kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Pinault Nicolas <nicolas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

Creating schematics and pcb is not my job. The guy who used to do them 
in my company has retired now.
Few weeks ago, I had to design a very small board (2 components !). I 
spent a lot of time to find out how to create a footprint. I was about 
to call my retired colleague when I finally found how to do it.

I think there are two scenarios :
- Passive components : You insert resistors and capacitors in your 
schematics. When you place/route your board, you select which package 
you want to use (1206, 0805, 0603...)
- Others : More often, when you create a component in the library, you 
are stuck to a package. Of course, you can have a chip that fits in 
different packages keeping the same pin layout (logic devices for 
example). But more often, now, when you change the package, you also 
change the pin layout. So, if you change the package when 
placing/routing, you also have to design a new component in the library. 
In this case, creating and assigning a component footprint when creating 
the component schematic library is a good idea.

Best regards,
Nicolas