Re: [kicad-users] Re: Recommended Version for a New User Running Windows 7?
kajdas wrote: dickelbeck d...@softplc.com wrote: I strongly suggest using the latest RC (release candidate) for March 2010. There will never be a more stable version than this if people don't install it and say it is stable. When that happens, it will simply get renamed to released, (not released in more stable form). I totally agree but I would be careful to recommend it to all 'newbies' who will get discouraged if something does not work and instead of reporting the problem they will spread 'bad' publicity. Martin OK, carefully then: use the latest RC from March 2010. If you have problems, you can: 1) ask for your money back. 2) see if you can install more than one version concurrently, and try either 3) report bugs as you find them. 4) hire a programmer to fix the problem should nobody move. We sure don't want to lose market share. Our bottom line would hurt. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:Import RS-274-X Gerber File To PCBnew for Editing
Although it does not import drill files, kicad's gerbv does load your gerbers (minus the drill files) and gives you a menu option to save to PCBNEW's format. I don't think there is sufficient information in the gerber files to go backwards in a way that you will always be happy with. Some of this has to do with simple lack of information. Assuming the word plan means what I think it does. The answer to your question is no. That does not mean that you cannot wish for improvements in this area however. There is an enhancement request thingy at the sourceforge site for Kicad. I suspect that any serious evolution of gerbv will make it harder to continue to do this, not easier. The internal data structures of gerbv could use a re-thinking, at least if editing is ever going to be supported. Most of the developers are working on what they need, and when they do what others need it is only coincidental. But a user can perhaps find a way to persuade a developer, if considered creatively. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:Grounding strategies, zones, star ground etc
steppers are rated 20A max, consequently, switching 10-20A into an inductive load creates quite a bit of noise. The problem I am seeing is not uncommon for chopped steppers, ie that the chopper settles on a subharmonic of the switching frequency (20kHz) because of crosstalk. I have tried moving stuff around on the prototype board and looking at various grounding strategies. I have separated AGND and DGND in the schematic and then joined them, but that makes KICAD treat them together as a net. What should I do? Put in a 0 ohm resistor where I join them to keep filled zones separate? In the absence of somebody that really knows what they are talking about, I will try and help. I recently had problems like this with a switching power supply. I built a 1 inch diameter, circular wire loop across the two leads of my oscilloscope. Then I hovered the loop over the board and used it as a noise detector. I found distinct sources of noise and these would sharply fall off if you moved the loop away from them. Then the game becomes to put distance between those sources and anything that cannot tolerate noise. You can use ground islands which have isthmuses to connect them together. But I would never forget that it usually takes a current loop to generate noise, and the size of that loop determines the amplitude of the noise. The problem with chopping up your ground plane can be that you extend the size of the loop. You always want to get the return path (i.e. ground, or ground plane), directly under the source path so that the loop is only the thickness of your board layer, and the orientation of that loop is generating noise parallel to the board, not perpendicular to it. Think of the loop as being partially on one layer, and partially on a layer DIRECTLY underneath it. Hope this helps. A few more prototypes may lead you to answer. Dick
[kicad-users] Re: pcbnew crashes with zone fill - more information
bkanobe, Can you provide a set of datafiles and a procedure description which will cause the crash 100% of the time? If so, somebody can probably track this down and get it fixed. Dick
[kicad-users] Re: Kicad
Psycho wrote: Hello Mr. Hollenbeck. Thanks for Kicad!!! Just one question, isnt it possible to draw the lines / conections in different colors??? (i have to make a electric schematic of a scooter ...) thanks in advance greetings Simon Simon, I am copying your posting to the user's yahoo group. I don't know of a way to tag some nets one color while doing other nets in a different color. There is some control over color *all* the nets. When it comes to PCBNEW and the layout, your trace colors are selectable on a per layer basis. All the colors on a given layer will be the same color. By asking on the yahoo list, you benefit from the experience of many users. HTH, Dick
[kicad-users] Re:KICAD success stories ?
