KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
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KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
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Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#2Hopefully, EDA tools for chip-design will get similar attention too, as well as a "normal" CADs. Software like LibreCAD[1] and FreeCAD[2], Qucs[3], gEDA[4], Yosys[5] and Symbiflow[6], Chisel/FIRRTL[7], OpenROAD initiative[8], Degate[9], and many others.
[2] https://www.freecadweb.org/
[4] http://www.geda-project.org/
[5] http://www.clifford.at/yosys/
[6] https://symbiflow.github.io/
[7] https://www.chisel-lang.org/
Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#3Hopefully, EDA tools for chip-design will get similar attention too, as well as a "normal" CADs. Software like LibreCAD[1] and FreeCAD[2], Qucs[3], gEDA[4], Yosys[5] and Symbiflow[6], Chisel/FIRRTL[7], OpenROAD initiative[8], Degate[9], and many others. [1] https://librecad.org/ [2] https://www.freecadweb.org/ [3] https://github.com/Qucs [4] http://www.geda-project.org/ [5] http://www.clifford.at/yosys/ [6] https://s…
Is there a high level overview, for programmers, of how chip design software works? Something I eventually want to investigate is building some of those pieces of software but I have no idea where to get started learning about that ecosystem. From a software perspective I have a good understanding of how source gets turned into machine code, which gets packaged into shared object code, which then gets linked into a binary. How do those steps work for HDLs? What standards are involved? How do you test that each of those steps works?
Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#4Kicad is an amazing tool. Not easy to get into, kind of like vim in that regard, but when mastered, it's really powerful.
With that in place, I wish it had:
. Something to import LTSpice files directly into its schematics tool (or even better, go back and forth)
. A rough but well integrated auto-router
. A better parts library management system (the current one is really bad).
And it's free ...
Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#5Hopefully, EDA tools for chip-design will get similar attention too, as well as a "normal" CADs. Software like LibreCAD[1] and FreeCAD[2], Qucs[3], gEDA[4], Yosys[5] and Symbiflow[6], Chisel/FIRRTL[7], OpenROAD initiative[8], Degate[9], and many others. [1] https://librecad.org/ [2] https://www.freecadweb.org/ [3] https://github.com/Qucs [4] http://www.geda-project.org/ [5] http://www.clifford.at/yosys/ [6] https://s…
EDA tools are a different beast... There is a reason why the field is completely monopolized by the big three - Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor Graphics.
And a lot of the tools you mentioned are targeted towards FPGA design rather than full or semi-custom ASIC design. The big three have tools that can handle both.
Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#6How/where are people getting their PCBs manufactured and assembled? Are cheap chinese services reliable? How do you protect your IP when using manufacturing services?
Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#7Hopefully, EDA tools for chip-design will get similar attention too, as well as a "normal" CADs. Software like LibreCAD[1] and FreeCAD[2], Qucs[3], gEDA[4], Yosys[5] and Symbiflow[6], Chisel/FIRRTL[7], OpenROAD initiative[8], Degate[9], and many others. [1] https://librecad.org/ [2] https://www.freecadweb.org/ [3] https://github.com/Qucs [4] http://www.geda-project.org/ [5] http://www.clifford.at/yosys/ [6] https://s…
Is there a high level overview, for programmers, of how chip design software works? Something I eventually want to investigate is building some of those pieces of software but I have no idea where to get started learning about that ecosystem. From a software perspective I have a good understanding of how source gets turned into machine code, which gets packaged into shared object code, which then gets linked into a b…
Start with an electrical and computer engineering course. Some eda tools are literally fancy vector graphics engines. Some are em simulators wrapped up. Others are circuit modeing tools.
It's not really like programming. The tools are deeply integrated into the physics of the system.
Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#8How/where are people getting their PCBs manufactured and assembled? Are cheap chinese services reliable? How do you protect your IP when using manufacturing services?
If you open-source your "IP" (I'm quoting it, because the very name offends me), the problem magically goes away.
But then, that's something culturally almost impossible to even imagine from people who hark from the HW design world.
Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there a high level overview, for programmers, of how chip design software works? Something I eventually want to investigate is building some of those pieces of software but I have no idea where to get started learning about that ecosystem. From a software perspective I have a good understanding of how source gets turned into machine code, which gets packaged into shared object code, which then gets linked into a b…
Start with an electrical and computer engineering course. Some eda tools are literally fancy vector graphics engines. Some are em simulators wrapped up. Others are circuit modeing tools. It's not really like programming. The tools are deeply integrated into the physics of the system.
> It's not really like programming. The tools are deeply integrated into the physics of the system.
What specifically makes electronics different from modeling other systems with software? DSP immediately comes to mind as something that is explicitly tied to Maxwell but there is really good software out there for describing, modeling, and creating signal processing components similar to how you'd write software. An example of this could be GNU Radio.
Is there something that prevents the creation of workflow automation tools, abstractions, and "compilers"/DSLs?
Do engineers at Intel, AMD, and Nvidia manually lay out each feature in their chip designs? If not, what workflow tools have they developed internally? Could those tools, or similar, be used for smaller scale circuit design?
Re: KiCad Joins Linux Foundation to Advance Electronic Design Automation
#10Hopefully, EDA tools for chip-design will get similar attention too, as well as a "normal" CADs. Software like LibreCAD[1] and FreeCAD[2], Qucs[3], gEDA[4], Yosys[5] and Symbiflow[6], Chisel/FIRRTL[7], OpenROAD initiative[8], Degate[9], and many others. [1] https://librecad.org/ [2] https://www.freecadweb.org/ [3] https://github.com/Qucs [4] http://www.geda-project.org/ [5] http://www.clifford.at/yosys/ [6] https://s…
EDA tools are a different beast... There is a reason why the field is completely monopolized by the big three - Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor Graphics. And a lot of the tools you mentioned are targeted towards FPGA design rather than full or semi-custom ASIC design. The big three have tools that can handle both.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Relative to something like Microsoft Office they’re tiny and we have open competitive solutions there (a product notorious for a billion corner cases).
And let’s not forget “EDA software” was single handedly pioneered by one woman and some lisp. Before then, it was hundreds of men taping out circuits on 4x8’ ply with...physical tape who all complained the labor and complexity costs were enormous and nothing could be done.
If we really want to point fingers, we could say it’s a monopoly on the supply chain side of manufacturing - costing millions in NRE’s to make a chip - but if you are willing to scrimp on process size you can get it done for $3 per layer per reticle at 500nm scale and $50 per mask.