3 ms·

I'm an initiate to designing PCBs (and amateur electronics in general). I've been having a great time with KiCad, and would love to know what more seasoned pros

I'm an initiate to designing PCBs (and amateur electronics in general). I've been having a great time with KiCad, and would love to know what more seasoned pros would say would be the major difference between KiCad, Eagle, and LibrePCB in a practical sense.

canadaduane 7y ago
I've used KiCad quite a bit, and enjoy it, but there is an unnecessarily steep learning curve--for example, a good experience depends largely on memorizing key shortcuts. There are also some really unintuitive things related to component libraries (footprints, 3D CAD representations, and schematics) that is kind of a holdover from its "every module does one thing and does one thing well" roots. They've made improvements of late, but it still isn't what I'd call intuitive. I think the future is a more integrated workflow, and I believe that's what I'm seeing in LibrePCB. That said, it's a younger project, and doesn't match up feature for feature yet. I'm thinking about giving LibrePCB a try for tinker projects, and if that goes well, maybe I'll try something bigger :)
pmorici 7y ago
All the EDA tools I've ever tried seem to have a very high learning curve. Eagle was the first one I managed to get my head around so I use that but since they they got sold and switched to a subscription model which I hate I wouldn't recommended it if you already know how to use kiCAD and it works for your needs.
redis_mlc 7y ago
KiCad - powerful, 3d modeller, Spice integration, funded by CERN Autodesk Eagle - adequate but commercial/cloud now. LibrePCB - alternative to KiCad if you're ok with a one-man show. See my comment above for more info.
analog31 7y ago
I'm kind of in the same boat, and appreciate any advice along these lines. I've designed a fair number of PCB's, but they are all relatively simple analog circuits or carrier boards. I use a lot of ExpressPCB, but of course it's not open source. So I'd love to know what's an easy tool for relatively simplistic boards. Looking into the future, an interest of mine is to attempt a go-around with an actual board maker, where they receive my design and ship me a manufactured board. So I'd certainly like to try out a tool that will support this.

canadaduane 7y ago

I've used KiCad quite a bit, and enjoy it, but there is an unnecessarily steep learning curve--for example, a good experience depends largely on memorizing key shortcuts. There are also some really unintuitive things related to component libraries (footprints, 3D CAD representations, and schematics) that is kind of a holdover from its "every module does one thing and does one thing well" roots. They've made improvements of late, but it still isn't what I'd call intuitive. I think the future is a more integrated workflow, and I believe that's what I'm seeing in LibrePCB. That said, it's a younger project, and doesn't match up feature for feature yet. I'm thinking about giving LibrePCB a try for tinker projects, and if that goes well, maybe I'll try something bigger :)

pmorici 7y ago

All the EDA tools I've ever tried seem to have a very high learning curve. Eagle was the first one I managed to get my head around so I use that but since they they got sold and switched to a subscription model which I hate I wouldn't recommended it if you already know how to use kiCAD and it works for your needs.

redis_mlc 7y ago

KiCad - powerful, 3d modeller, Spice integration, funded by CERN Autodesk Eagle - adequate but commercial/cloud now. LibrePCB - alternative to KiCad if you're ok with a one-man show. See my comment above for more info.

analog31 7y ago

I'm kind of in the same boat, and appreciate any advice along these lines. I've designed a fair number of PCB's, but they are all relatively simple analog circuits or carrier boards. I use a lot of ExpressPCB, but of course it's not open source. So I'd love to know what's an easy tool for relatively simplistic boards. Looking into the future, an interest of mine is to attempt a go-around with an actual board maker, where they receive my design and ship me a manufactured board. So I'd certainly like to try out a tool that will support this.