kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Collin,

Many thanks for the good review.  I can tell you as a long time KiCad
developer and lead developer, it's always nice to hear what your doing
well.  I'm glad you enjoy using KiCad.  KiCad does have it's quirks but
we will continue to improve things as time goes on to provide the best
possible EDA experience for our users.  Thank you for choosing KiCad as
your primary EDA.

Cheers,

Wayne

On 6/7/2015 9:24 AM, Collin Anderson wrote:
> Some weeks ago, KiCad hit some sort of personal 'critical mass' for me
> and I began using KiCad exclusively for all my projects, including some
> fairly complex high end switch mode and power designs, the kind of
> project where most of the components will need custom footprints unique
> to that board.  Heatsink mounting, thermal 'hacks', some random ferrite
> bead put on a trace at the last minute, the kind of stuff that keeps
> board layout guys up at night (but perhaps not as much as RF stuff keeps
> them, or me at least, up at night ;)  )
> 
> I know KiCad is still evolving and still pushing towards a new stable
> release, but for me, I'll be using KiCad exclusively now, stable be
> damned :).  I am coming from the perspective of a long time Eagle and
> Altium Designer, a schematic, board, full design that would have taken
> many days in Eagle and 2 or 3 in Altium (for some stuff Altium is a much
> more capable tool than Eagle) by my estimation took me an AFTERNOON in
> KiCad.  As the first small piece of a much larger project, I've been
> really digging in to the bigger stuff the past couple of weeks, and I am
> much further along than I ever planned or expected to be, thanks
> primarily to choosing KiCad as my CAD tool for this project.  And sure,
> KiCad is not without it's quirks and issues, but neither are Eagle or
> Altium, or any CAD tool I would imagine.  What will say is that I can
> think of no better measurement of software being 'powerful' than letting
> the same person produce the same results or better results in much less
> time.  
> 
> But honestly, that's not even the part that made me so excited that I
> felt I had to write the developers as I am doing right now though.
>  Results are, of course, results.  But KiCad did something for me that I
> never expected, or really ever thought would be possible, on a much more
> emotional level.  KiCad is /fun./  I've always been passionate about
> electronics, but making a board, meticulously translating dimension
> drawings to footprints, layout and deadend refactoring and respinning,
> all that stuff was more of a chore to me. Frustrating.  EDA/CAD software
> always felt like it was preventing me as much as enabling me to do my
> work, and that's after becoming very familiar with a EDA package, I
> don't mean learning curve stuff. 
> 
>  I don't know what quality or design decisions caused this, it's a very
> irrational 'gut' sort of thing, but KiCad does the impossible by /making
> CAD fun!/  Maybe it's as simple as more immediate results, kind of an
> instant gratification kick, or minimization of frustrations, I don't
> know.  But for the first time, I enjoy every part of this field, from
> start to finish.  I enjoy making footprints.  In fact, that's my
> favorite part.  Which seems absurd to me, but is also true.  Things that
> would be painful, like needing to switch out a bunch of components or
> refactor a board due to production logistics? It's fun! I just draw a
> new footprint, regenerate a netlist, boom boom boom, it's done and it
> was painless, no problem at all. I can't even imagine dealing with, say,
> Eagle's lack of symbol/footprint mutual agnosticism the way KiCad does
> now.  I even like running the DRC, and no one likes doing that.  It just
> gives you a list of how you screwed up.  Now though, things are rapid
> enough that its fun to really 'perfect' a board in a way it never was
> for me.
> 
> As silly as this sounds, KiCad as made me a much happier person :).
> 
> Everyone, thank you so much for all the years and countless hours of
> work you've done to produce this tool.  The best part is it's only going
> to keep getting better!  I know this list is for discussing development,
> but I really wanted to let you guys know about my recent experiences.
>  Thanks!
> -- 
> "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Isaac Asimov
> 
> -- 
> "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Isaac Asimov
> 
>> On Jun 6, 2015, at 7:55 AM, Eldar Khayrullin <eldar.khayrullin@xxxxxxx
>> <mailto:eldar.khayrullin@xxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>
>> Not fullyunderstood. I meant that part libs is complement component libs
>> but don't change current components using. Part libs are optional for
>> using.
>>
>> 06.06.2015 15:19, Vesa Solonen пишет:
>>> 06/06/15, 11:44, Eldar Khayrullin kirjoitti:
>>>> Maybe add new file format "components library" that consist something
>>>> like that:
>>>>
>>>> ##########################################
>>>> EESchema-COMP-LIBRARY Version x.x
>>>>
>>>> PART "part_id"
>>>> SYMBOL "sch_symbol_lib_name" "sch_symbol_name"
>>>> FOOTPRINT "pcb_footprint_lib_name" "pcb_footprint_name"
>>>> PINS
>>>> #sch_symb_pin    pcb_footprint_pin            // pins assignment
>>>> 1    2
>>>> 2    4
>>>> 4    A
>>>> ENDPINS
>>>> ENDPART
>>> This kind of structure will be needed and abit more to manage pin and
>>> gate swapping... Please guys spend some time searching the archives, I
>>> promise it pays off by saving poor keyboards ;)
>>>
>>> Pin and gate swapping means swapping equivalent function pins (multiple
>>> inputs of a AND gate or MCU ports) in a part/component and gate swapping
>>> meand swapping equivalent funtion units in multi-part component (e.g.
>>> dual opamp or quad NAND gate) to optimize layout.
>>>
>>> Currently such is completely manual in Kicad.
>>>
>>> -Vesa
>>>
>>>
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>>
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> 
> 
> 
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