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KiCad 7.0

kicad.org

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Re: KiCad 7.0

#61

Post by blutack »

_fizz_buzz_ wrote: post #51
cdcarter wrote: post #2

A built in command line interface for exporting BOMs/netlists/gerbers is incredible. It's probably not going to be as powerful as Ki-Bot at first, but I'm going to try and integrate it into my GitHub actions asap. And, the new dragging behavior is obviously what we should have had from the start. Going to make doing quick drawings much easier.

Is there a good guide how to use git with kicad? Right now I just copy folders with version numbers. Using it in github sounds like a neat way. Which files should be in my gitignore?

KiBot [0] is super handy for this, the documentation has an explicit section on CI/CD usage.

It does have to basically script drive the GUI to achieve some functionality which has now been added to the kicad cli, so hopefully going forward CI/CD with KiCad will be even easier!

0: https://github.com/INTI-CMNB/KiBot

Re: KiCad 7.0

#62

Post by the__alchemist »

amelius wrote: post #34
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'm still on version 5 due to apt/snap issues, but what I miss the most is a way to place footprints of a group of components (as opposed to placing them all at once).

From a skim of the website, I'm surprised they don't have a Linux binary to download, but there is a PPA avail. Or, you could compile from source if the dependencies aren't too messy.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#63

Post by Gracana »

tkuraku wrote: post #10
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…

Read the datasheets. They usually have recommended layouts and configurations.

Yes, this is the way. Datasheets and application notes will tell you nearly everything you need to know. If you don’t understand why something is done or how something works, look it up at that point. Starting from fundamentals is going to be a much slower path than just following manufacturer examples.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#65

Post by smcleod »

I long for the day that there is modern, easy to use Open Source CAD application for designing / modelling for 3D printing. FreeCAD exists and while I'm sure it's powerful - it's very clunky to use as the learning curve is quite high for someone that occasionally wants to adjust a model. It it certainly seems like KiCAD is filling that spot for the 2D / electronics side of things. Blender is probably fantastic for modelling - but it's not well setup for engineering / printing.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#66

Post by mtreis86 »

smcleod wrote: post #65

I long for the day that there is modern, easy to use Open Source CAD application for designing / modelling for 3D printing. FreeCAD exists and while I'm sure it's powerful - it's very clunky to use as the learning curve is quite high for someone that occasionally wants to adjust a model. It it certainly seems like KiCAD is filling that spot for the 2D / electronics side of things. Blender is probably fantastic for mo…

I've used blender for engineering/printing. It works fairly well, you just have to set the precision to a small enough number that things pull within tolerance. There are a couple decent tool path / CAM plugins too, so it can be used for the full stack and not just making the model, so long as the gcode it spits out is compatible.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#67

Post by jnovek »

Tryffel wrote: post #18
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…

So you want to learn electronics? I suggest that you take the time to actually learn the theory behind it and learn how resistance, capacitance, inductance affects the system. It is hard but helps a lot. If you want to understand digital systems, then learn how digital basic components work and how you combine them to create more complex systems. Had electronics as my major in my bachelor's degree, and the mental mod…

Underlying theory is important, but seeing practical examples that _explicitly applies theory_ has been critical in my particular electronics adventure. There are more ways to apply Ohm's Law (or Kirchhoff's Laws) than you can shake a stick at and seeing someone explicitly do the math and apply it while explaining a circuit that I am interested in has helped me get better at applying it.

I think the hardest things for me so far been (a) getting my head around the idea that everything in a circuit is happening all at once (rather than iteratively like an algorithm) and (b) "input" and "output" are convenience terms, e.g. an opamp can sink current through its "output". Both of these insights have come from seeing real circuits analyzed on YouTube.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#68

Post by linsomniac »

It looks really impressive, seems like it's largely oriented towards PCBs though?

Anyone have experience using it for woodworking modeling? Is there a better tool out there for that? I've been using SketchUp, which is "only ok": The modeling for parts is good, but setting it up for spitting out a cut list kind of sucks. Plus, it's like $300/year to buy the version that does cutlists, the web version will not. I use tinkercad for modeling 3d prints and mostly like it, it's kind of klunky, but easy for simpleish models.

I'll probably donate something to KiCAD, it'd be a no brainer to donate $300 instead of buying a year of SketchUp, but "buying" SketchUp for $300 for a year for something I'm going to use 3-5 times in the year is kind of a hard sell.

Been meaning to look at FreeCAD and SolveSpace.

Any recommendations for woodworking?

Re: KiCad 7.0

#70

Post by Arcanum-XIII »

linsomniac wrote: post #68

It looks really impressive, seems like it's largely oriented towards PCBs though? Anyone have experience using it for woodworking modeling? Is there a better tool out there for that? I've been using SketchUp, which is "only ok": The modeling for parts is good, but setting it up for spitting out a cut list kind of sucks. Plus, it's like $300/year to buy the version that does cutlists, the web version will not. I use t…

Kicad is oriented toward PCB and PCB only.
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