Libraries for Kicad - Resources - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: lameiro
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 10, 2011, 11:29:37 am
content: Hi everyone, I am starting to learn how to use Kicad now, on Linux, and I was searching for parts libraries, so I figured out that this could be a nice place to share some links to webpages containing libraries.Kicadlib- It seems to be a somewhat "official" place with libs for Kicadwww.kicadlib.org/library.oshec.org/ - Its a place with tons of libraries converted from Eagle to KiCAD. You can download all of them on a single compressed file w00t!!http://library.oshec.org/kicadlibraries.com - This website has KiCAD and LTSpice libraries./kicadlibraries.comA nice tutorial to add libraries is overhereAnd a nice tutorial in how to create partshereWell I hope this resources are helpfull for someone. I would like to remeber that KiCAD is Open Source Software, available for Windows and Linux.lameiroFixed broken links

author: nessatse
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2011, 07:07:55 am
content: Also, tryhttp://smisioto.no-ip.org/elettronica/kicad/kicad-en.htmfor some awesome 3d models

author: lameiro
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 12, 2011, 12:35:15 am
content: thanks nessatse !!! Awesome libraries indeed. do you mind if I append it to my first post? so it can be all on the begining?Again thanks, I really needed the relays for a project I am making

author: madworm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2011, 08:11:21 am
content: I'm not sure if it already counts as a library, buthere'sa re-scalable (if you have perl installed, which is easily available on winblows btw.) OSHW logo for kicad. It is fully vectorized and looks quite good at normal logo sizes. The non re-scaled logo is 1.18in high, which is a bit big - hence the perl script ;-)I'm not the first to have done this, but the other one I could find was somewhat coarse and 6MB large. This one is just a few kb. You can easily load the .emp file in the module editor of pcbnew and quickly insert it to your current board. There are a few pre-scaled logos in there for convinience (1-20mm).

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 28, 2011, 05:31:54 pm
content: I started to draw my own parts after an experience with the LM339 symbol that had the outputs for section a and B swapped, no matter what i did to change the pin numbers they kept reverting themselves. So i started my own symbols, bad enough having to route boards and link symbols to footprints, I can't face symbols with incorrect pins too

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 13, 2011, 07:05:39 pm
content: *** ALL (and any) EAGLE LIBRARIES **** WARNING: Check the converted library is correct, especially the component pads *This is by far the most useful resource I have found for KiCad libraries. It is a ULP (user language programme) to convert the vast range of libaries available in Eagle into Kicad libraries. Many 'maker-style' sites feature Eagle libraries of their components so this should be even more useful. I have attached the ULP here, but you can find the latest version here:http://www.cadsoftusa.com/cadsoft-downloads/under ULPs, filename eagle2kicad_sch.ulp.With some very basic knowledge of Eagle and Kicad you should be able to use this straight away. If you get stuck, post here.(I had to rename the file extension to .txt so I can upload it. It should be .ulp)

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2011, 10:43:15 pm
content: Thanks Alex. I will try the converter out.

author: Vasi
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2012, 07:57:40 pm
content: Another good source (even if is a little older) ishere.To have an idea, here is theauthor's gallery.

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 03:03:29 pm
content: Sorry to grave-digg this out, but I'm switching to KiCad and wanted to know, if there are RECENT libararies out there.I'm surprised, that even the libraries that come with KiCad frequently have this problem:

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 03:17:34 pm
content: Switching to kicad ? good luck. I gave up when it because clear that the only users who will ever be able to use it are the developers as they change stuff and offer no documentation and they develop so slow;y that project will soon be going backwards.

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 03:38:56 pm
content: Thank you, I just want to give it another fair change. I hear it has come a long way in the last two years, and I really like the idea of open sources. Circuit Maker is Cloud and doesn't run very well on Linux or in Virtual Boxes (same goes for Diptrace) and Eagle is slowly ding ever since farnell took over.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 04:34:35 pm
content: Quote from: con-f-use on July 13, 2015, 03:03:29 pmThe latest and greatest official libraries are on github:https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-libraryBTW, the official stable release on Windows, Linux and OS X is imminent.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 05:08:11 pm
content: KiCAD has come on a way since the last stable release, I do weekly updates from source on Windows, and it always seems to run fine, I have even made a few boards with a development release in May this year, no worries!Eagle isn't dying, the latest release 7.3 wasn't that long ago.As Bassman said, there is a new stable release in the next month or so.Libraries can be difficult sometimes to produce with a package, because there are so many,you can't tailor them all, which is why the likes of Altium have a footprint wizard built in, and you can also get these multi tool PCB library editors based on IPC, your best bet is to start creating your own libraries.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 05:41:02 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on July 13, 2015, 03:17:34 pmUsing a devel build are we?QuoteI'm notentirelysure what you call the "documentation" link here, from the home page, then:QuoteTell that to the hard-working pair from CERN who have developed a whole new routing enginewayfaster than I ever could...(Though I'll have to concede thatbeforethey came along, development was very slow. We're picking up the pace now!)

