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KiCad 7.0

kicad.org

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Re: KiCad 7.0

#101

Post by duped »

contingencies wrote: post #99
duped wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe GP is referring to the `snap` package manager on Linux, not snapping in the UI.

Yes, hence the clarification (" Aww, snap. ") Incidentally, Ubuntu forced people to move to buggy 6.x at some point circa mid last year - another reason to avoid such distributions.

Ubuntu didn't force people to move at all, at least any more than the normal apt-update.

Last I checked though, to install Kicad with apt you needed to manually add a PPA - it wasn't available from the distro at all.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#102

Post by shoelessone »

I dabble in electronics and have made a few PCBs over the years with success. That said, each and every time I get back into it I find I've forgotten everything I know and start over at the same place each time: Jeremy Blum's Eagle tutorial on youtube. It hits all of the key points I need to know from starting for the very first time to actually sending my part off to OSHPark or whatever.

Is there a similar resource for KiCad anybody might recommend? It's been about two years since I've done anything with electronics (I really do forget almost everything) so the gentler and broader the better.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#103

Post by waynesonfire »

shoelessone wrote: post #102

I dabble in electronics and have made a few PCBs over the years with success. That said, each and every time I get back into it I find I've forgotten everything I know and start over at the same place each time: Jeremy Blum's Eagle tutorial on youtube. It hits all of the key points I need to know from starting for the very first time to actually sending my part off to OSHPark or whatever. Is there a similar resource…

I have very similar experience.

Maybe next time I'll try some tactics to minimize the re-learning curve. I was thinking of maintaining an electronics lab book.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#104

Post by contingencies »

duped wrote: post #101
contingencies wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, hence the clarification (" Aww, snap. ") Incidentally, Ubuntu forced people to move to buggy 6.x at some point circa mid last year - another reason to avoid such distributions.

Ubuntu didn't force people to move at all, at least any more than the normal apt-update. Last I checked though, to install Kicad with apt you needed to manually add a PPA - it wasn't available from the distro at all.

My point precisely, for them a 'normal' update includes precluding the ongoing use of a working package and replacing it with a novel and buggy one. No idea on the current state, I've largely stopped using Ubuntu.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#105

Post by delfinom »

contingencies wrote: post #104
duped wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ubuntu didn't force people to move at all, at least any more than the normal apt-update. Last I checked though, to install Kicad with apt you needed to manually add a PPA - it wasn't available from the distro at all.

My point precisely, for them a 'normal' update includes precluding the ongoing use of a working package and replacing it with a novel and buggy one. No idea on the current state, I've largely stopped using Ubuntu.

Our KiCad 6 was on its own PPA you would have had to add manually. Same for KiCad 7 which has its own PPA. None of this is automated.

Ubuntu/Canoical itself may have pulled a kicad package update from Debian. But we have no say over that process in Ubuntu.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#106

Post by MobiusHorizons »

qiqitori wrote: post #17
bbayer wrote: post #8

I want to learn PCB design, mostly with ARM and ESP based designs. How would I learn basics? I know theory part but I really couldn't figure out why they determine which component and which value they have to use. I mean there are resistors, capacitors all over the place but I really want to learn reason behind it. Also I guess there are some basics related power, battery, UART, USB etc. Is there any source that cove…

There are certain usage patterns that you will find all over the place, e.g.: - Current-limiting resistors - The resistor divider (two resistors between e.g. 3.3V and GND. The point between the two resistors will be between 3.3V and 0V, depending on the resistor values. Sometimes you need a certain voltage. For example to bias transistors. - Delays, using a resistor and a capacitor. The values will determine the dela…

Also worth mentioning are pull-up or pull-down resistors. They give a pin a default state when nothing is driving the pin. You will often see them on reset pins and on inputs from buttons.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#107

Post by aaronmdjones »

unxdfa wrote: post #37
junon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It appears to now, yes. It didn't before. One of the bigger headaches (for me, as a beginner) was when you had bypass capacitors that need to be physically as close to an IC as possible. However, the two pins go to a voltage source and ground. According to Kicad, those could be placed anywhere on the board, and have no direct relation to the IC itself. This meant you had to carefully find each capacitor by its refere…

Trick is to print the schematic out, draw red circle around each "decoupling environment" and then group them on the board like that. Then place the connectors where the mechanical design demands them and move the groups where they need to go. Then do the signal paths, then the power routing, then the ground fill. Kicad doesn't make that particularly easy but one of the big errors people make is at schematic capture…

Isn't C312 the wrong way around?

Re: KiCad 7.0

#108

Post by bombela »

unxdfa wrote: post #37
junon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It appears to now, yes. It didn't before. One of the bigger headaches (for me, as a beginner) was when you had bypass capacitors that need to be physically as close to an IC as possible. However, the two pins go to a voltage source and ground. According to Kicad, those could be placed anywhere on the board, and have no direct relation to the IC itself. This meant you had to carefully find each capacitor by its refere…

Trick is to print the schematic out, draw red circle around each "decoupling environment" and then group them on the board like that. Then place the connectors where the mechanical design demands them and move the groups where they need to go. Then do the signal paths, then the power routing, then the ground fill. Kicad doesn't make that particularly easy but one of the big errors people make is at schematic capture…

I am a total amateur here. But I found it natural to keep a relative spacial coherence in the schematic, and have it somewhat similar on the PCB side.

Though kicad would just dump everything randomly when moving to thr PCB view. As I understand, "packing" should help keeping this spacial grouping.

There is a plugin though[1] that does place the components on the PCB similar as they are placed on the schematic (and this does work with sub-sheet too). This is tremendously helpful starting point.

[1] https://github.com/ian-ross/kicad-plugins

Re: KiCad 7.0

#109

Post by aylons »

hales wrote: post #7

> Pack & Move Footprint Tool This is the biggest usability improvement on the list. Computers are good at menial sorting, humans hate it. For those not in the know: your nice, organised schematic gets turned into a randomly assorted pile of parts when you first open the PCB editor. Now imagine your board has over a hundred parts, including lots of duplicated copy+pasted bits. My workarounds have been to: 1. Number th…

Long time since I last used it for complex board (life is weird), but the way I do it is to crossselect the part from the schematic. I remember earlier versions used a local socket between the layout and schematic tools to allow for that.

Really indispensable. Not sure how the current feature works, but for things like power supply capacitors that are electrically connected to tons of ICs and pins but logically belong to one specific pin, I can't think of a better approach.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#110

Post by eternauta3k »

hales wrote: post #7

> Pack & Move Footprint Tool This is the biggest usability improvement on the list. Computers are good at menial sorting, humans hate it. For those not in the know: your nice, organised schematic gets turned into a randomly assorted pile of parts when you first open the PCB editor. Now imagine your board has over a hundred parts, including lots of duplicated copy+pasted bits. My workarounds have been to: 1. Number th…

I made a simple script which lays out the components in the layout like in the schematic, so it's not so confusing when starting out.

https://github.com/ignamv/kicad_scripts#place_footprintspy

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