Expecting some circuit boards today maybe. Exciting - my first use of #KiCad right through to actually producing PCBs, though I've worked up a few schematics in the past, and one other PCB layout.
Haven't bought any new boards for a project in a couple of years either, so it's nice for that reason too.
Happy to have dumped #EagleCAD from my tool set.
It's been a couple of years since I last used #KiCad. I had just finally given up on #EagleCAD in spite of my large library personal parts, but it was time.
A bit of a learning curve, but I got there, and was happy with KiCad's capabilities. Now I guess I'll ramp up from scratch again. Ugh. Hope it comes back quickly.
Checking versions, I have 5.1.12 and see the latest is… gulp 8.0.2. Well, I'm ramping up from dim recollections anyway, so it shouldn't add much extra effort.
@miah #Autodesk - like #Adobe - is literal poison to the #Software industry and should be forcibly dismantled by #regulators for attempting to monopolize the industry.
The biggest regret in terms of #Software I have was not buying the "#Eagle hobbyist license" for €125 back in 2008 when #CadSoft still existed!
A little more work on my #EagleCAD to #KiCad shift. I found a few more adjustments to KiCad that make a big difference.
The default setting was full opacity which is terrible for circuit board layout. Thankfully there is an easy adjustment of transparency with curly-braces, and that saved the day. Also discovered the 'b' key for regenerating fill planes after changes. I've also got alternative track widths figured out finally, so it feels like a real design tool now.
I've almost worked through my first pass with #KiCad as an old hand at #EagleCAD. There are certainly some different approaches, but I generally like what I see.
I feel like I'm getting to the party at just the right time. The transition from version 4 to version 5 seems to have been a notable one, with many improvements. Many tutorials are rather out of date, but I can generally figure out what the approach is and muddle through from there.
Going pretty well in general.
I've always fought an annoying thing in #EagleCAD where DRC complained of errors that didn't violate any rules, and searches on the web never turned up answers.
Tried again to search today and found the hidden 'net classes' area which solved that problem.
That's pretty shoddy UI, to report errors, point to a DRC rule, but not indicate that there are rules elsewhere which you're also enforcing.
It would take one little phrase "see net-class rules also" on the DRC dialog.
Terrible.
Ross of Ottawa
Mark J Koch ✅
Kevin Karhan 