A few days ago, I announced I'd be speaking at the next Embedded Meetup Toulouse on June 18th about an open source hardware board. Time to say a bit more about it !

Meet *La Manufacture du Son*, an open hardware audio streamer running mainline Linux on an Allwinner f1c200s, designed end to end with open source tools: #KiCad, #FreeCAD and #Buildroot.

All sources, schematics and docs are public:
repo: https://github.com/naguirre/mds-builder
doc: https://naguirre.github.io/mds-builder/

#embeddedlinux #opensource #toulouse

#kicad #schematic #electronics
I did my first schematic(WIP) ever, in KiCad.

I have to wire it on the perfboard now. I do not want to do that, it will be a mess probably. If only there was some tool to automatically find optimal/close-to-optimal layout. I have 3.3V, 5V, 6V, 12V(battery) on a single board. I did not add buck converters yet(6v, 6v)

Any perfboard layout tips are welcome!  

Complaining⚠️ :
I kind of did not like the workflow.
I wish it was a lot more automatic, parametric like geometry CADs.

Dragging components is scary, it breaks everything:
- wires connect randomly
- things just stay in place, disconnect

I want automatic wire routing and arrangement on schematic, I just specify what connects to what, and it won't change those connections.

I wanted something that feels like writing Rust, when the tooling is smart and robust. This felt very manual like traditional graphical editor, word-processor.

if you were, like me, annoyed at #kicad 10's annoying lasso UI, here's a work-around.

Go to preferences -> toolbars, check 'custom toolbars', Edit your toolbars, edit the right toolbar, delete the entire "Selection Tools" group. Add "Rectangle" back. Optionally, add Lasso back (it is, admittedly, occasionally useful).

They'll both show selected all the time, because UI is hard, but at least you'll stop accidentally selecting the goddamn lasso all the time.

I've been designing a music synthesizer.

I'm amazed at how good the open source tools for this have become. KiCad and FreeCAD have been a joy to use for this project.

#synthesizer #digitalSynthesizer #KiCad #FreeCAD

Nos soy el mejor diseñador, es mi habilidad menos habilidosa, pero trato de defenderme como puedo ja.

#3dprint #maker #esp8266 #electronics #DIYElectronics #Arduino #PCB #freecad #kicad

Totally distracted by #kicad... this time not by a crash! (I do love kicad!)

But, dear #foss folks, if a service like ultra-librarian makes a 37 step video on how to import a symbol/footprint into kicad, it's time to step up and fix that process!

I'm annoyed that I can't just drop the files in a directory and have them show up in the library. I have to close kicad and re-open!?!

Also: holy vocal fry batman!

https://app.ultralibrarian.com/content/help/?kicad.htm

https://share.vidyard.com/watch/5qX3oWiGrUims5GfsXZRrT?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_fry_register

This is odd, #KiCAD freezing on closing project (no project loaded).

Ohh, says a git operation, but what has git got to do with KiCAD?

Confused.

Happy to announce I'll be giving a talk at the next Embedded Meetup Toulouse on June 18:

"How to design a complete embedded Linux board using only open source tools?"

I'll share the approach and tooling I've built around KiCad, FreeCAD, Buildroot, U-Boot and friends.

If you're in Toulouse, come say hi!

#embedded #linux #buildroot #kicad #freecad #opensource #toulouse

So I found one problem, there is a trace that shorts out this component. Very likely I moved a bunch of component after routing. *screms*

Tried cutting the trace on the board but it was still shorted. This is just one shorted component, a few other places were shorted as well, even on the boards with no components.

In any case I did up a new board that's slightly wider for more routing space and fixed up the footprint for the regulator.

Some thougts whilst working on the board:
- 0805 size is good for me to solder even without magnification.
- I tried drag soldering the mcu and got one pair of pins shorted, and I could not get rid of it, even using a wick.
- I cannot tell visually if the pins were shorted, I had to use my phone's camera, and even then it was _barely_ visible. Likely I will get one of those el-cheap usb microscopes to check.
- Using a penknife to cut through a pcb is zzzzz XD

#stm32 #kicad