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 06:56:18 pm
content: Quote from: Wilksey on July 13, 2015, 05:08:11 pmBut they didn't add any significant features, they've been lacking. It's bascially the same program it was in 2009. Also they should offer an unlimited free version comparable to CircuitMaker.

author: twl
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 08:09:03 pm
content: Quote from: con-f-use on July 13, 2015, 06:56:18 pmMaybe they don't need to add more features to keep their clients. There's a large group of people that seem to be perfectly happy with what Eagle offers. Besides, Altium also hasn't added any important features to their software since Winter'09 edition...twl

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 08:11:39 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on July 13, 2015, 05:41:02 pmI know people put a lot of work in but after nearly two years and no official release I gave up, they used to come out every 6 months. I can use a software for comercial work that shows the unstable backing that kicad does, reluctantly I had to go and pay for diptrace.The autoplacer apparently was not put there to be used, just to make it look pretty. The last time I used the autorouter it ignored existing traces and crashed new ones into them, the thing was a joke.I have no intention of telling my employer one day that all the work I have done is brocken because some freeware software went by the by.It's just a mess, I need something that just works. Sorry but if they took a regular payment off me and produced quality software I'd not have a problem but the track record so far is it's unreliable unless your a poor hobbyist.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 08:17:07 pm
content: QuoteAs is the case with every autoplacer.QuoteFreerouting isn't part of KiCad, it's just a nice bonus thing that KiCad has support for. It's like saying Microsoft Word is bad because it can export to Wordperfect and you don't like Wordperfect.QuoteIf you don't like it because you're biased against FOSS, just come out and say that.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 08:23:21 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on July 13, 2015, 08:17:07 pmIf that stands for Free Open Source software then yes i very much like it, why shoudn't I ? but free cannot come at the cost of disaster. Just because it's here and supported today does not mean it will be tomorrow and i have to look to the future. I can't keep swapping backwards and forwards between software based on how the developers are getting on this year. Like I say I would happily donate to something that has a reasonable likelyhood of succeeding. After waiting of over a year for a new version with aknowledgements from developers that stuff needed fixing I gave up. I don't know what it has been like for the last year as I moved to kicad, like I said i can't keep swapping back and forth just because they made an effort this time.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 08:24:21 pm
content: I'll leave this here...https://giving.web.cern.ch/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=6

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 08:26:59 pm
content: That is good to see like i said I wated for nearly 2 years, and then had to jump as i had to start producing comercial work and at the time kicad was not up to it, so now i have a diptrace licence and a number of libraries already created that i rely on, do i ditch my investment and start doing libraries all over again ?I really hope they do make something good of it as diptrace does not progress that fast either but at least it's stable.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 08:31:45 pm
content: No, of course you don't ditch your investment - once you've spent a large amount of time setting up a development environment, it'sanotherlarge investment to switch to another.* Just don't keep talking trash about it because you don't like what it used to be. Neither do I, KiCad used to suck...*There's quite a bit of interest among some devs in creating importers for various formats, so that might not be true at some point in the future...

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 08:33:42 pm
content: Well I'm downloading it and lets see what it has to offer now. The last time i tried to use it the library management had been changed and complicated to such an extend it was unusable.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2015, 09:02:31 pm
content: For Eagle to be comparable to Circuit Maker it would have to go backwards and remove local file saving, at least they have a free version you can look at designs with.I have no issues using DipTrace, EAGLE or KICAD, all capable, DipTrace being the least capable in my opinion as there is no high speed, but there is a new version imminent apparently, so we will see what they come up with!

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 14, 2015, 07:08:29 am
content: Quote from: Simon on July 13, 2015, 08:33:42 pmChris Gammel, you hosts the AmpHour together with Dave, made an excellent primervideo series on KiCad. Without it I would have been very frustrated, but now I kinda like it. Make sure you use the OpenGL canvas, it's much much better.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2015, 09:01:15 pm
content: Quote from: miceuz on July 14, 2015, 08:53:38 pm+1 for those.Muchbetter than the kicad project's libraries.

