Re: [kicad-users] Re: KiCAD Parts Repo
On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 10:26 AM, Bernd Wiebus bernd.wie...@gmx.de wrote: So it would be sane to storage all used footprints separate and not touch them without warning. But a plugin for importing, exporting and managing symbols, footprints and perhaps databases connectioning them would be convenient and a great thing. :-) I agree. but management should be automated I think the way to make it work is to think of the local storage is a cache for an on-line library. A user then would not explicitly import a symbol. If he used an on-line symbol then automatically that symbol is copied to the local storage. Later if the on-line symbol is changed he is asked if the symbol should be updated. The software would be shipped and installed with a good symbol set preloaded in cache. -- = Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California
Re: [kicad-users] multilayer pcb houses...
I've had a couple of boards made at http://www.seeed.com only 2 layer, but they do manufacture up to 8 layer I believe. Chris On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 5:41 AM, mike m...@pikeaero.com wrote: Looking for advise on a pcb house that does multilayer (4) prototypes at very low cost. Thanks! --Mike -- IBA #15631
Re: [kicad-users] How to select manual route behavior?
From my albeit limited experience, as I have only done 3 boards, it depends on which direction you go from the pad. If you go straight out from the pad, the trace will be straigh out until you change direction, if you leave the pad at an angle, the trace will be at an angle. Chris On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 6:22 AM, s_borshch sb...@users.sourceforge.netwrote: Hello everybody. When placing trace from pad sometimes trace goes straight and then turns at 45 degrees and sometimes trace goes first at 45 degrees and then straight. I have no ideas how pcbnew selects one or other behavior. But the question is: is there any hotkey or other way to change behavior on-the-fly, during placing trace. Regards, Sergey -- IBA #15631
Re: [kicad-users] Freerouter assistance
I just gave up, as it wasn't routing anything on a pass, so I finished routing by hand back in pcbNew. It seemed easier to do it there than in Freeroute. Chris On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 3:58 AM, Robert birmingham_spi...@gmx.net wrote: Keep an eye on it and watch to see if it's seemingly not making progress. In particular watch the figures down at the bottom of the window to see if it's entirely failing to route nets. If it does get stuck its worth looking to see what it has got stuck on, as I recently saw it get stuck for a very long time on two tracks that I was able to route manually (with FreeRouter) in a couple of minutes. Regards, Robert. Chris wrote: I created and routed a board recently using Freeroute and it did a great job, however, I got three of the footprints misaligned, (TO-92 package) and now I am trying to Autoroute it again, and Freeroute is having a very hard time, I left it running overnight and it still had a lot of traces to route. How many passes should I let it run before trying to re-arrange the components to try to make it easier for Freeroute? Thanks Chris -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.709 / Virus Database: 270.14.87/2535 - Release Date: 11/29/09 19:31:00 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.709 / Virus Database: 270.14.87/2535 - Release Date: 11/29/09 19:31:00 -- IBA #15631
[kicad-users] Freerouter assistance
I created and routed a board recently using Freeroute and it did a great job, however, I got three of the footprints misaligned, (TO-92 package) and now I am trying to Autoroute it again, and Freeroute is having a very hard time, I left it running overnight and it still had a lot of traces to route. How many passes should I let it run before trying to re-arrange the components to try to make it easier for Freeroute? Thanks Chris -- IBA #15631
Re: [kicad-users] Exporting from Eeschema to PCBNew
When you press the 'run pcbnew' button, it tries to open up a file with the same name as your schematic, but as you haven't created it yet, it can't find it. However, when you start to create your board in pcbNew and then save it, your file will then exist. Chris On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 9:49 PM, juliorz juli...@bellsouth.net wrote: I completed a schematic but I can not figure out how to communicate with PCBNew so that it will have access to the schematic. The PCBNew import function is expecting a schematic with a *.SES extension. When I am inside Eeschema the only save option that I have is *.SCH extension. I can press a button called “run PCBNew” but PCBNew will load and complaint that it can not find my file. What do I do??? -- IBA #15631
Re: [kicad-users] What open source Linux with a GUI would be nice analog simulator do you sugjest?
