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KiCad 7.0

kicad.org

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Re: KiCad 7.0

#91

Post by mordae »

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 app.ultralibrarian.com and snapeda.com. There is also https://github.com/DasBasti/lcsc2kicad that automates downloading and converting footprints from LCSC for Kicad to use. It is handy as well.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#92

Post by myself248 »

gaudat wrote: post #5

>Custom Fonts Hell yeah. Finally schematics and PCBs with aesthetic text.

Ooooo, this also means if I can get my logo glyph as a font, I can resize it!

Putting a logo on a board as a footprint is fine, but footprints, for good reason, cannot be arbitrarily resized.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#93

Post by myself248 »

The "Finish it for me" tool is the one I'm most excited to try. I literally spent last night doing tedious routing of a connector breakout, and then I wake up this morning to see a tool that might've done 90% of it for me.

Downloading now...

Re: KiCad 7.0

#94

Post by bruckie »

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…

Phil's Lab on YouTube has great PCB design tutorials that cover how to think about layout and design, how to use Kicad, and even how to turn your design into a real product.

https://youtube.com/@PhilsLab

Re: KiCad 7.0

#95

Post by iancmceachern »

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.

Autodesk totally ruined Eagle

Re: KiCad 7.0

#96

Post by dave78 »

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…

In addition to the other replies which list a number of good resources, I've found reddit.com/r/PrintedCircuitBoard interesting to watch. It's mostly people asking for reviews of their projects, and there's a lot of tips and tricks to pick up in the review comments.

You can also see a nice progression there from beginner PCBs to more advanced things.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#97

Post by duped »

contingencies wrote: post #36
amelius wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

I'm still on version 5 due to apt/snap issues I'm still on 5.1.x as snapping is broken. Not apt/snap, but proximity snap. In 5.1.x the best way to place a group is to use https://github.com/MitjaNemec/Kicad_action_plugins 'replicate layout' (components and traces). See also, right click and Select ... Same schematic sheet (components only).

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

Re: KiCad 7.0

#98

Post by ilyt »

delfinom wrote: post #84
ilyt wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I mean it is possible to define "bad", but it would be something like "the common actions take too many keypresses". And that's about it, which isn't really a problem KiCad has anyway.

Even default keybindings are very personal. Some prefer to focus most of the common ones in one place (say around the qwer/asdf/zxcv cluster) so you don't need to move hand much, while others would rather go by easier to remember names and have [M]ove and [D]rag. I guess you can still define the "bad" here by neither intuitive nor convenient, which is to say "LTSpice", but most programs are not that.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#99

Post by contingencies »

duped wrote: post #97
contingencies wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still on version 5 due to apt/snap issues I'm still on 5.1.x as snapping is broken. Not apt/snap, but proximity snap. In 5.1.x the best way to place a group is to use https://github.com/MitjaNemec/Kicad_action_plugins 'replicate layout' (components and traces). See also, right click and Select ... Same schematic sheet (components only).

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.

Re: KiCad 7.0

#100

Post by robomartin »

fest wrote: post #21
robomartin wrote: post #14

We said goodbye to Altium Designer when KiCad 6.0 was released. Altium’s focus and resources shifted towards trying to turn AD into a cloud-based tool. As a result the software people actually wanted to use suffered. Every release introduced a plethora of new bugs. Nobody really cared for cloud EDA. Altium thought they would be able to sell the company to Autodesk. This almost happened. In the end that did not happen…

> It makes no sense at all. Don't underestimate the inertia of processes at established companies. If a company maintains a part library, if the company has more than a few EEs- it can be a multi-man-month effort with potential for costly mistakes. I like KiCad very much, I use it professionally but I also was the one that mandated AD to be the tool everyone at $WORK must use for production designs a few years ago- s…

> Don't underestimate the inertia of processes at established companies.

I understand. The approach we took was to start new designs on KiCad and leave prior work on AD, unless a port is absolutely necessary.

All of our libraries are created using custom tools we wrote nearly 20 years ago. The good news is that these tools can be updated to regenerate the libraries for KiCad. That’ the power of a part description data structure that is independent from the EDA tool.

Starting with KiCad version 6.0 I saw no compelling reason to throw money at AD for the shit job they have been doing maintaining their software. At the end of the day people vote with their wallets. For me this isn’t about free at all. It’s about tool quality and other parameters. We are donating money to KiCad because it is going in the right direction. Altium is not. We were with them for over 20 years. They took us for granted. Goodbye.

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