https://topola.dev/blog/Recent content in Blog on TopolaHugo -- gohugo.ioenhttps://topola.dev/blog/2025/06/19/june-2025-development-update/Thu, 19 Jun 2025 18:28:34 +0200https://topola.dev/blog/2025/06/19/june-2025-development-update/After the last development update, NLnet awarded us additional 10 000 EUR for new tasks. For this money, we have implemented some experimental features, which are covered in the below sections. Meanwhile, we are also working hard to complete all the unfinished features and fix as many bugs as possible to release Topola v0.1, the first alpha version of the Topola PCB router, which we hope to accomplish by the end of this year.https://topola.dev/blog/2024/12/16/december-2024-development-update/Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:23:30 +0100https://topola.dev/blog/2024/12/16/december-2024-development-update/This is the last development update for the Topola PCB router in this year. We now have successfully completed all the tasks funded from the NGI0 Entrust fund and went through a security audit and accessibility testing mandated by our participation in the fund’s programme. Squeezing through under bends Implemented by Mikołaj Wielgus (mikolaj) starting in commit 84d5f9c49e. A common problem when routing PCB traces manually is having to change one or more routes that were drawn earlier because they are blocking the way for a new trace.https://topola.dev/blog/2024/11/05/octobernovember-2024-development-update/Tue, 05 Nov 2024 02:53:16 +0100https://topola.dev/blog/2024/11/05/octobernovember-2024-development-update/Just like in the previous update, we have spent the last two months on infrastructure tasks and smaller features for the Topola PCB router. Most notably, we have now have an online Web demo and a new logo. Web demo Work done by Klaudia Kołakowska (Szpachlarz) and Mikołaj Wielgus (mikolaj). We have published a pre-alpha Web demo of Topola on our website. We are doing this mostly for the convenience of translators and auditors: Topola is still too early in development to be useful for any practical PCB layouts.https://topola.dev/blog/2024/09/01/augustseptember-2024-development-update/Sun, 01 Sep 2024 16:03:48 +0200https://topola.dev/blog/2024/09/01/augustseptember-2024-development-update/We have spent the time since the last update on infrastructure tasks and smaller features for the Topola PCB router. Weblate translation infrastructure Work done by Michał Stankiewicz (MStankiewiczOfficial) and Mikołaj Wielgus (mikolaj). Most importantly, we have configured Codeberg Translate, the Codeberg’s instance of Weblate, for Topola. This provides an easy way to translate Topola without having to know how to use advanced software such as Git. We invite you to translate Topola to your language too!https://topola.dev/blog/2024/07/20/junejuly-2024-development-update/Sat, 20 Jul 2024 17:39:04 +0200https://topola.dev/blog/2024/07/20/junejuly-2024-development-update/We had intense progress in the Topola PCB router in the last two months. We have finished implementing five new features in total: Specctra SES export, Undo/Redo actions, command history import/export, command-line application, and advanced debug visualization. Let’s explain what these features are. Specctra SES export Implemented by Tomasz Cichoń (tomec) starting in commit 7d9bf1346a. Topola can now save autorouted tracks to files in Specctra SES format, which together with the Specctra DSN format forms the de facto standard for data interchange between PCB design and autorouting software.https://topola.dev/blog/2024/05/20/aprilmay-2024-development-update/Mon, 20 May 2024 20:40:58 +0200https://topola.dev/blog/2024/05/20/aprilmay-2024-development-update/It has been two months since the Topola PCB router’s website was created. We will continue to post updates with this frequency, as we are obligated by our agreement with NLnet to keep the user and developer communities up to date with our progress at least every two months. We have made considerable progress since the last update: we implemented Specctra DSN import, generation of the ratsnest, and a graphical user interface (GUI).https://topola.dev/blog/2024/03/20/topola-now-has-a-website-and-a-blog/Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:20:24 +0000https://topola.dev/blog/2024/03/20/topola-now-has-a-website-and-a-blog/We will be publishing updates on Topola’s development every two months in this year. To stay updated, subscribe to our RSS feed or follow Topola on Mastodon. Topola’s development in year 2024 is funded by the NLnet Foundation from the NGI0 Entrust fund. The grant amounts to 50 000 EUR. Paid tasks are tracked via the corresponding milestone in our repository. We are looking for contributors. Please contact us via Matrix or IRC if you want to work on (and get paid for) any of the tasks above.