use older non-conforming sofware. Different styles for thermal reliefs are also now supported as part of the polygon clipper code. - Add support for plugins - Many improvements to the autorouter. - Various improvements to the trace optimizer. - Add a fontmode for editing pcb fonts - Add progress() hook to HID structure - Fix a bug with non-functional windows on some window managers commonly found on OS-X - Add support for controlling pcb via dbus - Fix various bugs which would cause a crash - Add --scale for postscript scaling - Intercept window manager delete events with the GTK gui - Scan the .pcb file for a FileVersion value. This is not written out yet but will be in future versions. - Warn if non-manhattan lines are trying to become pads. - Allow no-solder paste pads to support fiducials - Report in mm or mils as selected by user - Allow reordering of layers - add some more QFN packages - fix building with sun studio c compiler - Made a pcb installation be relocatable. - Convert the m4 libraries to newlib libraries as part of building a distfile. The m4 libraries are still considered the sources and as such are still distributed but this eliminates the need for m4 at runtime for footprints. - Got rid of the pcb wrapper script around pcb-bin. - Remove some old footprints of questionable naming, accuracy, or usefulness. - Get the autosave/backup code working on all GUI's - Fix some drill size rounding in the reports - Changed the backup file name to be derived from the .pcb file name - Added a command line option for DrawGrid - Fix logic for adding new ratlines - Fix gtk grid when board is flipped - Add "find" and "rip-up" buttons to the netlist window - Draw plated holes when exporting - Fix some bugs when converting selection to element - Fix build on cygwin - Enhance the win32/build_pcb script used to generate a non-cygwin windows installer. - Make pcb work under non-cygwin windows ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20060822 ======================================================================== - various manual updates - update the INSTALL documentation - fix a bug where pins turned into pure holes when an element was smashed. - use locale-independent strtod and dtostr functions to avoid problems loading files saved in some locales. - fixed various bugs which caused pcb to crash - update the gtk status line after save/save as - make the gerber file names be compatible with pre-HID versions - split plated and unplated drill output - fix various typos in menus and comments - add a batch mode HID. - fix drawing of box around text in the buffer - various fixes and improvements to the trace optimizer and the autorouter - fix board flipping code - fix rounding bug when creating list of drill sizes - add support for > 8 copper layers - avoid strict aliasing violations encountered with gcc4 - refactor code related to handling the filenames in the export HID's - fix layer group parsing code - add the ability to user-configure mouse actions in the lesstif GUI. - enable loaded netlists by default - improve the positioning of the drill list in the postscript output - various improvements to the configure script to improve robustness and improve error messages when thing don't go well. - add IPC style footprints for 01005 passives. - added a Renumber() action which will renumber all reference designators and produced an annotation file for backannotating to schematics. - Draw via annulii on assembly drawings - various other bug fixes and improvements. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20060422 ======================================================================== - Several minor portability fixes for Solaris and the SunPRO compiler and for Irix and the MIPSpro compiler. - Added --psfade option for the postscript HID. - Fixed a bug where the "load layout" and some other menu choices didn't do anything. - Added remaining actions to the actions reference section of the manual. - Worked around X11 polluting the name space with some of the X header files. - Fix route style "Save as default" bug. - For the Gtk HID, add an alternate vertical window layout mode to help on lower vertical resolution displays. - Fix soldermask draw while TAB view from solder side. - Change default PNG output scaling to be 100 dpi instead of fixing the max dimension at 800 pixels. - Added background image support for the GTK HID (lesstif one has it too). - Fix missing window icons for the main GTK window and log window. