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KiCad 7.0

kicad.org

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Re: KiCad 7.0

#81

Post by delfinom »

ChrisRR wrote: post #77
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…

Asking if you can use PCB design tools for modelling woodwork may be one to the strangest things I've read today

Could be worse, you should have seen some of the silly complaints we got on the KiCad tracker in the past few years...particularly people trying to load 100MB svgs converted to PCB silkscreen because they want to abuse the cheap PCB fabs for artwork.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#82

Post by delfinom »

sircastor wrote: post #19

I just got used to using KiCad 6!! I'm absolutely delighted that KiCad is as usable and continues to be developed on. I remember a time not too long ago where the Mac version was tragically unmaintained. I now do all my EDA in KiCad. I'm not a professional EE. All my stuff is hobbiest, and relatively amateur, but it's so nice to have tools that are so flexible.

>I just got used to using KiCad 6!!

Then you'll be just fine, we didn't rock the boat on interface/interaction like 5->6 was.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#83

Post by cushychicken »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #4

This feels like a major step forward, not for the software itself (although it probably is) but for the release schedule. KiCad 5 came out in 2018. KiCad 6 was long delayed and waterfalled and did not come out until late 2021/early 2022. And now only a year later we see KiCad 7. Seems like release engineering is coming more on lockdown which is super great news!

Pretty sure Kicad Services Corp is a big factor in the tighter release cadence. Seth Hillibrand and co have done the best job of “Red Hatting” Kicad and becoming a professional services org that supports Kicad users for a fee.

Also helps them guide and drive development of wanted features. I’m convinced there’s no way ODBC support would have happened without it. That’s a feature no hobbyist or maker would care about- it’s specifically geared towards people who collaborate with other engineers and component sourcing departments.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#84

Post by delfinom »

ilyt wrote: post #49
IshKebab wrote: post #26

I would highly recommend checking out Horizon EDA if you find Kicad to be as awful as I do usability wise. It obviously doesn't have the gazillion features Kicad does (though it does use the core layout editor from Kicad) so if you need those then maybe use Kicad. But if you're just doing "normal" PCBs (4 layer, no RF) then it's much much easier to use.

I dunno, most PCBs programs I've tried can be summed up to "every single one has weird workflow and you just need to pick one and get used to it"

Seriously, as a kicad dev this is a neverending nightmare of subjective complaining. There was even an old-timer going on a rampage recently on the kicad forums about how PADS was the most superior EDA tool in the world, why aren't we a clone of PADS??

Basically the CAD world is exactly like people arguing over vim vs emacs

Re: KiCad 7.0

#85

Post by phkahler »

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 long for the day that there is modern, easy to use Open Source CAD application for designing / modelling for 3D printing.

Solvespace is your friend: https://solvespace.com/index.pl

When you learn that completely and then outgrow it, you're probably going back to FreeCAD, or maybe blender with the CAD-sketcher addon.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#86

Post by the__alchemist »

junon wrote: post #29
aix1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When choosing how to lay out footprints during packing, does KiCad take into account electrical connections between them? (This does sound like an extremely useful feature either way, but I'm curious.)

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…

I concur. This is a limitation of the net model. I've found the net model works well for most cases, with this as a notable exception.

Maybe the play would be a special BP cap setting on the schematic, that binds to a specific part + pin.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#87

Post by the__alchemist »

kayson wrote: post #80

How are parts libraries? I see that there are a bunch on github maintained by companies like Digikey. It's been a while since I did a pcb design but my last was using jlpcb's online editor and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to do since they had a massive public parts library. I used to use eagle back in the day but stopped being a fan once it was bought/ruined by autodesk. I hate managing parts libraries.

I use built-ins for KiCad when avail, or make manually using DSes otherwise. (Schematic and footprint). You can also download from certain websites, but I've found those are hit+miss; overall had an easier experience doing by hand, even though that sounds bad. I'll usually start by C+Ping a similar one. I have a separate KiCad library with its own Git repo for footprints, and one for schematic parts.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#88

Post by the__alchemist »

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…

Unfortunately, this doesn't (yet?!) exist. Here's to the future.

Are you a student? Military? You may be able to get SolidWorks for cheap. Not what you asked for, but is the best option I've found.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#89

Post by delfinom »

cushychicken wrote: post #83
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #4

This feels like a major step forward, not for the software itself (although it probably is) but for the release schedule. KiCad 5 came out in 2018. KiCad 6 was long delayed and waterfalled and did not come out until late 2021/early 2022. And now only a year later we see KiCad 7. Seems like release engineering is coming more on lockdown which is super great news!

Pretty sure Kicad Services Corp is a big factor in the tighter release cadence. Seth Hillibrand and co have done the best job of “Red Hatting” Kicad and becoming a professional services org that supports Kicad users for a fee. Also helps them guide and drive development of wanted features. I’m convinced there’s no way ODBC support would have happened without it. That’s a feature no hobbyist or maker would care about-…

Not to diminsh KSC as Seth and Wayne are trying to expand things here and there.

But ODBC support was by Jon Evans (https://www.kicad.org/blog/2022/12/Development-Highlight-Dec...), who is a lead developer but not employed by KSC. He works elsewhere and added it for his own benefit and that of his buddies elsewhere.

The tighter release schedule is something everyone wanted, just because v6 got too unwieldy.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#90

Post by myself248 »

kayson wrote: post #80

How are parts libraries? I see that there are a bunch on github maintained by companies like Digikey. It's been a while since I did a pcb design but my last was using jlpcb's online editor and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to do since they had a massive public parts library. I used to use eagle back in the day but stopped being a fan once it was bought/ruined by autodesk. I hate managing parts libraries.

Managing the files and folders and paths in KiCad should be considered a war-crime. Symbols here, footprints there, 3d models somewhere else entirely by default, would you like to centralize your parts or have them portable per project? Can't have the best of both worlds, sorry!

(Edit to add: Oh yeah, any time you click to change a file, any environment variables you had in the path get replaced with the absolute path, so things which had been perfectly resilient against path breakage get brittle again automatically!)

Actually making footprints, though, is super easy. If I have a datasheet, I don't even bother searching for a footprint from someone else (which was probably badly translated from some awful interlingua format), I just make my own.

Bonus if I can find a 3d model of the part. (I work with more connectors than chips, so these are frequently available.) Makes it super easy to doublecheck my footprint, and then I can see housing clearance and stuff in 3D as I lay out the board. Kicad is really, really good at this now.

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