If you insist on a GUI, the only real choice is Qucs. I'd agree with that wholeheartedly. Although like much Open Source SW, QUCS is a work in progress, it's already more versatile than most variants of SPICE. In my work as an RF circuit designer, I've found it very powerful, and have almost ceased using a well known piece of RF/microwave analysis/synthesis software in favour of it. The only feature I currently miss is the ability to run harmonic balance sims. properly. In my limited experience, simulation of normal analogue and mixed analogue/digital circuitry works as well as most expensive mixed mode SPICEs and better than some of the cheap ones. It has always struck me that as the QUCS development team have the integration of schematic capture and PCB layout in their roadmap, it would be worth the Kicad development team looking to see if the two packages could be integrated. Incidentally, AFAIK SPICE isn't Open Source. Unless something has changed in the last couple of years, copyright for the core SPICE source code is held be the University of California, Berkley. Chris Bartram
Re: [kicad-users] Support file locations under OS X
On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 3:12 AM, susanmackay99 susanmac...@optusnet.com.au wrote: Is there a default place where support files are expected to be found under OS X? You want to put everything you can inside the app bundel. The goal is to make the application self contained. Nut if the support files are very large or if they are shared between applications then they could go in (from memory, so I'm likely on 100% accurate) library/applications-support or in the user's home directory inside folder by the same name. On a system with multiple login accounts some data that can change for each user such as a preferences file and an un-do file need to go in the user's $home but system wide data needs to go to a system wide place A good example is to look at how Logic or Garage band works. The samples for a grand piano sound are system wide but selection of a default tempo is for each user to select. It's best to follow Apple's example on this. -- = Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California
Re: [kicad-users] DGND and AGND How do I connect them, but keep them separate?
When I had this issue, I used a 0 ohm resistor just so that I could schematically keep them separate. Chris On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 4:22 PM, Rob Frohne rob.fro...@wallawalla.eduwrote: Hi, I have a separate digital and analog power supply system, and want to keep the digital ground and analog ground separate, except at the power supply connection. How do I do this? Thanks, Rob -- Rob Frohne, Ph.D., P.E. E.F. Cross School of Engineering Walla Walla University 100 SW 4th Street College Place, WA 99324 (509) 527-2075 http://people.wallawalla.edu/~Rob.Frohne/http://people.wallawalla.edu/%7ERob.Frohne/ -- IBA #15631
Re: [kicad-users] ERC problem
Thanks Pedro, that was easy :) Chris On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 5:50 AM, Pedro Martin pki...@yahoo.es wrote: Hi, Redo annotate and select keep existing annotation. It will annotate al the #PWR. Pedro. Hello All, I am trying to do an ERC check on my schematic, but unfortunately when I run it, I get a dialog box open up with the following message Item not annotated: #PWR I have placed PWR flags on all the power and ground nets. I generated an ERC report, but there was nothing to check, searching for markers doesn't tell me anything and no markers are visible on the schematic. What do I look for? Thanks Chris -- IBA #15631 -- IBA #15631
[kicad-users] ERC problem
Hello All, I am trying to do an ERC check on my schematic, but unfortunately when I run it, I get a dialog box open up with the following message Item not annotated: #PWR I have placed PWR flags on all the power and ground nets. I generated an ERC report, but there was nothing to check, searching for markers doesn't tell me anything and no markers are visible on the schematic. What do I look for? Thanks Chris -- IBA #15631
Re: [kicad-users] AVR Libraries
Are these any good? http://per.launay.free.fr/kicad/kicad_php/composant.php On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 3:23 PM, dallypost dallyp...@yahoo.com wrote: Just switched from GEDA (very non-intuitive), hope it was a good move. I use Atmel's AVR microprocessors and was surprised that there is no library for these. Is there a third party library? Thanks -- IBA #15631
[kicad-users] Placing wires
Hello All, Is there a setting anywhere in EEschema to enable wires to be placed at an angle, instead of vertical or horizontal? There are some circumstances, where this would be desirable, such as in a flip-flop made from two gates. Thanks Chris -- IBA #15631
Re: [kicad-users] Re: Feature request: Hard metric