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20060414 ======================================================================== - This is the first snapshot of the new HID version of PCB. HID, which stands for Human Interface Device is the abstraction created by DJ Delorie which seperates the core PCB code from the graphical user interface. In this release, two GUI HID's are supported, gtk and lesstif. In addition, there are HID exporters for postscript and encapsulated postscript, RS-274-X (gerber), bill of materials, centroid file, and png/gif/jpeg. This represents a major restructuring of the code and many months of work. - PCB's actions (the commands which drive the core of the program and may be directly accessed by the user) now have the documentation in-line in the code and the actions reference section of the manual is extracted from the in-line documentation. The goal it to provide more complete and accurate documentation. As always the manual is still a work in progress but it is getting more complete and up to date. - Fixed a long standing segfault when saving connection data - Fixed a DRC bug - Fix some rounding issues when setting sizes. Hopefully this will address the issue with 23.99 mil drills and related problems. - The html manual is now in one file instead of many files - The lesstif HID now supports loading of background images to help recover a layout which may exist in hardcopy form only. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20060321 ======================================================================== - Add internal support for more than 8 layers. By default PCB is still compiled for 8 copper layers. - Fixed several minor bugs in the GTK user interface including fixing scrolling of the log window, fixed up some of the DRC reporting and mm/mil units. - Fixed several key bindings. - Updated refcard.tex to reflect the current set of key bindings. - Fixed some minor bugs which caused compilation problems on some systems. - Converted the QFN footprints to hi-res. - Added documentation to the manual for the centroid file format and the algorithm used for finding the centroid and rotation. - Fixed a bug so that the initial layer named 'component' is actually on the component side of the board and 'solder' is actually on the solder side of the board. - Fixed the pin order in the bourns trim pots (~bourns library) - Added actions and a script to allow command line printing. - Added IPC-7351 recommended footprints for 0201, 0402, etc passives. - Fixed SME5 package. - Fixed a bug which prevented disabling nets from the ratsnest - Fixed a bug where clearances could be set 1 below the spacing - Fixed clearline flag so that arcs also have this property. - Speed up rtree searches and other autorouter speedups. - Fixed a bug in computation of the closest polygon point. - Use rtrees for polygon handling for speed improvements. - Add a ChangePinName() action. - Fix a bug which caused duplicate rats names when manually adding rats lines. - Added DRC checks for minimum drill diameter and minimum annular ring. - Add a minimal glossary to the manual - Fix the author name in the fab drawing - Cause the crosshair to snap to pad ends instead of center for rat drawing. - Add "join" to SetFlag, ClrFlag and ChangeFlag. - Added inline documentation for the pcb file syntax. The manual now is up to date and correctly documents the file format. In addition the inline documentation will make it much easier to maintain the documentation. - Remove some broken m4lib footprints - Put the correct setting for the gschem footprint= attribute in [] in the library window for the m4 libraries. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20050609 ======================================================================== - **** The GUI is now based on gtk2 instead of Xaw **** This represents a fairly major change. You will now need gtk-2.4 or higher installed along with any of its dependencies to build pcb. On linux distributions, it is probably the case that you already have this, but see the README-GTK_PORT file for a note on gtk versions. For *BSD, Solaris, and others, you may want to use NetBSD's pkgsrc to help install gtk2 and its dependencies. - Flags are stored symbolically in the .pcb file. This is the start of moving to support >8 layers. Please note that >8 layer support is not yet available in this snapshot. - Fixes for gcc-4 - As part of the switch to gtk2, the user customizable menu feature has been temporarily broken. Hopefully this will be fixed by the next snapshot. In addition, the loading of background images has also been temporarily broken. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20050315 ======================================================================== - Several footprint library fixes including TO-220 parse errors and incorrect drill holes on several componenets. - Fixed a crashing bug in the pinout window. - Allow the FAB author to be set via an Xresource to override what PCB might have gotten from the gecos information. - Added table of standard drill sizes to the manual. - Fixed a crashing bug when trying to use arrow keys to adjust the scale slider in the print dialog box. