Kicad for OS X nightly builds are up! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2015, 11:52:21 pm
content: See here:http://downloads.kicad-pcb.org/osx/

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2015, 02:30:19 am
content: That's great. Thanks for sharing.

author: Tandy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2015, 04:25:09 pm
content: +1 have been waiting for Mac builds for a while.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2015, 03:18:22 am
content: What are the 'extra' files?Edit: I played with it for 15 minutes or so and no crash. The UI is a major improvement over Eagle. Still buggy though. For example in the footprint editor, selecting from the zoom pull down list with the mouse doesn't work, or, when I move a pad the old pad image is not deleted (a redraw fixes that). I will spend more time learning it even if it's not ready yet for actual switch from Eagle.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2015, 04:26:07 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on February 24, 2015, 03:18:22 amFrom README:QuoteIn other words: kicad.dmg has the application and the symbol libraries. It uses github as the source of the footprint libraries.kicad-extras.dmg has all of the footprints included, so you don't have to use the github repository as the footprint source.At some point, you progress past using the provided libraries and you make your own.QuoteReporting bugs helps!https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+filebug

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2015, 06:01:09 pm
content: Thanks Bassman. I will give the extra a try and see if it makes a difference.I went through Contxtual Electronic's Kicad tutorial videos. The transition from schema to layout goes through manual import of the netlist (why?). How does it work, are changes in the layout (e.g. name change) propagated back to the schema? What about future schema changes, do I still need to reimport? Will it preserve the existing partial layout?15 years ago I used to to manual netlist import from Orcad to Protel but I guess I got spoiled by eagles's automatic bidirectional sync between the schema and the layout.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2015, 12:55:26 am
content: Quote from: zapta on February 25, 2015, 06:01:09 pmBecause that's the way it is. A lot of ECAD tools were like that, because the schematic and layout programs were separate. From the schematic, you generate a netlist, and you import that netlist into the layout program.I use Altium at the day job, and that's still basically what happens, although it's done behind your back. You choose "Compile PCB Project," let it run and build its netlist, and then you do "Update PCB Document" and you go through the whole ECO thing before the netlist opens in the layout.QuoteUnfortunately, there is no back-annotation from pcbnew to eeschema. You can't edit the netlist in pcbnew (for instance if you were changing FPGA pin assignments), but I suppose that most users would just go back to the schematic, make the change, then generate the new netlist and re-import it into pcbnew.What I would love to see in Kicad (and I've thought about doing this in Python but I need to really understand the PCB document format first) is to update the reference designators in pcbnew geographically and then back-annotate that to the schematic. (Technicians hate randomly-ordered ref-deses.) I know it's on the wish-list but it's not a priority.QuoteYes, any time you make a change to the schematic, you need to generate a new netlist and import that into the layout. And yes, your existing layout is preserved. The netlist-import dialog has some options, such as whether to change or preserve existing footprints, what to do about unconnected nets, and so forth.QuoteThat is on the list of desired features ... everyone wants it.You do know that if you have your schematic and your layout open at the same time, when you click on something in the schematic the layout zooms to that part, and the converse?