Actually, the correct terminology is Imperial units, not English. And mils is actually a unit of angle. the correct terminology for 1/1000 of an inch is thousandth or thou. On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 1:30 PM, Dan dan...@wolstenholme.net wrote: Not true. I'm an American engineer, and I prefer English units for certain applications (and metric for others). 1) The proper name is English units. It has nothing to do with the present practices of England, the country; that's where they originated from, so that's what they're called. They're not Roman units (how ridiculous), because the Romans didn't have inches. This is just like how the English language is called English, even though the way it's spoken in places like the USA and India is very, very different from the way it's spoken in England presently. 2) English units are more convenient for some things, such as temperature (when relating to humans, like for setting your thermostat, not when doing calculations in a lab). The Fahrenheit scale is better scaled for the human range of temperature, and doesn't require messing with fractional units the way Celcius does. The Fahrenheit thermostats in our homes are in whole degrees only, because a half-degree of precision is pointless in Fahrenheit since humans can't really tell the difference. But half-degrees in Celcius thermostats are necessary because humans certainly can tell the difference there (being about equivalent to a whole Fahrenheit degree). 3) It's funny how UK residents like to claim they don't use English units any more, when in fact they do: the talk about speed in miles per hour, and they order beer in pints, and they relate their body weight in stones (whatever those are), not kilos. This isn't much different than the USA, where people's speedometers are in MPH, their weight in pounds, etc., but when they go into a science lab, everything is in metric. Metric proponents talk about how useful it is to be able to convert between units so easily with metric, like converting kilos and meters to Newtons or whatever, but what they're missing is that most people don't do this! No one is going to step on the scale, read their weight, and then need to convert that into a torque or force. No one wants to read their home temperature on their thermostat and then calculate thermal energy. There's a big difference between what regular people do in their daily lives, and what scientists and engineers do for work. That's why even here in the USA, most scientists and engineers (esp. scientists) work with metric units at work, and then go home and set their thermostat in Fahrenheit and read their weight in pounds, and don't have a big problem with this discrepancy. 4) Inches (or more importantly, mils) are still pretty useful in PCB design. It's easy to remember things like 8 mil minimum track width, 20 mil track-to-board-edge spacing, etc. Also, many many components are designed in mils: most chips have pin spacing in mils: 100 mils for DIP chips, 50 mils for SOIC, 25 mils for TQFP, etc. However, more and more components are showing up in metric, and that is annoying with Kicad since it doesn't have hard metric; instead of .1mm spacing, I have to choose .1056644353 or whatever. This really needs to be fixed; I should be able to lay out a PCB with both English and metric components without so much slop on the metric ones. Why does Kicad even have this soft-metric thing? If I want English, I'll select English. If I select mm, that means I'm working with a part designed in metric, and I need metric. Dan --- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com kicad-users%40yahoogroups.com, al davis a...@... wrote: On Thursday 09 July 2009, Robert wrote: America is the last country in the world where engineers prefer to use them. American engineers don't prefer traditional units. It's the non-engineers. -- IBA #15631
Re: [kicad-users] Re: Feature request: Hard metric
Dan wrote: 1) The proper name is English units. It has nothing to do with the present practices of England, the country; that's where they originated from, so that's what they're called. They're not Roman units (how ridiculous), because the Romans didn't have inches. This is just like how the English language is called English, even though the way it's spoken in places like the USA and India is very, very different from the way it's spoken in England presently. In the UK, the units Dan is talking about are properly known as 'Imperial' units... While nearly all countries have some customary units, in most cases (including, I understand the US) these are related by local law to the internationally agreed SI units. I'm quite fond of my (Imperial) pint (568ml) and some of my Swedish friends still think informally in term of 'thumbs' (1 thumb ~ 25mm) and Swedish miles: ~10km IIRC. Incidentally, the Romans did have inches. Known as 'unica' in Latin, they equated quite closely to the 'imperial' inch at about 24.5mm. What _is_ different about the US is that quite a lot of engineering is still done in customary units which have become obsolescent in the rest of the world. Best wishes Chris Bartram in Wales/ yn Nghymru - not in England!
