8 ms·
KiCad 5.1.0
- sansnomme 8y agoAny plans for an Alpine distribution?
- xemdetia 8y agoOut 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_ 8y ago> 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 :)
- fao_ 8y agoThe Arch Linux PKGBUILD (https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=kicad-git https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=kicad...) doesn't look too complex, you could try building from source. Neither `opencascade` or `ngspice` look like they're packaged for Alpine, so you'd have to build those from source first. I don't know how complex that would be. Off the top of my head the rest of the dependencies are already in the alpine package repos. Building from source isn't as hard as it's reputation. Most of the time it's just a `autoconf -i && ./configure && make && sudo make install` tbh. Just do a cursory read of the README, and `./configure --help` first.
- delfinom 8y agoLinux builds are up to distros to build and package (or do it yourself). We don't have the manpower to cover the 100+ distros under the sun due to Linux NIH syndrome. As long as alpine basically supports a full desktop environment using wxWidgets, it should build and run just fine.
- coupdejarnac 8y agoThanks to the Kicad team. Looking forward to designing my next pcb with it.
- cmroanirgo 8y agoI used it several years back to design some simple industrial boards. Good to see the project is kicking along well!
- retSava 8y agoIf 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.
- ChrisGammell 8y agoIf 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 8y agoAnd 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 8y agoAnd 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/
- ChrisGammell 8y agoThanks for the shout!
- jwr 8y agoFor 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 :-)
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- wpdev_63 8y agoWhat would you use to design a motherboard? Eagle?
- hatsunearu 8y agoAltium, Cadence, Allegro, orcad, etc
- analognoise 8y agoKiCad 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 8y agoHow long until it is on par with Altium?
- delfinom 8y agoWe 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.
- reportingsjr 8y agoAltium also costs $13k/year per seat!!
- InitialLastName 8y agoIt's 100% worth it for the support alone. Not to mention the workflow and features. If $13k/year makes my design take half the time and cuts my chances of a fatal error in $26k of boards in half, I'll buy it every time.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- dbcurtis 8y agoWell, yes, for the full feature version. There is also a $500 version that doesn't have some of the higher-end features.
- 8y ago
- nategri 8y agoPicked up KiCad over the summer and I'm really glad I did. Bums me out so much when I see OSH projects using Eagle :(
- dbcurtis 8y ago> 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 8y ago> 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
- rkagerer 8y agoTried 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?)
- retSava 8y agoJust 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!