3 ms·

You mean like PCBs? KiCad is pretty popular.

s0a 9mo ago
second KiCad. just had my first board printed a few months back. its an esp32 stackable daughterboard. first time doing anything like that outside of breadboarding, and it worked great.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- iamflimflam1 9mo ago
  Creating PCBs is surprisingly straightforward and there are a ton of good resources available. It’s probably one of the few area of YouTube that is actually still useful. Probably a high enough barrier to entry to stop most slop.
IshKebab 9mo ago
KiCAD has pretty awful UX though. I've tried all of the FOSS PCB design apps except LibrePCB (on my to-do list) and Horizon EDA is definitely the one I'd recommend (even though it also has a fair amount of UX oddities it's much better than KiCAD). DesignSpark PCB is also decent - only minor UX mistakes like warping the mouse when you zoom.
- contingencies 9mo ago
  KiCAD has pretty awful UX though It's not perfect but it's pretty damn good these days. By EE standards it's positively awesome. Single platform vendor toolchain hell is why people leave commercial software and move to KiCad, which runs everywhere, is open source, and has a plugin architecture plus mostly every feature you could ever need except high end simulation (which just needs time).
  - amelius 9mo ago
    Has anyone tried EasyEDA? I hear people raving about it, but I don't know if it's because of the tight integration with LCSC, the availability of symbols and footprints, or if it's really that good.
    - contingencies 9mo ago
      EasyEDA is basically a single-supply-chain web-SaaS alternative to open source multi-platform KiCad. Not a smart thing to invest time in. Furthermore, its design library is of worse than dubious quality. The vast majority of shared designs are probably non-functional to dangerous.
      - amelius 8mo ago
        Ok, but it is easy to drag and drop components from lcsc. Sounds like an enormous time saver. But you're probably right about the lock-in. Anyway, I'm waiting for AI that is smart enough to read a datasheet and convert it to a KiCad symbol and footprint. Should be around the corner.
        contingencies 8mo ago
        Common components all have symbols in the KiCad standard libraries. For others, just use https://github.com/Steffen-W/Import-LIB-KiCad-Plugin https://github.com/Steffen-W/Import-LIB-KiCad-Plugin or similar to import from an online source. Also grabs 3D models. Worst case, you can draw custom footprints pretty easily. AI is good but it tends to fall down when it comes to multiple conflicting design constraints, supply chain conditions, thermal considerations, mechanical considerations, and other concerns which are not same-domain as an electronic connectivity topology problem. Let's not get started on environmental factors, firmware hacks, board house physics, or assembly labor optimization.
- alnwlsn 9mo ago
  Eye of the beholder, I suppose. I like KiCAD's UI much more than Altium (but to be fair, I hate Altium).
- amelius 9mo ago
  Kicad is great. If you don't like the UI then you haven't used it enough.

s0a 9mo ago

second KiCad. just had my first board printed a few months back. its an esp32 stackable daughterboard. first time doing anything like that outside of breadboarding, and it worked great.

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
iamflimflam1 9mo ago
Creating PCBs is surprisingly straightforward and there are a ton of good resources available. It’s probably one of the few area of YouTube that is actually still useful. Probably a high enough barrier to entry to stop most slop.

IshKebab 9mo ago

KiCAD has pretty awful UX though. I've tried all of the FOSS PCB design apps except LibrePCB (on my to-do list) and Horizon EDA is definitely the one I'd recommend (even though it also has a fair amount of UX oddities it's much better than KiCAD). DesignSpark PCB is also decent - only minor UX mistakes like warping the mouse when you zoom.

contingencies 9mo ago
KiCAD has pretty awful UX though It's not perfect but it's pretty damn good these days. By EE standards it's positively awesome. Single platform vendor toolchain hell is why people leave commercial software and move to KiCad, which runs everywhere, is open source, and has a plugin architecture plus mostly every feature you could ever need except high end simulation (which just needs time).
- amelius 9mo ago
  Has anyone tried EasyEDA? I hear people raving about it, but I don't know if it's because of the tight integration with LCSC, the availability of symbols and footprints, or if it's really that good.
  - contingencies 9mo ago
    EasyEDA is basically a single-supply-chain web-SaaS alternative to open source multi-platform KiCad. Not a smart thing to invest time in. Furthermore, its design library is of worse than dubious quality. The vast majority of shared designs are probably non-functional to dangerous.
    - amelius 8mo ago
      Ok, but it is easy to drag and drop components from lcsc. Sounds like an enormous time saver. But you're probably right about the lock-in. Anyway, I'm waiting for AI that is smart enough to read a datasheet and convert it to a KiCad symbol and footprint. Should be around the corner.
      - contingencies 8mo ago
        Common components all have symbols in the KiCad standard libraries. For others, just use https://github.com/Steffen-W/Import-LIB-KiCad-Plugin https://github.com/Steffen-W/Import-LIB-KiCad-Plugin or similar to import from an online source. Also grabs 3D models. Worst case, you can draw custom footprints pretty easily. AI is good but it tends to fall down when it comes to multiple conflicting design constraints, supply chain conditions, thermal considerations, mechanical considerations, and other concerns which are not same-domain as an electronic connectivity topology problem. Let's not get started on environmental factors, firmware hacks, board house physics, or assembly labor optimization.
alnwlsn 9mo ago
Eye of the beholder, I suppose. I like KiCAD's UI much more than Altium (but to be fair, I hate Altium).
amelius 9mo ago
Kicad is great. If you don't like the UI then you haven't used it enough.