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 14, 2015, 10:30:15 pm
content: Just to make it clear, I'm starting to like KiCad more and more. I think it is just as good as Eagle function wise. And that is without considering, that its free open source. It really is much better than two years ago. Thanks for your recommendations!Now, is there an easier way to download all the libraries fromhttp://smisioto.no-ip.org/elettronica/kicad/kicad-en.htmthan clicking them all?I overlooked the sentence about git:Code:git clone git://smisioto.eu/kicad_libs.git

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2015, 10:45:16 pm
content: Quote from: con-f-use on July 14, 2015, 10:30:15 pmCode:curl 'http://smisioto.no-ip.org/elettronica/kicad/kicad-en.htm' | grep 'href.*/library/' | sed 's%.*"\(.*\)".*%http://smisioto.no-ip.org\1%' | xargs -n 1 curl -Ofor i in *.zip; do unzip -o $i; doneQuote from: con-f-use on July 14, 2015, 10:30:15 pmHeh, didn't even know that was there.

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 14, 2015, 11:13:27 pm
content: Yes, I was thinking DownThemAll or wget. But since there was a git repository, I'm happy all the more.Now he only needs to implement the proper json file like in the official kicad library. Than KiCad will update his libraries from within and automatically.It's hard to believe just one guy did all this. What does he do for a living?

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2015, 12:30:45 pm
content: I just keep getting "unable to connect" when trying to connect to the GIT server. Resolves to 5.135.150.178, anyone else getting this error?

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2015, 12:38:19 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on July 14, 2015, 10:45:16 pm+1 for thisAlso, run the command again replacing "library" with "modules" for the PCB footprints.

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 15, 2015, 02:30:54 pm
content: Quote from: Wilksey on July 15, 2015, 12:30:45 pmWorked fine for me yesterday on three different computers. The website also gives a subversion repository, but I guess you don't need it anymore.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2015, 03:54:11 pm
content: hmm, odd, the website works, but I tried 2 diff machines on different networks and both times said could not connect.It doesn't matter much, I managed to download them using the script, but wasn't sure if it was just me, i'll try again later on another machine on another different network to see if was just having a funny 5 minutes.Cheers

author: BloodyCactus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2015, 04:42:41 pm
content: if your doing it through work, and are on windows, you may need to set your http_proxy environment variable for the cmdline tools (I know its something I have to do here at my work with shitty cmd.exe or curl+git etc wont get out my company proxy)

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2015, 08:54:04 pm
content: Hi BloodyCactus, I tried it at work and through a remote machine I have, which is just on a standard ADSL line, with nothing else, I have full control over the firewall etc, tried it under Windows and Linux, same result.Will try it again tomorrow on a 3rd Machine.

author: timofonic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2015, 12:59:21 am
content: Quote from: c4757p on July 14, 2015, 09:01:15 pmWhat about merging them with the Kicad libs? What about inviting him to be a maintainer too?

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2015, 10:42:45 am
content: Just tried on a 3rd machine on another different ADSL connection and it just says unable to connect, odd.

author: timofonic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2015, 10:57:46 am
content: I used...QuoteAnd got all them.It seems these days some Walter Lain's libraries are being merged in official KiCad repository. Are there some merging plan and some statistics about what needs to be merged?

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2015, 07:11:49 pm
content: Noob question;The .mod files fromhttp://www.kicadlib.org/are compressed, what is the tool to "unzip" them?.mod also being a video standard, it's hard to find anything Kicad relevant.Cheers!

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2015, 07:15:40 pm
content: Compressed? Are you sure? Can you attach or link one so we can see it? I'm not sure what you mean.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2015, 07:19:27 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on October 24, 2015, 07:15:40 pmwww.kicadlib.org/modules/YT_Potentiometres.mod.zipOr is this resource too old (2012) and I should be looking somewhere else?

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2015, 07:23:24 pm
content: Well, it's in a ZIP file, you can just open that with anything that supports ZIP. Windows and OS X will handle that natively and any Linux distro worth anything will too.Or do you mean the actual .mod fileinside? That file is fine, there's nothing wrong with it at all.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2015, 07:32:26 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on October 24, 2015, 07:23:24 pmThe .mod and .mdc file does not show up when I try to import it through the library. This is the method I used:https://code.google.com/p/opendous/wiki/KiCADTutorialAddingLibrariesIt only allows for .lib files, not .something... (7zip shows the .mod as being 97% compressed, hence me trying to open it to get the .lib out of it)I'm probably not seeing something obvious - BTW, this is using V4.0.0 if that's any help.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2015, 02:58:32 am
content: Quote from: gildasd on October 24, 2015, 07:32:26 pm.mod files are the old format for PCB footprints (formerly called "modules"). The new format is called "pretty." The footprint libraries are actually directories, so for instance in my ~/Library/Application Support/kicad/modules directory I have directories called asp_connector.pretty, asp_ic.pretty, and so forth. In each directory are the individual footprint files, which have the extension .kicad_mod. Thus I have in my asp_ic.pretty directory a file called SO-8.kicad_mod.The point of all of this is that while Kicad still supports that old format, if you want to use community libraries you should consider using the github libraries which are actively maintained. Start here:http://docs.kicad-pcb.org/en/pcbnew.html#_managing_footprint_libraries_pretty_repositories

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2015, 03:30:03 pm
content: Thanks!