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20050127 ======================================================================== - Fix drill size for PLCC sockets in ~geda library. Fix drill size for LED3 and LED5 footprints in ~geda library. - Move the right-click popup menu to pcb-menu.res. - Add DisperseElements() action for spreading out elements in an initial layout. - Fix fab drawing output for the case where a very small number of drill sizes are used. - Various documentation improvements. - Remove many compiler warnings. - Added metric output to the cursor display - Fix . for toggling 45 degree mode. - Crosshair snap snaps to center of pads and also to the mark of the element. - Protect all strcmp() calls with a check for a NULL pointer. Fixes various crashes. - Fixed the mode buttons which were unresponsive in some versions of the X libraries. - Element names may be edited over the element. - Added --enable-efence for ElectricFence debugging. Off by default - Added --disable-rpath to avoid using rpath for the X libraries. - Added vendor resource file support. This allows lets you specify a set of allowed drill sizes and drc rules for a particular vendor. - Added -action command line option to allow executing an action on startup. - Date and time of compilation added to About dialog. - Fix a bug where the soldermask relief on a new element is 100x smaller than the default when "convert buffer to element" is used. - Fix a name_tree corruption bug when changing an element name. - Don't remove the formatted manual with a 'make clean' since they are part of the distfile. - Let automake handle the html and pdf conversion. This ends up using texi2pdf for the pdf output which seems to do a better job than ps2pdf. - Sort actions by modifier so that both Ctrlx and x work. - Fix a SelectByName bug. - Fix non-gcc compilation - Command history added to : - Fixed pinout window crash - Allow Ctrl-drag to copy objects in arrow mode. - Fixed a polygon clearance bug - Fix an arc bounding box calculation error. ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20040903 ======================================================================== - enable -Wall when compiling with gcc. Many compiler warnings have been fixed. - add a short man page which refers the user to the real documentation - Added ExecuteFile(file) action which allows the execution of several actions contained in a text file. - Added -script flag which specifies a file containing actions to be executed upon startup. - Various documentation improvements - Protect some gcc extensions with tests for gcc. This allows compilation with the IRIX c compiler. - Add support for a background image in the drawing area which can help in importing a layout from a scanned image. - Updated the ~geda library 150 and 300 mil width SOIC packages to remove silk on pads and to more closely follow the IPC recommendations - Added support for menu accelerators. - segfault when breaking apart an element with no element selected bug fixed. - autorouter improvements - added more 400mil DIP packages to ~geda library - fix a trace optimizer bug which produced a segfault - other various bug fixes ======================================================================== Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20040530 ======================================================================== This has been an exciting 3 months for PCB. Many improvements have been made in the program as well as additions and improvements to the footprint library. Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback, patches, etc. ---------------------- Additions/Improvements ---------------------- - Expanded DRC checking - "Realtime" DRC checking - DRC settings are now stored in the board fle - Centroid (X-Y) and bill of materials output - Dynamic menus. Users can now customize the menus via a site-wide, per-user, or per-project menu resource file. - Significant improvements to autorouting of congested designs. - Autorouter can now use power planes. - Improved appearance in autorouter output. - Silk on pads/pins is clipped in RS-274-X output - Ordering is preserved when writing output files so that diff may be effectively used on pcb files. - The autoplace feature now actually works - Added ToggleVisibility action - Most of the database is now kept in rtrees which avoids linear searches. This speeds up operation significantly. - Added SetFlag, ClrFlag, ChangeFlag actions --------- Bug Fixes --------- - pin/pad bounding box calculation fixed. Components can now be placed closer to the edge of the board. - miter trace optimization bug. - Fix bug with pins which are enclosed by multiple polygons. - Shorts to unnamed elements and pins are handled correctly. - Various memory leaks fixed. - Fixed some bugs with a really high zoom. - Fixed default media selection in postscript print dialog - Fix some DRC bugs with square pins. ------------------ Footprint Library: ------------------ - Added SOJ footprint family (~geda library) - Added CTS series 742/3/4/5/6 resistor pack footprints (~cts library) - Added PKG_CONNECTOR_DIL macro to let the HEADER*_1 footprints work (~geda library) - Correct the SDIP footprints (~geda library) - Correct some Minicircuits footprints (~minicircuits library) - Correct some panasonic footprints (~panasonic library) - Change refdes silk size for sockets (~johnstech library) - Increase soldermask relief on some mounting holes (~johnstech library) - Convert the COMMON_SMT_DIL_MIL and COMMON_SMT_DIL_MM macros used by several other libraries to the hi-res format. - Correct pin count on 100 pin QFP packages (100 not 72) (~geda library) - Correct pin count on HEADER60_2 (60 not 50) (~geda library) ======================================================================== New Features for 2.0 (1) New library system. A directory tree is parsed and added to the library selector