On Sun, Oct 4, 2015 at 9:17 AM, Nicklas Karlsson (nicklas DOT karlsson17 AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com] <geda-use= r AT delorie DOT com> wrote:

"= ;The code is easy, short, and mostly based on that PhD thesis." If it = is based on PhD thesis it probably have a very good theoretical base, can y= ou bring some light ont this?

The only thing I have against curved traces is the extra time needed tom ma= ke tghem.

Nicklas Karlsson

> On Sat, 2015-10-03 at 15:16 -0800, Britton Kerin
> (britton DOT kerin AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]= wrote:
> > How is your work on the topo router coming?=C2=A0 I have a good b= lob of
> > free time
> > coming soon and I'm planning to spend it on router.
> >
> > It looks like your router does the layer part, and what's lef= t is the
> > the
> > interlayer
> > stuff?=C2=A0 Are there still crashers in the intra-layer part? >
> I have worked only in 2013 on that router. Was much fun and I was
> impressed by the results. But there was nearly no interest by others, = I
> think here on the list was one moderately positive comment, and in a > German forum where I mentioned the router there was no reaction at all= .

Well I thought it was all = really exciting, but it wasn't obvious how it could be integrated with = pcb (being in Ruby).=C2=A0 But now some serious efforts are being considere= to make a much more accessible file format (via sql and YAML) so it could = be provided as a stand-alone tool that would be useful to pcb users.

<= div>=C2=A0

> People seem to prefer manually routing, and many seem to not like
> curved traces.
>
> I do not really understand your term "intra-layer". My route= r is using
> arbitrary numbers of layers, and it connect the layers with
> automatically placed vias. Testing was done with two layers. I have > some problems remembering details, have not touched it for more than > too years. I think no crashes. The problem is, that there can remain

Great!=C2=A0 I had the impres= sion from pics on your site and something Kai said that just the rubber ban= d part was done.

=C2=A0

> unrouted traces due to space constraints. So some user interaction
> would be needed, for example for moving parts. Coding that part would<= br> > be the fastest way to make that router useful, but coding that part is=
> not really much fun and take some time. And when no one is interested<= br> > at all? Making the router working without user interaction may be more=
> interesting, that would include moving components. But that is more > difficult and would need some time for coding.

I take it the remaining traces are really hard to s= ubsequently add by hand?=C2=A0 Are there options other than moving parts to= make is useful, maybe somehow less ambitious or cost function rewards &quo= t;ports" or something?

=C2=A0

> But I think I will continue at some time. The code is easy, short, and=
> mostly based on that PhD thesis. But I have never cleaned it up
> unfortunately, and for latest CGAL and Ruby 2.2 some fixes may be
> necessary. Porting to Nim would be nice, but for that I would have to<= br> > create bindings for CGAL first. Porting to C++ would be an option too<= br> > of course, then I need no CGAL bindings, and integration in PCB progra= m
> is easier. But that would be no fun for me.

I would rather it stay Ruby, ra= ther than be ported to any of those other things.=C2=A0 In addition to not = being fun it would make it less accessible I think.=C2=A0 I looked at the R= uby at the time and it seemed quite nice.

=C2=A0

>
> Have you ever looked at the code of Anthony's toporouter? I tried = a few
> hours in 2012 and early 2013, but really understood nearly nothing.

I tried yes.=C2=A0 Your Ruby i= s far more readable and maps much more clearly to the thesis.

=C2= =A0

> Maybe you can -- there may exists some really smart ideas in his code.=

Like what?

=C2=A0=

> And the advantage of his code was that it works inside of PCB program<= br> > already.

Honestly I hav= e big doubts that it ever fully worked, or he would have hung around to col= lect the plaudits rather than insulting everyone and vanishing like he did.= =C2=A0 As for inside pcb, hopefully this will not be so big a deal soon.=C2= =A0 It's a batch-mode algorithm anyway.

=C2=A0