Re: [kicad-users] Re: Feature request: Hard metric
You hit the nail on the head 'In the United States'... I have always used thousandth or thou, and I grew up in England. where the dimension was probably first used. However, it's kind of ironic, that in the US, the prefix 'mil' is used, since the _preferred_ SI units are all magnitudes of three... and hence why milli is used more often than deci or centi. Chris On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:14 PM, Dan dan...@wolstenholme.net wrote: No, the correct terminology for 1/1000 of an inch is mil. There's countless PCB manufacturers who agree with me on this, so I'll take their word on it. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou_(length) According to this, mil is the older term, and was only replaced in some places by thou when the SI system came about, because of possible confusion with millimeters. But mil is still in widespread use. From the article: In the United States, the mil/thou is still in use extensively in certain industries such as in the manufacture of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and for tolerance specifications on hydraulic cylinders. Apparently, the PCB industry hasn't adopted thou, since every time I look at some Chinese PCB maker's website, they use mils. Dan --- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com kicad-users%40yahoogroups.com, Chris fj1...@... wrote: Actually, the correct terminology is Imperial units, not English. And mils is actually a unit of angle. the correct terminology for 1/1000 of an inch is thousandth or thou. -- IBA #15631
[kicad-users] SPICE Integration
Conn Clark wrote: I personally would like to see kicad merge with qucs . Qucs is a very easy to use simulator that is quite powerful. While appreciating the problems involved integrating the two pieces of software, it could be useful, at least in theory, to have some integration with QUCS. It would certainly be silly to duplicate the incredible effort which has gone into making KiCAD such a good tool within the QUCS group. I use both QUCS and KiCAD in preference to some well regarded proprietary software (for which I have licences!) in my work as an RF/Microwave circuit designer. QUCS is a better tool than SPICE - at least for me. At high frequencies, realistic simulation schematics often bear little resemblance to the schematic from which the PCB is derived! I often find close integration of PCB layout/schematic capture software with simulation tools less than useful! To make matters even more difficult, proper co-simulation would require at least a planar electromagnetics simulator. Although one is apparently planned for QUCS, the roadmap doesn't show any real activity, yet. I'd find the addition to KiCAD of a simple 2D mechanical drafting program, or at least the ability to seamlessly import and export *.DXF of *.DWG files of both schematics and PCB layouts. Best wishes Chris
[kicad-users] PADS Conversion?
I've been a very satisfied user of KiCAD for a few years, and I've had few problems with clients accepting output in Gerber format. A few have even installed KiCAD and now use it. I have a potential job which involves working with a client who uses PADS and wants to be able to read my outputs at a lower level. Has anyone written any conversion software? Best wishes Chris Bartram
Re: [kicad-users] How to install freerouter without an internet conection.