window. This directory is specified in the config.h file as PCBTREEDIR and should point to a directory where any pcb user that needs to create library elements has write privileges. The "-libtree X" switch will cause pcb to use directory X instead of the installed default for the new library directory. You should continue to be wary of the old library elements, many of them are not quite right. (Just check them carefully before fabing to be sure there are no surprises). My intent is to create a repository for new elements THAT PEOPLE HAVE FABRICATED SUCCESSFULLY in order to grow a reliable library. (2) Element files can now contain layers (line, arcs, polygons), vias and elements. The new library system reads from element files (no need to learn M4). The expanded capability of element files allows you to put useful sub-circuits into the library. For example, a QFP package with a break-out via pattern can be stored as a library element. Be careful with this as the layers are saved simply by their layer number and lose any association with a group (e.g. whether it is the component, or solder-side layer). (3) Improved fascilities for creating elements from drawn objects. Now you can put an element in the buffer, and break it into it's consitutent parts. Paste this to the layout, make changes, then put it back in the buffer to convert to an element. You can also save a buffer's contents to an element file (i.e. add it to the library). Of course element files are still just text files so you can edit them at will. Draw the element outline on the silk layer (lines and arcs, no polygons), use Vias to make pins or holes, and lines on the component and/or solder layers for SMD pads. Number the pins and pads with the name ("n" key) entry, then cut it all to the buffer and select "convert buffer to element". Saved elements always appear in the file in a component-side orientation (even if you save while viewing the solder side). (4) Support for elements with surface-mount pads on both sides of the board. e.g. edge connectors. This also allows creation of elements with multiple pins/pads having the same "number" string. This can be used, for example, to create a DIP footprint that has a pad on top and bottom coincident with each pin. This effectively makes the pins have elongated copper pads on the top and bottom - something several home-made board makers have requested. If you do create an element with multiple pins having the same number, and that number appears in the netlist, they MUST be connected before the board is considered routed. See the "14DIP_oval_pad" example in the "test" section of the library for an example. (5) Support for the strokes library. Compiling with strokes enabled (see config.h) binds the middle button to recognize strokes for the user interface. Zoom in, Zoom out, choose the line, arrow, or via tools, rotate an object, etc. can be done with simple strokes. Check the source code (FinishStroke() in action.c) to see what the strokes are. (6) Better fascilites for panning at high zoom: Shift-button3 down shows the whole layout - move the crosshair to where you want the display centered, then release the mouse button - the previous zoom level is restored, centered at the new location. You can do this while in the middle of drawing, moving, etc. You can also place the cursor in the panner area, and use the arrow keys on the keyboard to scroll half a window view per keypress. Of course you can still drag the screen with button1 with the panner tool (previously known as no tool). Auto-scrolling is also improved. If you want to use menus, buttons, the panner, placing the pointer over them stops auto-scroll. If you want to go to another window and not auto-scroll, pass the pointer over one of those things before heading to the other window. (7) Auto-router. The auto-router routes with the active line size, via size, and keep-away. It is a grid-less router, and will automatically avoid any existing traces, etc. that you've placed on the board. It uses all layers that are visible when invoked, so turn off any layers you don't want it to use. You can auto-route all rat lines, or selected rat lines. This was written by C. Scott Ananian (8) Fascilities to rip-up tracks and vias that were placed by the auto-router. You can rip-up all auto-routed tracks, or just those that are selected (and were auto-routed). (9) Auto-placement code. It's broken. Don't use it. (10) Many functions added to the menus that were previously accessible only through keys or typed commands. e.g. SetValue(Grid,1), DRC(). (11) You can turn on/off the requirement for unique element names. When unique names are required, they may be automatically generated when pasting. Turn on uniqueness for a single layout, turn off if placing several boards in a panel (or if you just want duplicate names). It's in the settings menu. (12) Support for metric grids. Coordinates are still always integer mils, but you can have the grid fall on a regular metric spacing to within +/- 1 mil. Selectable in the "Screen" menu and also with the "SetValue(Grid, x)" command; the value x is still in mils, but it's floating point now. Also the concept of "absolute" grid has been