kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Schaarschmidt,

I apologize for not replying sooner.  I was busy with FOSDEM and then
recovering from my trip.  Thank you for you interest in sponsoring
KiCad.  Many of your suggestions have already been implemented in the
upcoming 5.1 release or are schedule to be implemented during the
version 6 development period.  You could always donate to KiCad though
CERN.  Sponsoring a KiCad developer directly is pretty difficult as we
are pretty much an all volunteer effort.  Most of us have very little
free time to side projects.  Hopefully we can figure out a way to
accommodate you that would be beneficial to all parties concerned.  I
have commented on your wish list below.

On 2/1/2019 1:14 AM, Schaarschmidt Wolf wrote:
> Dear KiCad developers,
> 
> our company Dorabot is an enthusiastic KiCad user,
> so we would like to *sponsor *some improvements:
> 
> *1. Schematic design part*
> a. provide off-page connection for a parallel bus. 

I believe this is already to merger into the development branch as soon
as 5.1 is released.

> b. provide customized power ports that can be edited by netlabel in case
> there are several power rails.

I don't know precisely what this is but we could implement this as part
of our connectivity improvements planned for v6.

> c. provide a convenient way to duplicate circuitry partially from
> another project.

You can already append a schematic to the current sheet.

> d. provide a convenient way to combine two different schematic-libs.

You can already do this with hierarchical sheets.  If you are thinking
of another method, we could discuss that further.

> e. provide a way to import schematic designs from other popular EDA
> tools, such as Altium Designer or Orcad.

That's going to be a ways down the road.  We have some partial solutions
for Altium primarily for board import.  We do have pretty good support
for importing Eagle project files.

> 
> *2. PCB layout part*
> a. provide teardrop connection methods, including mass and individual way.

Planned for v6

> b. provide a method to mass align REF numbers. 

This has not been discussed but could something to consider.

> c. provide a method to mass edit the size of REF numbers.

This already exists and will be released with 5.1.

> d. provide a method to move multiple components in *PCB* when selected
> in the schematic.

We could do this during v6 when the new toolkit is implemented in the
schematic editor.

> e. provide a method to add arc traces.

This is on the version 6 roadmap so hopefully we will get to this.

> f.  provide a method to add polygons with arc corners.

Same as e.

> g. have a specified rule to constrain the clearance between the edge and
> polygons or traces locally (not only globally).

Constraint management is going to be completely rewritten for version 6.

> h. provide a way to import PCB designs from other popular EDA tools,
> such as Altium Designer or Allegro.

Same goes here as for the schematic import.

> i.  provide a convenient way to fanout BGA footprints with certain VIA
> size and Trace width.

Via pad stacks are part of version 6 development which should address
most of this.

> j.  provide region constraint for small pitch size BGA footprint.

This could be part of the new constraint management system.

> 
> Please let us know whether you see an opportunity for us
> to *sponsor* (i.e. financially support) 
> some or all of these improvements. We are looking forward to hearing
> from you!

I do see opportunities for you to sponsor KiCad and/or a developer
directly.  Please keep in mind that contributions to KiCad have to go
though the lead development team for review and approval so your best
bet is to sponsor one of the lead developers to ensure any sponsored
code gets accepted.  I wish I had the free time to help you out but
being the project leader doesn't leave a lot of spare time to take on
side projects.

Cheers,

Wayne

> 
> Best regards,
> 
> *Wolf Schaarschmidt*｜Robot Engineer
> 
> wolf@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:Meiyu.bao@xxxxxxxxxxx%EF%BD%9C(+86)>
> 
> 
> No. 2 Zuopaotai Rd, H6-2, Nanshan District｜Shenzhen, Guangdong 518000,
> China
> 
> 0755-21650236｜
> <mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxx%EF%BD%9Cwww.dorabot.com>info@xxxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxx>｜www.dorabot.com <http://www.dorabot.com/>
> 
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