Have you tried downloading it and then putting it on a USB flash drive and then give him the flash drive. You will also need a copy of Java if he doesn't already have it. Chris On 11/28/08, Mauro Antivero [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: My friend doesn't have an internet conection but he wants to use freerouter with KiCAD. How can he download freerouter in some place and then install in his house? With an internet conection is very simple because you only need to download one file (freerouter.jnlp) and then the program installs automatically. Any ideas? Thanks a lot. -- IBA #15631
[kicad-users] New user with question
Hi All, Just found out about Kicad so I am trying it out. I created a schematic for a project I am working on, and ran the ERC, cvpcb etc, and created the netlist. and all seemed to go well. When I ran pcbnew, I placed all the components but notice that 3 of the components on the board have no rats nest wires on them, even though they show very nicely on the schematic. Another thing I noticed was that of those 3 devices, 2 have been specified as TO-220 package, but on the pcd layout, they appear as a TO-92 package. Is this a known issue, or could I have done something wrong somehow. Thanks Chris -- IBA #15631
[kicad-users] IC SMD package SSOP-20 for MAX4545
Hi Does anybody have a SSOP-20 footprint (.mod file) for the MAX4545 (http://datasheets.maxim-ic.com/en/ds/MAX4545-MAX4547.pdf)? I am a KiCad newbie and learn now this great software, but the use of the module editor is not a beginner stuff... :-( Please help me. Best regards Chris http://home.pages.at/chirt/EHW.htm chirt[AT]home.pages.at
Re: [kicad-users] Re: How to save in JPG for instance ?
Running Kicad under Linux, I print the image (Schematic or board) as a Postscript file and import it into the Gimp. That gives the opportunity to convert into a large number of graphical file formats. My personal wish list as far as graphical exports from Kicad are concerned would be to have would be to have simple routes to JPG (or PNG), to DXF or DWG, and to PDF. I have it in my mind that there might be a file converter script to DXF, but if I ever had a note of where it's located, I can't find it now. Can anyone help. Best wishes from Wales. Chris
[kicad-users] Spirals and Curves
As an RF microwave circuit designer, I frequently need to make transmission-line components. My current workaround in Kicad is to make curves and spirals as components in the module editor, but that can be rather time-consuming. The experimental microwave component layout facility in PCBNEW is very useful, and it would be good to see a few other microstrip/stripline components in that section. I'd offer to contribute, but my congenital (in)ability to write code has been known to reduce software engineers to tears... Best wishes Chris
Re: [kicad-users] Re: EDIF TO KICAD TRANSLATOR
Frank, This is exactly what I thought was needed. As I see it now the Open Source EDA world is to fragmented. If the programs could share design files it would help a lot. But I guess I don't need to tell you this. I did not know there was an EDIF would you happen to have a pointer the some specs? What can EDIF hold? schematics,PCB layouts, Foot prints? I may want to use this and maybe contribute.Have you seen the gEDA progrect's netlist translator? On Nov 20, 2007 8:05 AM, Frank Bennett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi There is an (EDIF) parser which allows exports from one EDA schematic capture system (such as OrCad) for import into another (such as KiCad) on the site http://sourceforge.net/projects/edif2kicad. I downloaded .. -- = Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California
Re: [kicad-users] Re: Creating an interface to FreeRouting
I own PADS, OrCAD and SPECCTRA so I have yet to play with KiCAD yet. Also, I see the only Serious Business Platform as Win32. Support of multiple OS is like a bubble sort, as you increase the number of OS the effert goes up as a power. If you go with windows only you loose all of the developers unless you pay them. Very few will work on Windows for free. It's actually very easy to make portable multi-platform code One way to seriously speed up Kicad development is to leverage the efforts of other Open Source electronic design software. Let's say the a sophisticated design rule checker gets written for the gEDA project. Wouldn't it be nice if it could check Kicad projects? An expedient way to make this happen is with netlist translators. A better way would be to come up with a common format for netlists. This is the way to go. As of now the Open Source EDA community is split between three or four projects. About paying programmers. Some hobbyists will work for $100. No profesional would. not unless he swaps hats at night. There are project that offer bounties for features but I'm but sure those small suns help much. But there are many, many examples of open source moving very quickly once some one hires a programer and puts him on salary. This gives him what he needs which is TIME. If I'm working 50+ hours a week at work writing code. Offering my $200 to work more is not going to work because there is no time. Look at the big Open Source projects. All of them have programmers on salary. -- = Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California
