
KiCad 5.1.0 - okket
http://kicad-pcb.org/blog/2019/03/KiCad-5.1.0-Release/
======
jwr
For those unfamiliar with KiCad and electronics, it is an electronics design
tool. You need a tool like that to design PCBs (printed circuit boards) where
components are later placed to build devices.

For those familiar with electronics, but eyeing KiCad from a distance, it is a
very capable tool which can be used to produce moderately complex designs. I
have personally designed 4-layer boards with impedance-controlled differential
pairs with it. While you might not want to use it to design a PC motherboard,
well, let's just say that we don't all design PC motherboards.

The upcoming KiCad conference ([https://kicad-kicon.com/](https://kicad-
kicon.com/)) looks very interesting (my company, PartsBox
[https://partsbox.io/](https://partsbox.io/) is a sponsor) and the future for
KiCad looks bright :-)

~~~
wpdev_63
What would you use to design a motherboard? Eagle?

~~~
hatsunearu
Altium, Cadence, Allegro, orcad, etc

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ChrisGammell
If people are interested in KiCad, we're having a conference for/about it at
the end of April: [https://kicad-kicon.com/](https://kicad-kicon.com/)

Lots of talks and opportunities to learn layout if you don't already know it.

~~~
simcop2387
And if you don't recognize this man's name, take a look at his many youtube
videos on using kicad and other electronics topics. [1] He also runs courses
on all of this stuff too [2].

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJRycUz2CylxpiP-
zMePow](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJRycUz2CylxpiP-zMePow)

[2] [https://contextualelectronics.com/](https://contextualelectronics.com/)

~~~
sleavey
And he runs the electronics podcast "The Amp Hour" [1] with Dave Jones from
the EEVBlog [2].

[1] [https://theamphour.com/](https://theamphour.com/)

[2] [http://eevblog.com/](http://eevblog.com/)

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nategri
Picked up KiCad over the summer and I'm really glad I did. Bums me out so much
when I see OSH projects using Eagle :(

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dbcurtis
> Bums me out so much when I see OSH projects using Eagle

Can not agree more. There are _multiple_ alternatives for open source EDA
packages. I started using gEDA before the KiCad project even existed, so I
mostly still work in gEDA. But I have done work in KiCad, it is probably more
beginner-friendly than gEDA but I always seem to bump into things I miss from
gEDA when doing a KiCad project.

In any case, with two mature (and I have heard other newer projects exist???)
open source EDA packages available, it is frustrating to see open hardware
projects still using proprietary cripple-ware.

~~~
kupfer
> and I have heard other newer projects exist???

Yeah, know of librepcb [1] and horizon [2]. Both try to solve kicad's library
problems. Librepcb files are designed with version control in mind, which I
like. Horizon used parts of kicad (like autorouter) and is more feature rich.

I probably would have switched to kicad by now, but these new projects seem
nice, too, and I decided to wait and see where the community settles. Hence,
in my case, variety in open source hurts adoption.

[1] [https://librepcb.org/](https://librepcb.org/)

[2]
[https://github.com/carrotIndustries/horizon](https://github.com/carrotIndustries/horizon)

~~~
krastanov
Could you elaborate what Kicad's library problems are?

~~~
mhh__
I've never done serious work in it but the current way of managing libraries
is quite confusing and (I imagine) difficult to use version control will

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coupdejarnac
Thanks to the Kicad team. Looking forward to designing my next pcb with it.

~~~
cmroanirgo
I used it several years back to design some simple industrial boards. Good to
see the project is kicking along well!

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retSava
If your reference is "several years back", I can assure you there are many
many improvements :). Push-and-shove routing and hw-accelerated display are
just two.

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analognoise
KiCad is rapidly becoming truly good; I strongly suggest anyone interested to
give it a try. It isn't OrCad or Altium, but it's now very compelling, and it
is already better than Eagle.

~~~
syedkarim
How long until it is on par with Altium?

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delfinom
We got a long way to go. But at the same time it's about what you want to do
for your workflow. Altium can do everything under the sun which most people
don't need at all.

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reportingsjr
Altium also costs $13k/year per seat!!

~~~
dbcurtis
Well, yes, for the full feature version. There is also a $500 version that
doesn't have some of the higher-end features.

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jmwilson
As someone who bought a license to Circuit Studio (the $500 version), I can't
recommend it. Missing some of the higher-end features is being polite; while
there is no agreement on what is high-end, I found that many general-use
features from Designer were carelessly stripped out or left in a broken state.
Then, of course, are the bugs and Altium's refusal to share a product roadmap
for CS. Despite not communicating what they want to improve about the product,
and when they plan to deliver it, they still want a subscription fee.

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retSava
Just had a go at it, and compared with 5.0.1, there are many improvements. To
name a few: much quicker rendering when moving things in schematic view, and
being able (without hand-editing files) to place things on eg Fab and
Courtyard layers when creating a footprint.

Actually scanned through the two lists of bugs fixed (for RC and for release),
ca 500+10, and damn have the team been productive!

Thanks!

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rkagerer
Tried KiCad out some time back and it piqued my interest. Can you drag
elements around now with some basic auto-routing to maintain connections?

(IIRC the I think devs were putting some work into improving this?)

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sansnomme
Any plans for an Alpine distribution?

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xemdetia
Out of curiosity why would they create a distribution for Alpine? At least in
practical use I don't know of anyone who uses it as a desktop OS like other
distributions. I don't know of any features of KiCad that make sense when you
don't have a solid UI (I also imagine that most users of alpine are
sufficiently advanced to just compile it themselves if the rest of the
dependencies are there).

~~~
fao_
> At least in practical use I don't know of anyone who uses it as a desktop OS
> like other distributions.

There's a small but burgeoning number of us :)

~~~
subway
It really isn't up to the KiCad folks to package it up though -- that should
come from the Alpine side of the community.

