changes to the Fritzing-to-Eagle conversion process

In the interest of simplifying the conversion process we currently use to get Fritzing designs into Eagle, we are looking to make a few changes.  The biggest change which we are investigating is whether we should skip the Eagle schematic-generation step and go straight to Eagle PCB-generation.

This means that, for now, Fritzing will not produce a schematic representation of the circuit (though we plan to add schematic editing back in at some point).  Any thoughts on this? 

You should definitely keep the ability to generate Eagle schematics. That provides a good starting point for users who will want to dive into Eagle at some point in the future. It gives them something to build from.

Thanks for the comment.  We will most likely be moving back to support for schematics in future versions since that kind of view of a circuit is essential for more complicated projects (and helpful for less complicated projects).  Familiarity with schematic notation is also essential for understanding example circuits and, as you note, for transitioning to a traditional EDA tool.

One difficulty with this has been the differences in layout and notation for circuits in a breadboard view vs. how schematics are typically organized and drawn.  Microcontrollers and other ICs are a good example since their symbols in schematics usually have the pins grouped logically and often with little relationship to the pin positions on the part itself.  It is difficult to translate from wires drawn between physical pin locations on the breadboard to clearly arranged nets in a schematic view and this was one of the reasons we temporarily dropped schematic export from Fritzing.

One option we have discussed is to provide a schematic editor in Fritzing itself using the tools, layout, and look and feel that are already familiar from the breadboard view.  What do you think of that approach?

It seems to me the schematic editing is important to those of us using an Arduino clone. I'm investigating using the Decimilia that you supply as a starting point then export to Eagle and rearrange the connections to work with the Boarduino that I'm using in my projects.

As far as I understand, the important difference is not in the schematics but in the pcb design. For an alternative to the current shield export, we are currently working on extra export options for the Arduino Mini, the Boarduino, and one that has all Arduino parts included in the board. The Fritzing menu inside Eagle will also get extra tools for modifying the shape of the pcb.

In the long run, we will provide the pcb editing capability inside of Fritzing. We have also started working on this, but it will be some time until we can release it.