Hi Clas- We merged your branch with a number of our fixes to remove a lot of the AI-cruft and add support for features like older schematics, NCs, occurrence-based refdes, flat schematics, OLB libraries, etc.
If you would like to make additional changes to the current status, I highly recommend creating small, directed MRs in GitLab. Many thanks for jump starting this work. Seth Seth Hillbrand *Lead Developer* +1-530-302-5483 Long Beach, CA www.kipro-pcb.com [email protected] On Tue, Jul 21, 2026 at 9:35 AM Clas Sivertsen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Seth and KiCad devs, > The schematics part of this importer has flawlessly imported 800+ designs > i have done over the years in OrCad including the symbols, but have some > artifacts still when importing the allegro .brd files, which i am going > through and fixing. Cross probing works, but ther are still a few things i > need to fix, so i am working on that to make it as perfect as possible. > > I have implemented this as a native importer, so the Orcad2Kicad is > different, and what i am working on is both for schematics and board files. > > I need another week or so to complete it as i have downloaded all of the > TI reference designs that have both .dsn and .brd files that i am using as > a batch testing environment, and comparing the outputs to the native > allegro .brd layer exporter for comparison, for every pass it gets better ! > ... almost there :) > > Clas > > On Tue, Jul 14, 2026 at 4:17 AM José Angelo Amado <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Hello, Clas Sivertsen, >> >> I downloaded your GitHub file. >> >> Please let me know if installing your "Orcad2Kicad Converter" will affect >> the existing KiCad 10 installation on my desktop, or if they are >> independent. >> >> Thanks, >> >> Angelo. >> >> Em seg., 13 de jul. de 2026 às 15:16, José Angelo Amado < >> [email protected]> escreveu: >> >>> Hello Clas Sivertsen, I am very glad you developed such a translator I >>> asked to Kicad team to provide us. >>> >>> I will check it >>> >>> Best regards, >>> >>> Angelo - Brazil >>> >>> Em dom., 12 de jul. de 2026 às 23:50, Reena Mike <[email protected]> >>> escreveu: >>> >>>> Hi, >>>> >>>> Just checking, are you interested in acquiring the list of attendees? >>>> Please respond to my email. I'm waiting for your response. >>>> >>>> Thank You. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> *From:* 'Seth Hillbrand' via KiCad Developers <[email protected]> >>>> *Sent:* Monday, July 13, 2026 7:16 AM >>>> *To:* KiCad Developers <[email protected]> >>>> *Subject:* Re: [kicad] Proposal: native OrCAD Capture (.DSN) schematic >>>> importer >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Hi Clas, >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Thank you for your work on this project. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Please open an MR on gitlab and we'll review it. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Please let me know if any of the corpus is available for us to use in >>>> our verification >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Best, >>>> >>>> Seth >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Seth Hillbrand >>>> >>>> *Lead Developer* >>>> >>>> +1-530-302-5483 >>>> >>>> Long Beach, CA >>>> >>>> www.kipro-pcb.com [email protected] >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 12:34 PM Clas Sivertsen <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Hello KiCad developers, >>>> >>>> I'm an electronics engineer and PCB designer who has been working a lot >>>> in OrCAD and allegro, but have been transitioning more and more to KiCad. >>>> Since i have many hundreds of designs already done in OrCad, and especially >>>> often get reference designs in OrCad format, i have been working on a >>>> Windows app that converts them to KiCad. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Thus, i was thinking this would be a nice contribution to make this app >>>> into an import option for KiCad so i used Claude with the latest Fable 5 to >>>> turn my app into an import option in KiCad. Before i submitted the code for >>>> this, i ran the app on some 800+ .dsn files i had accumulated on my >>>> computer over the years, and i have fixed all issues i could notice. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> How it was validated >>>> -------------------- >>>> I checked correctness by exporting the imported netlist with kicad-cli >>>> and >>>> comparing named-net pin membership against OrCAD's own stored net >>>> tables. I ran >>>> this across a corpus of 815 real-world designs (OrCAD releases spanning >>>> ~1995–2026): all import without crashing, and on modern flat/multi-page >>>> designs >>>> the net membership matches. Hierarchical designs currently import >>>> flattened >>>> (with warnings); pre-2003 files are rejected with a clear message. >>>> Every page >>>> also loads and plots in the current master build. >>>> >>>> Prior art / relationship to existing work >>>> ------------------------------------------ >>>> Format knowledge derives from the MIT-licensed OpenOrCadParser project >>>> plus my >>>> own reverse engineering. I'm aware of the draft MR !1963 by Werni2A >>>> adding an >>>> OrCAD Library (.OLB) importer — this schematic (.DSN) importer is >>>> complementary >>>> to that effort, and both build on OpenOrCadParser. >>>> >>>> Disclosure: AI assistance >>>> ------------------------- >>>> In line with KiCad's tool-generated-content policy, I want to be >>>> transparent up >>>> front. The OrCAD .DSN format reverse-engineering, the validation corpus >>>> and >>>> methodology, and all the scope and design decisions are mine. The code >>>> itself — >>>> both the original standalone converter and this C++ port into KiCad — >>>> was >>>> written with an AI coding assistant (Anthropic's Claude Code) under my >>>> direction, and I iterated on it against the ~815-design corpus until it >>>> was >>>> correct. I've reviewed and validated the result and I take full >>>> responsibility >>>> for the code and its maintenance. >>>> >>>> The branch is on my fork here for reference: >>>> https://gitlab.com/TaipeiViking/kicad/-/tree/orcad-schematic-importer >>>> >>>> Thanks for taking a look — I'd welcome any guidance before I raise the >>>> MR. >>>> >>>> Next, i am working on AI driven auto place and route that i would like >>>> to also contribute in the future. >>>> >>>> >>>> Best, >>>> Clas Sivertsen, Taipei Taiwan >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "KiCad Developers" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/4e1974b0-3542-41f5-a0dd-a68eac0ea96bn%40kicad.org >>>> <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/4e1974b0-3542-41f5-a0dd-a68eac0ea96bn%40kicad.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "KiCad Developers" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAFdeG-r2j6oGQ-2WawmHXDZKDw31VLtf3n890g-EswxTXiCJyw%40mail.gmail.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAFdeG-r2j6oGQ-2WawmHXDZKDw31VLtf3n890g-EswxTXiCJyw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "KiCad Developers" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/GV2PR09MB8659D877C97BF459A47DAE36ABFA2%40GV2PR09MB8659.eurprd09.prod.outlook.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/GV2PR09MB8659D877C97BF459A47DAE36ABFA2%40GV2PR09MB8659.eurprd09.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> José Angelo Amado >>> +55 (61) 9 9531 9090 >>> >>> >> >> -- >> José Angelo Amado >> +55 (61) 9 9531 9090 >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >> Google Groups "KiCad Developers" group. >> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/topic/devlist/W7DqTJTiXjs/unsubscribe >> . >> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >> [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAKEMbCyWiDC1OkfuTBkv8drv5ej%2BW6OryW0PmN%3DJByXZ6a-XwA%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CAKEMbCyWiDC1OkfuTBkv8drv5ej%2BW6OryW0PmN%3DJByXZ6a-XwA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "KiCad Developers" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CACxSV%3D6PsC14HKgxfAJb1meH%3DkYx5Ga05M0S-Hb8WtN5cEEe4w%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/a/kicad.org/d/msgid/devlist/CACxSV%3D6PsC14HKgxfAJb1meH%3DkYx5Ga05M0S-Hb8WtN5cEEe4w%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "KiCad Developers" group. 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