Here is my 6 layer ARM board with a couple of bga's (CPU and SDRAM Memory) http://dl.softplc.com/ds_Smartboard.pdf as an example. To do some of the fan out under the BGAs I added some through hole pins as part of the footprint. These through hole pins would share the same pin number as the ball pad, and then by adding the solder mask to the padstack for the through hole pins, they end up being pre-placed vias on the layout. A board like this cannot be done without bridging to freerouter however. Without the push and shove manual routing it is impossible. I did not use the autorouting in freerouter, just manual routing. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:Gnucap, kicad, and summer of code.
There has been some talk lately of adding support for this interface to Kicad lately. http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/IntroductionToDBus I am a proponent of it. This might be better addressed on the developer's list. See you there. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:Newbee: Number of libraries concurrently used
This could be some kind of buffer overrun that happens when reading your *.sch file back into memory. Take a look at your *.sch file in a text editor and post the 2nd line here so we can see it. It starts with a LIBS: string. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:SOT23 and 8-SOIC footprints
Cut and paste text below to a file SOIC8.emp then import it into your PCBNEW module editor. PCBNEW-LibModule-V1 Mon 23 Feb 2009 08:23:46 AM CST $INDEX SOIC8 $EndINDEX $MODULE SOIC8 Po 0 0 0 15 499DDA53 49A2B15E ~~ Li SOIC8 Sc 49A2B15E AR Op 0 0 0 T0 0 0 350 300 0 60 N V 21 NSOIC8 T1 0 0 350 300 0 60 N V 21 NVAL** DC -1080 1180 -1030 1160 70 21 DS -900 -1100 -1000 -1100 60 21 DS -1000 -1100 -1000 1100 60 21 DS -1000 1100 -900 1100 60 21 DS 1000 1100 1000 -1100 60 21 DS 1000 -1100 900 -1100 60 21 DS 1000 1100 900 1100 60 21 $PAD Sh 1 R 236 866 0 0 0 Dr 0 0 0 At SMD N 00888000 Ne 0 Po -750 1024 $EndPAD $PAD Sh 2 R 236 866 0 0 0 Dr 0 0 0 At SMD N 00888000 Ne 0 Po -250 1024 $EndPAD $PAD Sh 3 R 236 866 0 0 0 Dr 0 0 0 At SMD N 00888000 Ne 0 Po 250 1024 $EndPAD $PAD Sh 4 R 236 866 0 0 0 Dr 0 0 0 At SMD N 00888000 Ne 0 Po 750 1024 $EndPAD $PAD Sh 5 R 236 866 0 0 0 Dr 0 0 0 At SMD N 00888000 Ne 0 Po 750 -1023 $EndPAD $PAD Sh 6 R 236 866 0 0 0 Dr 0 0 0 At SMD N 00888000 Ne 0 Po 250 -1023 $EndPAD $PAD Sh 7 R 236 866 0 0 0 Dr 0 0 0 At SMD N 00888000 Ne 0 Po -250 -1023 $EndPAD $PAD Sh 8 R 236 866 0 0 0 Dr 0 0 0 At SMD N 00888000 Ne 0 Po -750 -1023 $EndPAD $EndMODULE SOIC8 $EndLIBRARY
[kicad-users] Re:simple zone problem
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-users/message/3790 Always search before asking.
[kicad-users] Re:how to change all via diameters at once?
When vias are created, they are created with the default drill size or the current alternate drill size. The default drill size is recorded in each individual via as a magical value of -1. The current alternate drill size is whatever the current mil or mm setting is for the Alternate Drill size in the Dimensions | Tracks and Vias dialog. That value is used in place of the -1 in each such via. The interpretation of any AND ALL vias subject to the default via drill size can be instantaneously changed merely by changing the default drill size in the same dialog. You do not need to visit each default drill sized via. Only vias which have an alternate drill size setting need to be revisited individually. And of course, as always, you can edit these Kicad files with a text editor, but the format is not self evident so always keep a backup before you begin experimenting with a text editor. The file formats are documented elsewhere however. Dick
[kicad-users] Re: Pcbnew.exe chrashes
I duplicated this with a recent SVN build also. However, the very latest SVN build does not exhibit the bug. Jean-Pierre must have fixed it either intentionally or accidentally. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:Net not connected with Zone Fill
On a complicated board this can mean hundreds of extra tracks. I found that a pain, and we have had discussions on how to deal with this deficiency. The current hurdle is lack of time to fix it. On a simple board, it is not much of a problem. Simply run the few tracks as mentioned. On a complicated board, I usually do the routing (manually, and to a lesser degree incremental autorouting) using freerouter. In such a case, that tool has an Incompletes button to show unconnected nets. It recognizes the power planes. So if I don't get incompletes in that tool, when the board is imported back into pcbnew, I simply ignore the unconnected nets at that point, refill all the zones, and generate the gerbers. Note however that I have recently seen a situation where the resolution of gerber rasters was not tight enough to connect to a power/ground pin, and had to go back and actually route one or two of those ground pins with tracks anyway, simply because being over the zone was not sufficient, due to the imprecise way that copper is generated into a zone. This was a case where my track to track spacing was set at 4 mils and a zone could not fit in between that gap to get to the ground pin, and the pin was surface mount and the zone was on the same layer. Spending some time inspecting the gerbers is always worth it, and the 3d viewer is also useful for the copper on the board. Dick
[kicad-users] Re: ProE igs file import ?
