# gEDA Project Wiki

## What is gEDA?

The gEDA project is developing a full GPL‘d suite and toolkit of Electronic Design Automation tools. These tools are used for electrical circuit design, schematic capture, simulation, prototyping, and production. Currently, the gEDA project offers a mature suite of free software applications for electronics design, including schematic capture, attribute management, bill of materials (BOM) generation, netlisting into over 20 netlist formats, analog and digital simulation, and printed circuit board (PCB) layout.

The tools involved in the Suite enable you to professional-quality design of low- to mid-level complexity. Using the gEDA tools, you can create PCB of up to 8 layers (soon more) with an unlimited number of components and nets. The tools are suitable for use by students, educators, hobbyists, consultants, small businesses, and even in large corporations where an engineer might need to crank out a quick PC board (e.g. for a test stand) in a hurry.

All of the software in the gEDA suite can be found on the downloads page.

## Official Project documentation

These are the official project docs. They have been converted from LaTeX and HTML documents into Wiki pages so that the gEDA community may more easily maintain them.

- Documentation : Contains links to tutorials, manuals, HOWTOs and format specifications of the gEDA suite.

## FAQs & Quick Reference

These are informal FAQs, HOWTOs, and tips/tricks to help you with the practical details of using the gEDA Suite. If you are having a problem, browse these pages first.

- FAQ : Frequently Asked Questions about the gEDA project itself.
- Installation : gEDA installation HOWTO and FAQ.
- Glossary : Glossary of terms that are specific to the gEDA Suite.
- Usage : Questions about how to do electronic design using the gEDA toolset – information which applies to several or all tools in the gEDA Suite.
- FAQ-gschem : Questions about installing, configuring, and using gschem. Also, questions about creating and using gschem symbols.
- FAQ-attribs : Dealing with BOMs, DRCs, attribute management, and all that.
- FAQ-gnetlist : Questions about installing, configuring, and using gnetlist.
- FAQ-simulation : Questions about simulating your design using gEDA tools.
- FAQ-gsch2pcb : How to take your design to layout using PCB.
- FAQ-pcb : Questions about the printed circuit board tool “pcb”.
- PCB-quick reference : PCB Quick Reference Sheet.
- PCB tips : Tips and tricks for using PCB.
- PCB footprints : How to create, use and share footprints.
- gschem Symbol Creation : gschem symbol creation guide.
- Guile scripting : Guile functions & variables provided by the gEDA tools.

## Developer Documentation

The following pages are related to the day-to-day development of the gEDA suite:

- developer.html : Code repository, developer mailing list and list of developers.
- Todos : For developers only: lists of pending project enhancements and todos.
- Tasks : Top-level list of jobs/tasks that need help.
- SCM : Information on gEDA/gaf’s source control management (SCM) system and process.
- Release Engineering : Description of various Release Engineering procedures.
- devel-tips : For developers only: various tips and tricks when doing gEDA development.

The following pages are work-in-progress discussions and/or brainstorming:

- libgeda3 : For developers only: Discussion of API and design for a next generation libgeda.
- Circuit Simulation Improvements : For developers only: Discussion on how to better integrate circuit simulations, gschem and gnetlist.
- Data Plotting Improvements : For developers only: Discussion on how to better plot simulation data.
- Design Flow and Hierarchy Roadmap : For users and developers: Discussion of wants for circuit design, reusing modules in a hierarchy.
- PCB Funding SOW : An SOW specifying improvements to PCB performed within a funding program.
- format translation : Some notes on file format translation.
- Parts Manager : A working document for a gEDA parts manager

## Talks

These are slides of presentations done about gEDA. They provide a good top-level overview of the project for those who are interested.

- talks: Various talks and presentations on gEDA

## Google Summer of Code

The gEDA project regularly participates in the Google Summer of Code. The gEDA project was not accepted into GSoC 2009, hopefully we will do better next year.

Here is this year’s Google Summer of Code page:

- 2009

Here are archived instructions and ideas from previous years:

- 2007
- 2008

## Translations

- En français, cela débute ici.
- Spanish language links

## gEDA Users

Users may discuss development, help, installation, and working tips through the mailing lists.

There is also a gEDA IRC channel at irc.seul.org/6667 on the #geda channel. Sometimes this channel is full of activity and sometimes it is quite silent. Please be patient when asking questions in the IRC channel.

The so-called “Free Dog” organization ( Freeedaug ) meets in the Boston area and discusses gEDA and related topics.

## About this Wiki

This section of the gEDA website is dedicated to documentation that is contributed by a multitude of authors, including users. In particular, it should grow into a resource of information for those who just started to work with the tools.

Anyone is welcome to contribute. Unlike Wikipedia there is no button to create a login by yourself. This is because nobody at the gEDA site has the nerves to deal with anonymous vandalism. Consequently, you have to write an email to the site admin (ahvezda AT geda.seul.org) to gain access. He will gladly send you a login.