EEVblog #254 – KiCAD PCB First Impressions. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 09:58:32 pm
content: Dave, don't know if you found it but by unchecking the "check box" next to a layer, hides the layer.Alexander.

author: m12lrpv
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 10:03:40 pm
content: Yeah. It nearly drove me wild watching that

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 10:09:41 pm
content: I also noticed that "Composant" and "Cuivre" are in French only for this particular project (pic programmer). If you start an new pcb it;s English. You can change the name with "Design Rules >> Layers Setup".Alexander.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 10:28:34 pm
content: Quote from: m12lrpv on March 06, 2012, 10:03:40 pmI don't know why so many people are harping on about me "missing" that.I wasn't trying to turn a layer off, I was trying to mask out layers in the background to give a high contrast view of a single layer. Finally found the button that did that of course. The check boxes don't do that.Dave.

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 11:20:18 pm
content: I was talking to Dave too while I was watching the video, but he just wasn't listening.If load a project, or start a new project, then all the programs work together much better. That's the whole idea of a project.Overall though, Dave did brilliantly for about 2 hours total effort. I am sure I wouldn't work out as much as Dave did that quickly.I had to hit myself when Dave discovered the backspace key for undoing PCB track segments - I have done a simple few boards in KiCad, and I never realized it was there.For anyone desperate enough to actually read the manual, KiCad now has some of the best documentation I have seen for an open source project. "Getting_Started_in_KiCad.pdf" in the KiCad\doc\help\en folder is only 29 pages long and really explains a lot. I hate to say it, but for KiCad, you actually save a huge amount of frustration and time with a 15 minute read of the Getting Started guide.I can't believe I just said that - I hate reading manuals for software programs.Richard.

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2012, 11:55:28 pm
content: By the way, spreading the parts is easy (but not obvious) after loading from the netlist. The attachment shows how.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 01:10:42 am
content: FYII just shot a 1 hour video of DIPtrace, but it's pretty random and misses a whole bunch of stuff I think, as did the KiCAD videos.I realised I should have made a checklist of stuff to check on these packages before I did this, rather than just randomly bum around.But I could still do this, and go through and compare functionality in various packages. Anyone think that's a good idea? And if so, got a starter list of features/capabilities that should be compared?Dave.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 02:22:18 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on March 07, 2012, 01:10:42 amFirst one for sure ... "no PAN no gain" ...

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 02:31:19 am
content: I would love to see the Diptrace video as I have never used it.I have to admit that personally I really want to settle on an open source package, even if there are problems. I just don't want to design in a free package today and discover in 5 years that the package is no longer free. Does DipTrace need Activation? I particularly do not like packages that needs someone elses permission to install and run.I still have to play with gEDA, as I just loved the ease in gEDA of being able to change pad sizes, track widths, mask clearances, fill clearances, hole sizes, etc with the mouse and a few keys. But it does need Linux, and I guess I will probably stick to KiCad.By the way, I just discovered a better way to pan in KiCad!Move the mouse and press F4 to recenter it. Works great.Richard.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 02:38:44 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on March 07, 2012, 01:10:42 amI'm not sure if this is really worth investing much time in. Recording your initial struggles is a metric of intuitiveness (or similarity to AD), and valuable usability research for the developers, but it's not something that would play a major role in my choice of CAD package. I spend most of my time being proficient in a CAD package and knowing all important buttons and shortcuts, so the time I spend learning is relatively insignificant. More important is how efficient and powerful it is after I spent a reasonable time learning it. That would require a much larger investment of time on your part, however, something I'm not expecting you to do.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 02:40:34 am
content: Quote from: amspire on March 07, 2012, 02:31:19 amRichard, you should try it, the interface is quite intuitive.About the license, the standard for evaluation is full-featured 30-day trial, but you can request the free Lite version that maxed out at 500 pins 2 layers, they will send the activation key without any question asked once you requested it, also with this single key, it is legal to use it on multiple computers, like mine, I installed it at my laptop (x32) and desktop (x64 version) using the same single key.Edit : Diptrace has an excellent overview video for all its modules briefly here ->http://www.diptrace.com/tour/, looks like the video was professionally narrated.

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2012, 03:34:11 am
content: I am new to PCB design so I had no preconceived ideas on how things should work except many years of solidworks cad use. I tried Eagle and it was useable but not fun. I tried diptrace and found it very intuitive and user friendly, I like it enough to gladly pay for it when I exceed the capabilities of the free version. After watching Dave try KiCAD it seems less intuitive than diptrace and that footprint not being coupled to the part at the schematic level seems to be a royal pain. To be fair, on both Eagle and Diptrace I watched the quick tour videos on how the systems worked before using them which probably makes it seem more intuitive than it really is.As we all know Dave's thumbs up carries a lot of sway as it should. One possibility is to have two classes, open source and free/commercial. There will be followers for each. The endorsements would probably boost useage of both. Dave's PCBdesigntutorial videos could focus on whichever he prefers yet contrast the other when a particular design technique is easier to implement on the other system. A Dave Jones PCB design book or video series (for sale not free) featuring those two systems would be a huge boost to their traffic.

author: timorousme
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2012, 04:48:05 pm
content: "There's a tip for you. Off-the-cuff, of course. I haven't really thought about it too much."I'm going to be saying that all the time now.