eliminated - just align it where you want. (13) Support for viewing the soldermask. The Screen menu has a selection for turning on/off the display of the solder mask. You can also change the size of mask holes when the mask is displayed by using the "ChangeClearSize(what, change)" function (k key). If the mask is not displayed, this function changes polygon clearances as before. For example you could elliminate all via soldermask holes by selecting everything (make sure vias are turned on), then typing the command: ":ChangeClearSize(SelectedVias, 0)" There is a special case for vias to change the mask diameter equal to the via diameter, by using +0 as the size change. (14) Support for creation/addition of netlist by drawing rat lines. Select "netlist" from the drawing layer, and use the line tool to add nets. Undo removes the rat, but not the created net. To delete a netlist entry, select the connection in the netlist window and hit the backspace key. The "netlist" layer must be the active layer to delete connections like this. This is NOT the recommended way to create a netlist, but a lot of people asked for it. (15) Support for snapping the crosshair to pins/pads even when they're not on grid. Selectable in the "Settings" menu. Thanks to Borges for this great idea. (16) Doesn't draw negative lines and arcs in print output unless necessary. It still does this for all pads though. Doesn't technically matter, but there are a lot of bogus gerber viewers out there and people that are easily confused by gerber files that completely meet the specification. (17) Added a "Lock" feature that lets you lock an object so it can't be selected, moved, or modified. Very handy for making a board-outline element (e.g. pc104 card) invisible to the Arrow tool. (18) lots of bug fixes (plus, no doubt, lots of newly introduced ones). (19) a tool (in the tools folder) for converting to/from ncap files for auto-routing with MUCS-PCB. I have not tried this myself. Written By Luis Claudio G. Lopes (20) a new build system based on the GNU automake and autoconf tools. This should make compiling on different systems easier than with the old imake based build system. (21) A program for quickly generating QFP elements. Its invoked from the old library (~generic/qfp menu, generic) (22) Increased resolution. The internal unit is now 0.01 mil as opposed to 1.0 mil which was the previous unit. Quick and dirty explanation of some as-yet undocumented features: Netlist window: double-click on a net-name to enable/disable it. A "*" appears next to the name when it is disabled. Disabled means rats nests will ignore the net. Click on a connection to select it (and center it) in the layout window. "Finding" a connection starting from a pin or pad will select it in the netlist window. The "j" key controls whether a line (arc) clears (plow through) polygons or touches them. Newly created lines and arcs follow the setting in the "settings" menu. Put the cursor over the line or arc you want to change, then hit the "j" (j for join) key. The "k" key controls the width of clearance around a line (arc) when it plows. "k" key increases clearance by 2, Shift-K decreases it by 2, also works for pins and vias piercing polygons. The initial value for new objects (but not element pins/pads which is in the element definition) is controlled by the "keepaway" setting, changeable in the "sizes" menu. When drawing lines, you can start a new anchor point without drawing from the previous point by either clicking button3, or Ctrl-button1. DON'T USE BUTTON2 - that would be wrong, even if it sort of works. The Arrow tool is for selecting/deselecting objects, and moving them. Shift-click to add to the existing selection. You can click-drag to draw boxes for box selection. If you click-drag on an already selected item, you will move the selection. If you click-drag on an un-selected item, you will move that item without selecting it. This last technique is the only way to move a point (e.g. end point of a line), and is also the only way to perform moves with rubber-banding (i.e. rubber-banding doesn't work with selections). Moving a selection actually cuts it to a special paste buffer, then pastes it at the new location. Always start a box selection by clicking in an empty region of the board. It may be desireable to turn off some visibility in order to simplify the box selection operation. You can also lock an object to make it invisible to the Arrow tool (so box selections can begin over the object). If you don't configure for strokes, the middle button is bound to the arrow tool. To move an element or silk text to the opposite side of the board, use the "b" key (b for backside) to send it to the opposite side. You can also cut an object to a buffer, switch viewing sides (tab), then paste it. The buffer can be used this way to flip layout traces to the other side too, although if layer groups are used, the precise layer they appear on may not have the color you want, but the connectivity should not change. Installation tip: BE SURE TO INSTALL THE NEW X11 RESOURCE FILE - run make install to do this. If you just want to test without installing, run the pcbtest.sh script in the src directory.