I once imported a PDF schematic into Kicad. It took me about 30,000 mouse clicks and 2 months. It was a 15 page PDF file. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:freerouter - can't open your own design
First, it should be mentioned that freerouter is more than just an auto router. Its manual routing is what I use almost exclusively within that program. From time to time I will select a single part or even single pad and ask it to auto route that board subset, but all my designs so far have been too complex to get acceptable results with an auto router. However, let it be known that the manual routing within freerouter is world class, largely because of the push and shove feature. And Kicad's routing, auto or manual, is no match for it, in my experienced opinion. You will need to attach your *.DSN file to a support request and post it on the freerouting.net support forum to get help on your issue. The lack of diagnostics within the freerouter *.DSN loading function has been complained about before and a feature request has been submitted, to no effect. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:Circad traces file
Do you mean other than hiring a programmer? I am sure Frank Bennet could do this code for you under contract, probably a few hundred dollars. Dick
[kicad-users] Re:PCBNEW crashes when trying to plot
Try the newest SVN snapshot built by our good friend Mr. Milan Horák: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=145591package_id=242802release_id=573964 Milan maintains some binaries that are snapshots of the subversion repository, saving users the time to build them from source themselves. It is not a complete release, only binaries, so they should overlay your current program files only. You can always find out his latest build from the top of the page here: http://kicad.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page If the problem happens with the SVN 20080204 snapshot, then let us know here. The next step would be to get your design files and walk the program through under the debugger. Dick Hollenbeck SoftPLC Corporation http://softplc.com
[kicad-users] Re:DRC err codes
How to find drc error codes, and where they come from: First, know that each DRC error code is unique in it origin within the source code, and this was done so that you can find the statements within the source code that are generating the error. See line 38 of this file for the error code number you are seeing, find its DRCE_??? name: http://kicad.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/kicad/trunk/kicad/pcbnew/drc_stuff.h?view=markup Search this file for their origin: http://kicad.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/kicad/trunk/kicad/pcbnew/drc.cpp?view=markup Dick Hollenbeck SoftPLC Corporation http://softplc.com
[kicad-users] Re:Pcbnew crash on delete zone
Hi, I have made a copper zone conected to GND and when I'm trying to delete it it appears an system message that pcbnew has performed an illegal operation and it will be closed. I'm running the latest release candidate .. Regards, Daniel Daniel, I cannot duplicate this with my board. I tried this: 1) click on the zone tool on right vertical toolbar 2) right click on a zone, passing through the selection clarification menu to the zone. 3) choose the Delete Zone option from the menu which follows. The zone is deleted OK. The above detail in the steps I took is the kind of detail that I wish all reporters of bugs would use. There are obviously more than one way to delete a zone, including block select/delete. Maybe there's something in your board file which is giving PCBNEW trouble. If you want me to look at this further I would need your board file and sufficient detail on the UI steps you take to duplicate it. Regards, Dick
Re: [kicad-users] Re: PCBNew Problems
Moses McKnight wrote: I've attached the file. Hope it helps for debugging. Thanks, Moses Re: seg fault when plotting. OK, I checked in a fix for this at SVN. It was choking on a bad layer number in the REFERENCE text of your PIC footprint. I'll now go see where the layer number is coming from, but my change will get you by. Dick
