Comment by buescher
16 hours ago
They're aiming to recapitulate the success of HDL design in the IC world. The jitx folks are pretty clear about that. There are a lot of problems with that that could be a medium-sized think piece, but some things folks are doing in the space are neat. PCB-level EDA is overdue for better design checks, for example.
> PCB-level EDA is overdue for better design checks, for example.
The software itself is perfectly capable - the problem is in the source data. The industry-standard data format is "datasheet PDF written by intern".
If you want better design checks you need someone to manually read and interpret a whole bunch of nonstandard and confusing datasheets, and enter it into your EDA software. And no, LLMs won't save you here: the tiniest detail is critical, and due to the habit of using one datasheet for a whole family of chips they are often self-contradictory to a casual reader.
Alternatively, get hundreds of competing manufacturers to agree on a single data exchange format, and get them to rewrite their documentation for a few decades worth of parts into that format - for free, with zero additional sales.