Re: [kicad-users] Installing KiCAD on PCLinuxOS 2007
On 11/5/07, calvingrier [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd like to build it from the source, but can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. KiCAD doesn't follow the normal ConfigureMake- instalInstall routine. Help! I need a nice Linux Guru to help me out. I'm stuck using Win32 on a laptop. :-( So what's the problem. You run one of the Makefiles then your get an eror of some kind? What's the error? -- = Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California
Re: [kicad-users] KiCad in RH9
--- John Doe [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is KiCad supported in Red Hat Linux 9? It seems that RH cannot read the untarred files. cannot read I doubt this is a problem with RH9. More likely a prolem with the file you have. Could you cut and paste the commands and the error messages from your terminal. I bet it's something simple. Chris Albertson Home: 310-376-1029 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office: 310-336-5189 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ready for the edge of your seat? Check out tonight's top picks on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/
Re: [kicad-users] mounting holes
--- Pedro Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Be careful with metallization, there are pcb providers that will metallize the hole. So it can be avoided? I thought that because of the process all holes got plated. I admit I don't know how they plate the holes. How do they plate the hole? Chris Albertson Home: 310-376-1029 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office: 310-336-5189 [EMAIL PROTECTED] The fish are biting. Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search Marketing. http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/arp/sponsoredsearch_v2.php
Re: [kicad-users] mounting holes
--- Pedro Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Be careful with metallization, there are pcb providers that will metallize the hole. So it can be avoided? I thought that because of the process all holes got plated. I admit I don't know how they plate the holes. How do they plate the hole? Chris Albertson Home: 310-376-1029 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office: 310-336-5189 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
RE: [kicad-users] mounting holes
--- Robert Kondner [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: They drill the board, run it through an electrode-less process that leaves a VERY THIN layer of copper in the hole. Why does the copper only plate out inside the holes and not on the board's edges or on the face of the board? Chris Albertson Home: 310-376-1029 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office: 310-336-5189 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ready for the edge of your seat? Check out tonight's top picks on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/
[kicad-users] BOMS and other reports
I've been using Kicad in my work for the last year, and I find that my copy of Protel gets less and less use! One aspect of Kicad which could be usefully improved would be to add an option for reports which allows the generation of report data in some form of spreadsheet format. The majority of my clients require BOMs to be presented in this way, and I'd find the ability to write direct to an OASIS (or even an Excel!) spreadsheet file very useful. Or have I missed something?? Best wishes Chris Bartram
[kicad-users] PCAD Translation?
I have a client who wants to import some of my Kicad .BRD files into PCAD. Does anyone know of translation software? Best wishes Chris
[kicad-users] PCB-Pool
I've used PCB-Pool a lot over the past few years. They are a very friendly and competent company, and if for no other reason than Celtic solidarity, it's good to do business with a Company just the other side of the Irish Sea from Wales! Previously, when I used Protel exclusively, I submitted the usual package of Gerbers and Excel drill files, and back came what I ordered. When I started using Kicad, I initially did the same thing. But after a conversation at a well known UK PCB software distributor's training day (where I was lecturing on aspects of RF PCB layout) with PCB-Pool's Sales Director, I've started submitting my files for manufacture in GCPREVUE *.GWK format. That saves the 25euro charge PCB-Pool make to process Gerbers. As I've routinely used GCPREVUE to check my Gerbers before sending them to manufacture, that's 25euro saved for the energy expended in a couple of mouse clicks! Cheers/Hwyl Chris Bartram
Re: [kicad-users] some help needed
Looking at the QUCS site it seems rather basic and incomplete. Have you tried switcherCAD? I'm very aware of SwitcherCAD, and have more than 25 years experience of using Spice and similar software in an analogue and radiofrequency/microwave circuit design environment. While I'm happy to accept that the web site rather underplays it's usefulness, QUCS has features which I find very attractive. Certainly, like any software, it has weaknesses, but it also has its strengths. As an example, it's one of the very few Open Source circuit design packages to allow the use of Harmonic Balance analysis. Of course, it also runs under Linux, which suits my attitude to computing! Chris Bartram
