I have yet to find a schematic and routing program for Linux that didn't
cost $6000.00 or more. The sad part of the Unix world is that software
companies try to rob us blind. if someone has one please let me know! Xfig
wont cut it! and I really need autorouting capabilities (not packet
routing but copper trace routing) the foundation of MicroSloth is only for
PIC code and the copper boards and schematic... the keydler should work on
any computer (Including the Independance day movies alien's computers)
> >
> > you might consider linux-based software.
> >
> > why build on a foundation of M$
>
> My concern here is that it'd take me a week (Optimistically!) of
> dropping everything else to get to where I know Linux, emacs, etc. etc.
> well enough to do it & everything else, ALL, in Linux; I want to just
> get there & switch in one swell foop. I'm certainly planning to get
> there eventually i.e. 4 months from now? (& would re-work the schematic
> in Linux tools at that point) but until I feel I have a clue, I'm
> holding off. (I think Tim's further along on Linux than I am!)
>
> If I had a local Linux Guru I could borrow for this it'd be great, as
> then I could get a machine running & start watching them do what I need
> done - I work weekends (keeping Robin in one piece, I hate attendant
> work, but love Robin, she understands & wants me back doing computer
> consulting as badly as I do - but it'd put her in a hellhole of a
> nursing home, at age 32, where she'd (effectively) not have the right to
> get messages, or make phone calls, and from their neglect she'd lose all
> the little bits of independance that we've worked so hard to get her for
> these last 4 years, as they wouldn't pull her out of seizures in a
> timely fashion. And she couldn't keep Zeuss, her Service Dog, though
> I'd keep him gladly {"My Dog" Zeuss, as I always say!}, it wouldn't be
> fair to her OR him.) I'm on duty 8 AM Thursday to 8 AM Monday, and she
> can & does interrupt anything I do (usually it seems to be when I'm
> reading.)
>
> There's a local Linux User's group, but they meet on Saturdays, so I
> can't get to their meetings (same for the Seattle Robotics Society
> meetings, different Sat's each month.) Frustrating! My nose gets
> rubbed in my limits too often here...
>
> I'm making slow but steady progress on reading "Running Linux" and
> "Linux Unleashed", but want to just get a working prototype of the
> Keydler OUT there, as doing schematic capture is really not the major
> thing here - I can draw the blasted thing on PAPER, and scan that in on
> either the HP 5S or HP 5P scanners, .jpg or .gif or .ps it, and just do
> it that way; Just more convenient to do it in a computer somehow, to
> update the drawings... I'd re-enter it into Linux-ware once I can use
> the tools, that'd be fine from my point of view! Schematic Capture
> doesn't take all THAT long, we're talking a 16C66 28-pin chip, an Atmel
> 9-pin (32-pad but only 9 connected) SEEPRom, a 25C65 8-pin SEEProm, and
> a few discretes - this is a one page schematic. Maybe 120 connections,
> max! Two pages if we put the keypad on a separate page, which we
> probably will do for ease of reading <G>
>
> The other problem is that, far as I know, there are only limited
> access to PIC programming packages under Dos, and not much under Linux
> (I'll be agitating for that!) Most companies figure "everyone" is
> running Win95, ICK!, I have a Win95 P5-166 but it's sitting waiting for
> me to put it together right (just a SCSI card hardware port change, I
> just am not in a hurry to touch the machine as Win95 ANNOYS me!) I'm
> stuck with Windoze for my PicStart Plus - For schematic work, I figured
> Dos was a better platform for everyone out there - especially if we can
> use Circad as it's also Win32 compatible - but mainly I figure that the
> tools we use to do the schematic are moot, mostly users can view the
> results from their web browser or download a .ps file or a .gif or a
> .jpg; the important things to me are that the design is robust, the
> thing works, it doesn't use much power, I get it done soonly, the limits
> for users are minimal and it's quite flexible to meet users' needs, and
> so on, and the design is free & downloadable off the web in several
> readable formats - If Tim & I do our job right, the users can do their
> mods via the .ini file & get all the functionality they want. I don't
> want to delay for a few weeks to get over the Linux learning curve, if I
> can get this done first & out there I want to do that first!
>
> Do you know of a good Linux eecad package that's freeware or
> shareware? I want to bookmark it, so I can snag it when I get there...
> I'll go look at www.linux.org/help/ if not, I figured <G>
>
> > > Figure any user will have access to a Dos box, probably. CirCad comes
> > > in 32-bit flavor, and I'm leaning that way to start with, if unhappy
> > > with that, we'll see how EasyTrax behaves. Worst case, we both have
> > > Win3.x machines, and Win95 aka Blue Screen of Death machines <G> though
> > > I'd have to put mine together first!
> > >
> > > Unless you have a better idea? (I figure if the schematics are
> > > translated over to .GIFs & etc. so the end users can get PCB's etc.
> > > easily & read the schematics, the path to make the schematics for them
> > > aren't super important, just the getting it done, working as flawlessly
> > > as possible, part <G>)
> > >
> > > > > I haven't done any html yet, I'm good at text editing though - I could
> > > > > see Tim & I putting up a text description of where we're at weekly, or
> > > > > so, and we could just e-mail pieces of this to you as enclosures; No
> > > >
> > > > raw ascii text should be fine.