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 31, 2015, 06:03:50 am
content: smisioto has a lot of nice footprints and models, but I'm not a huge fan of putting silkscreen on pads and a lot of those footprints do this. Easily cleaned up, but still... why do it in the first place? The 0805 resistor footprint for instance has silkscreen lines across boths pads!Am I missing something?!

author: ElektroQuark
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 31, 2015, 06:51:04 am
content: I have a little library.You can check it in my blog. See signature.

author: timofonic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2015, 06:08:17 pm
content: Quote from: bson on October 31, 2015, 06:03:50 amI'm not sure about that, I'm a newbie.But many smisioto stuff is getting progressively merged into the official KiCad libraries, that's good.

author: splin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2016, 02:21:46 am
content: My ISP (Virgin) is blocking this site with a VirusSafe warning. Scanning the URL withhttps://www.virustotal.com1 out of 68 scanners, Sophos, is reporting it as a malicous site. Does anyone know if this is, or is likely to be, a false positive? It was previously scanned 5 months ago with the same result.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2016, 09:43:40 am
content: I did download all of these libraries and footprints July last year ('15), I didn't bother with the 3D models as I only use 3D to look at the bare board.If it would help I can upload them as a single ZIP to a file sharing site for people to download?Or, if you PM me your private email I can send the zip file direct to your email (2.7MB)

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2016, 10:08:51 am
content: I bet it is a false positive due the no-ip.org part of the address.Alexander.

author: splin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2016, 02:57:44 pm
content: Quote from: Wilksey on July 25, 2016, 09:43:40 amThanks for the offer but I can't suggest a suitable file sharing site. I agree with Alexander that it's very likely a false positive and will ignore the warning but if it doesn't work I might take you up on the offer!

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2016, 03:11:33 pm
content: I have them uploaded to Mega, mainly so I could download them on other machines without having to run my script, so if you want the Mega link just shout!

author: splin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2016, 05:54:49 pm
content: Quote from: Wilksey on July 25, 2016, 03:11:33 pmOK. YES PLEASE! (You did say shout!). It looks like that will be easier than working round my ISP blocking.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2016, 10:36:42 am
content: Ok, i'll PM you the link as I don't know what the rules are (and i'm too lazy to look them up) regarding posting file sharing links.

author: splin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2016, 10:49:47 pm
content: Quote from: Wilksey on July 26, 2016, 10:36:42 amThanks, much appreciated.So the question now is how to organise the libraries. I'm just starting with KICAD (and PCB layout) and it would help if there are any tutorials or resources the someone could point me to. There are a of lot of youtube tutorials and it would take ages to go through them and it doesn't help that those I have looked at don't usually state which version of KICAD is being used.It seems there are a number of opinions on how to manage libraries, some suggest creating everything yourself, others say you should copy anything you use into your own libraries whilst others are happy to use existing libraries, copying some parts into private libraries as needed.It doesn't look like the UI allows libraries to be organised hierarchically such as discrete/capacitors/electrolytic and digital/microcontrollers/STM/STM32F3 etc. Is this possible or is it likely to be added in a future release?

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2016, 09:05:54 pm
content: I think someone created a library manager for KiCad, can't recall though.I tend to copy everything into a projects' library, I have a "master" library of proven footprints, including KiCad's own, I don't put anything in there until i've tested it and tried it in the real world.KiCad will create a cache of the components used in the project.That's the way I do it anyways!

author: splin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 28, 2016, 10:17:52 pm
content: Quote from: Wilksey on July 27, 2016, 09:05:54 pmThat sounds sensible - I guess it means that when you give your project to someone, or come back to it later, they get the exact symbols and footprints you used originally.I found a KICAD roadmap which appears to address my question about hierarchical libraries:http://kicad-source-mirror.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Documentation/development/road-map-r5/#v5_re_search_controlQuoteAt least I assume that means you will be able to organise your libraries into multiple levels. I'm surprised I haven't seen more (or indeed any) complaints (so far) about only having one level as it can make it very to find anything. I guess with experience you get to know where all the common parts that you use are.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2016, 01:09:50 pm
content: Yes, that coupled with the search.As I said, I tend to make a project library that has everything in for the project, that way it doesn't matter what libraries change / get installed on my machine I will always have what is required for that project, should anyone else take the baton.So I guess I don't really notice the issues as much.

author: technotronix
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2016, 12:55:39 pm
content: Thanks for sharing library information. This is really helpful and saved my time.