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[Fabrizio Tappero <fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx>]

KiCad opinion from a new user on yahoo mailing list
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <carroll_greg@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Apr 5, 2014 5:20 PM
Subject: [kicad-users] initial impressions from a new user
To: <kicad-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc:



I am new to KiCAD and would like to share some of my initial thoughts. I
don't expect anything to come from this but as a developer myself I often
appreciate the perspective of fresh eyes, sometimes you get used to the way
things are and you fail to think "outside the box" (so cliche, I know).

Most of my initial disappointments surround the handling of modules. I
personally like the workflow model of KiCAD of separating the schematic and
the package/module assignment.

   - The CvPcb module feels very rough and I can see why this is such a
   common complaint. I think it could greatly benefit from some library
   organization. Unless I'm missing something, module selection is always from
   a flat list of everything in the library. However, when you use the Module
   Editor > load module > select by browser, you get a reasonable split window
   organization with different libraries in the first split window which makes
   it very easy to navigate, preview and select. Could the same feature be
   used in CvPcb?

NOTE: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/kicad-users/conversations/messages/17448
made effectively the same comment asking about a method to "sort"


   - I plan to draw all of my own modules but It strikes me that the Module
   Editor is slightly different than the pcbnew package. For example, I really
   like the layer management in pcbnew, why isn't this the same in Module
   Editor? The only layer management I can find is through a context menu
   which is quite painful and I can't find a way to change visible layers in
   the module editor. Wouldn't it be easier just to use a second instance of
   pcbnew for the module editor?


   - The modules seem to be missing the capability for a couple of
   important layers such as a document/outline layer (not silkscreen) and a
   courtyard/placement layer (to visualize minimum clearance for assembly). To
   be clear, I don't care about the provided module libraries, but I don't
   believe the underlying capability is available. I guess this info could all
   be placed in the Dwgs.User layer but that doesn't feel right, I think the
   definition of these layers are fairly standard across other EDA programs.


I know it has been discussed plenty, but pin-swap, gate-swap and
back-annotate seem like fundamental features that are missing to update the
schematic based on changes made during layout. I understand that the
workflow is one-direction in KiCAD but couldn't a few simple exceptions be
made? (I think this is on everyone's wishlist including the CERN effort and
is just lacking resources to implement it so maybe my comment is that as a
fresh user this should be a high priority - but that's up to the developers)
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