> > >
> > > QEdit works for that <G>
> >
> > or vi or emacs (in linux, which is what most wearcomp users use)
>
> Sure - If they have a web browser & can download several formats of
> schematic, PC Board, etc. & make their own -or- order a cheap kit from
> Tim or myself, they can get the units built & use them, I figure...
>
> > > > > need to create accounts, for me to learn how to upload, etc. etc. as I
> > > > > haven't done those yet & I'm lazy <G> but if I need to learn, I need to
> > > > > learn <G> I think Tim's done more html than I have.
> > > > >
> > > > > I need to find a 19" mini-rack for my 4-disk SCSI drive box (Lion
> > > > > RM-525QC, holds 4 5.25" FH SCSI drives.) Attach the 5 1.2Gb SCSI-2
> > > > > identical drives I have together, and for starters stick them on a
> > > > > WinBox; I don't want to put this box on the floor, nor on the table,
> > > >
> > > what's a WinBox? is that a LoseBox, e.g. a box running Lose95 or
> > > Virus98?
> > >
> > > MY terms, perhaps different than other folks' <G>
> > >
> > > DosBox = Dos 6.22, AT or above. Can put these up on the LAN so long
> > > as one WInBox server's running.
> > >
> > > OldDosBox = Compaq Dos 3.31 on my old Compaq XT's, or Sanyo Dos 3.30
> > > on the old XT laptop, or IBM Dos 3.?? on the PS/2 Model 30 that I need
> > > to sell off <G>
> > >
> > > WinBox = Windows for WorkGroups 3.11 box, actually reasonably stable &
> > > doesn't require resources out the kazoo, 8 Mb runs Win4WG 3.11 pretty
> > > well (Also an AT with 2.5 Mb can run Win4Wg 3.10 and is actually as fast
> > > at this Pentium to fire up Windows - I think that's the 64 Mb EDO on
> > > this machine, & getting all the other code to load <G>) Mostly I run
> > > \\_Server1 as a WinBox, most other machines are Dos peers here, unless
> > > I'm using NetScape in which case it's a WinBox.
> > >
> > > LoseBox = my \\Win95Work machine, yep <G>
> > >
> > > BlueBox = an OS/2 machine <G> I'll probably put one together (bought
> > > OS/2 Warp v 3.0 for $13 the other day, want to use it for long enough to
> > > know what it's like, other projects to do first though; Installing my
> > > faster LAN server, the Fax Server, and my flatbed and sheetfed scanners,
> > > will probably come first! <VBG>)
> > >
> > > LinBox = what I *WISH* I was using, need to finish learning, but I do
> > > seem to find all these other things to do <G> It'll happen, I've been
> > > making sure all hardware I buy is Linux-able, selling all non-Linux
> > > compatible hardware... I can install Linux, just want to get to where
> > > I'll be -productive- using it & able to just switch over on the PC110 &
> > > then be able to stay running. I'm too far behind to want to stumble <G>
> > >
> > > > > though. Ought to be fun when I install 4 6 Gb drives later & use Linux
> > > > > softraid on the box...
> > > > >
> > > > > Mark
> > > >
> > > > yes, now you can get 9G drives, so raid with these, especially
> > > > fast and wide SCSI, would be good.
> > > >
> > > > steve
> > >
> > > It's almost scary; I have a total of 9 Gb of Hard Drives up & running
> > > now, another 10 Gb sitting waiting for me to re-work the not yet
> > > moved-in machines, and another 30 Gb of EIDE drives plus 16-17 Gb of
> > > SCSI-2 drives, waiting for me to decide how to allocate them. (Got
> > > incredibly lucky in some trading deals, for half of the drives waiting
> > > to be allocated, paid almost nothing for them but a little elbow
> > > grease. A shop needed cash, had drives that were not working, cheap; a
> > > friend & I figured out all the mis-jumperings & got most drives working,
> > > RMA'ed a few more, we invested about $15 each for several 4 Gb drives
> > > apiece.) I plan a large amount of data re-organization here.
> > >
> > > And - literally - almost everything I use in a day's time, fits on the
> > > 48 Mb Compact Flash card in my PC110... I'm getting wireless cards to
> > > put the PC110s on the home LAN, then I'll *really* be one happy camper
> > > here <G> Later I'll have a wearable, even more nice... 20 years ago, a
> > > "wearable" was a 40-Lb LUG-able, AC powered (or 80 Lbs - half
> > > batteries), pretty impractical. Nowadays, if I needed a wearable
> >
> > where do those numbers come from (40 and 80)?
> >
> > is this wearcomp2 (e.g. approx. 20 years ago)
>
> That was where I figured I would have to be at, with the affordable
> technology for my budget, for a 8" floppy-based S-100 bus system, in
> 1977 or '78, with a small CRT, maybe I'm remembering the numbers wrong
> (it's been 20 years.) Just what I figured with some college friends
> (all of us so poor it was pitiful!) I'll take a look at WearComp2, see
> what it looks like, sometime, if it's on wearcomp.org?
>
> > > tomorrow I could velcro the PC110 to my chest on a little L-shaped tray,
> > > & cope pretty well <G> Cheaper than buying a $600 HUD, but a little
> > > more obtrusive than Thad's good glasses!
> > >
> > > Mark
>
>
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