kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Kaspar Emanuel <kaspar.emanuel@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have been using this from the PPA. It seems like a huge improvement.
The only bug I noticed which might be related is that when I re-assign
the "Switch Canvas to Legacy" hotkey (from F9 to Q for instance) it
doesn't work. This might be an existing issue though. Of course it
would also be good to be able to assign a hotkey to the update action.

On 29 January 2016 at 20:31, Russell Oliver <roliver8143@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As a crazy thought related to having the board capture orphan pads under an
> parent footprint,  conceptually what about a pcb being represented as a
> hierarchy of footprints.
>
> From what I understand most elements of a board can be included in
> footprints except for tracks. If tracks could be included as part of a
> "footprint" would it not be possible to export a group of footprints and
> tracks as a new reusable section of already laid out  components.
>
> Regards
> Russell
>
> On 30 Jan 2016 04:29, "jp charras" <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Le 29/01/2016 16:57, Tomasz Wlostowski a écrit :
>> > On 29.01.2016 16:49, Chris Pavlina wrote:
>> >> Oh, it's definitely a dirty hack - but it's a dirty hack that is
>> >> somewhat
>> >> necessary, and used to be possible, and now it's not, so... regression,
>> >> dude!
>> >> :)
>> >>
>> >> Yeah, yeah, I'm a spacebar heater, I know... :D
>> >>
>> >> https://xkcd.com/1172/
>> >>
>> > No, you're not :) I perfectly agree with your reasoning and I'll add an
>> > option to disable component removal.
>> >
>> >> I'd argue that while using a footprint as a via is a dirty hack, the
>> >> simple
>> >> concept of allowing footprints on the PCB that aren't on the schematic
>> >> is
>> >> *not*. Lots of people want to be able to place things like mounting
>> >> holes
>> >> without having to put them in the schematic. (Whether or not that's
>> >> best
>> >> practice is beside the point, it's very common.)
>> >
>> > Most tools I've used require that the components on the schematic fully
>> > match the PCB, but they also allow drawing mounting holes as 'free'
>> > pads. This is another limitation of pcbnew - in Eagle/Altium you can
>> > just draw an arbitrary pad straight on the PCB.
>>
>>  " In Kicad, it requires a footprint (and so the sch/pcb inconsistency)."
>>
>> This is not true.
>> In Pcbnew, pads can live outside a footprint.
>> (They are used in the pad properties editor)
>>
>> But without a footprint, you cannot manage easily the net of this pad.
>> Just because schematic knows only footprints, the net of the orphan pads
>> cannot be managed by the schematic.
>>
>> Therefore users have to manage the net of these orphan pads *by hand*.
>> and these pads create sch/pcb inconsistency
>> AFAIK, Altium has not solved this issue (sch/pcb inconsistency).
>>
>> To fix this kind of issue, we need a good idea, not just mimic what is
>> made in Eagle/Altium.
>> I have already used Altium, and worked with guys who are using Altium,
>> but I am not a Altium specialist.
>> I have seen some very good and powerful ideas (rooms), and some less
>> good ideas (Well, I was not impressed by ERC and net management)
>>
>> My preferred idea (I am not saying this is a good idea) is to consider
>> the board itself as a parent footprint these "orphan" pads.
>>
>> Power connections could be managed at schematic level by something like
>> a few test or connect points ( pins of the board, seen like a footprint)
>> connected to the nets (usually GND, VCC ...)  we want to connect to
>> these "orphan" pads
>> Stitching vias could be some of these "orphan" pads.
>> You do not need a footprint by pad: only one footprint is enough.
>>
>> I am pretty sure this is not a lot of work to code that.
>> At least less than trying to manage stitching vias as standard vias.
>>
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Tom
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jean-Pierre CHARRAS
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>