Re: [kicad-users] How to compile new KiCAD on Debian stable (lenny)?
On Sunday 09 May 2010 23:50:27 you wrote: Lenny has rather old version of KiCad, I'm trying to compile new version of Kicad, but there are few errors prohibit that. Mainly Bazaar is missing is not available for lenny. Anyone tried to compile KiCad on Lenny? Is it possible to get newest version of Kicad on lenny? Since Debian Testing/Unstable has Kicad packages version 20100314, one thing you could attempt is to backport it yourself to Lenny, Debian has some pretty easy to use tools for that. First, add the source repositories of Testing or Unstable (or both) to your /etc/apt/sources.list file: deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free and/or deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free I use the German mirrors, you could replace that with anything you want to use. Then issue an apt-get update (as root) to get the updated list of (source packages). Before you can build it, you should install any needed development libraries: apt-get build-dep kicad (as root) Finally, download the source package and build it: apt-get source kicad (will download and extract in current working directory) cd kicad-0.0.20100314 (version could change) dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us (as root, or using fakeroot) The last command, when it finishes it will produce all the .deb packages of kicad, which you can install graphically, or with dpkg -i. After you're done, you could remove the deb-src line(s) from sources.list and re-run apt-get update, or keep it in case you want to backport other packages as well. Hope it helps, Dimitris Please read the Kicad FAQ in the group files section before posting your question. Please post your bug reports here. They will be picked up by the creator of Kicad. Please visit http://www.kicadlib.org for details of how to contribute your symbols/modules to the kicad library. For building Kicad from source and other development questions visit the kicad-devel group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-develYahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-users/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-users/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: kicad-users-dig...@yahoogroups.com kicad-users-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: kicad-users-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [kicad-users] How to compile new KiCAD on Debian stable (lenny)?
On Monday 10 May 2010 11:05:19 you wrote: On Sunday 09 May 2010 23:50:27 you wrote: Lenny has rather old version of KiCad, I'm trying to compile new version of Kicad, but there are few errors prohibit that. Mainly Bazaar is missing is not available for lenny. Anyone tried to compile KiCad on Lenny? Is it possible to get newest version of Kicad on lenny? Since Debian Testing/Unstable has Kicad packages version 20100314, one thing you could attempt is to backport it yourself to Lenny, Debian has some pretty easy to use tools for that. First, add the source repositories of Testing or Unstable (or both) to your /etc/apt/sources.list file: deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free and/or deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free I use the German mirrors, you could replace that with anything you want to use. Then issue an apt-get update (as root) to get the updated list of (source packages). Before you can build it, you should install any needed development libraries: apt-get build-dep kicad (as root) I forgot a couple of details: This command should become apt-get -t testing build-dep kicad. Replace -t testing with -t unstable if you added the unstable repo. Finally, download the source package and build it: apt-get source kicad (will download and extract in current working directory) This should definitely be apt-get -t testing source kicad, unless you comment all other deb-src lines in your sources.list. Again, replace testing with unstable if you want to pull from unstable. Dimitris Please read the Kicad FAQ in the group files section before posting your question. Please post your bug reports here. They will be picked up by the creator of Kicad. Please visit http://www.kicadlib.org for details of how to contribute your symbols/modules to the kicad library. For building Kicad from source and other development questions visit the kicad-devel group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-develYahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-users/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-users/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: kicad-users-dig...@yahoogroups.com kicad-users-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: kicad-users-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [kicad-users] Relative paths for 3D models of components
On Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:59:36 +0100 Dimitris Lampridis d.lampri...@cosine.nl wrote: Dear all, I've recently completed the design of my first board with Kicad and I'm extremely happy with it. What a great piece of software it is! However, I ran into a small problem: I've put my design under version control (using Git) so that I can access it and update it from multiple computers, whether I'm at work, at home, or travelling. When I pull the latest version from Git, I noticed that most of the paths to custom components are absolute. In other words, a custom module for a footprint that I've created is linked with its aboslute path (eg. if my project is stored at /home/xxx/projects/yyy, then a custom module could be /home/xxx/projects/yyy/custom_modules/kk-ll.mod). Of course, not all of the computers have the same installations and folder structures (or user names for home folders), so this approach fails. Especially under version control, the problem becomes bigger: if I modify the paths to match one system, then commit my changes, the project will stop working on every other computer... To solve this, I manually changed all paths that point to custom components (for library symbols, footprint modules and 3D models) into relative ones (eg. ./custom_modules/kk-ll.mod). This worked for symbols and footprints like a charm, but the 3D viewer refuses to draw the components that are given with relative paths. Anybody knows why this is happening? Any solutions? Well, to answer my own question and provide a permanent solution to this (I later discovered that this has been discussed a number of times in this group, but with no real solution), I decided to have a look at the source code of kicad. To begin with, I'm using Debian, so I pulled the source code of the Debian package (version 0.0.20090216-1). I first studied the way eeschema and pcbnew handle relative paths, and I then compared it to way that 3d_viewer does it. I realized that there is a handy function (MakeFileName) available, which handles absolute and relative paths correctly, and which is being used by eeschema and pcbnew, but not by 3d_viewer (developers must have forgotten to do it). I then modified the source code of 3d_viewer (in file 3d_read_mesh.cpp) to make use of MakeFileName() function (defined in header file gestfich.h, and recompiled the source. I tested the result on a number of systems and it works great! Now all symbols, footprints and 3d models can have relative paths (as well as absolute, and of course support for built-in libraries). I've uploaded a .diff file to the kicad-users group folders. It can be found inside folde DL_files. Here's a copy of the diff itself, for reference. Its really simple, and it should also apply to the SVN tree of kicad as well: --- original/kicad-0.0.20090216/kicad/3d-viewer/3d_read_mesh.cpp 2009-02-04 16:25:03.0 +0100 +++ modified/kicad-0.0.20090216/kicad/3d-viewer/3d_read_mesh.cpp 2010-01-22 11:36:10.863021187 +0100 @@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ #include fctsys.h #include common.h +#include gestfich.h #include macros.h #include kicad_string.h @@ -32,18 +33,7 @@ return 1; } -if( wxIsAbsolutePath( m_Shape3DName ) ) -fullfilename.Empty(); -else -fullfilename = g_RealLibDirBuffer + LIB3D_PATH; -fullfilename += m_Shape3DName; -#if defined (__WINDOWS__) -fullfilename.Replace( UNIX_STRING_DIR_SEP, WIN_STRING_DIR_SEP ); -#else -#if defined (__UNIX__) -fullfilename.Replace( WIN_STRING_DIR_SEP, UNIX_STRING_DIR_SEP ); -#endif -#endif +fullfilename = MakeFileName ( g_RealLibDirBuffer + LIB3D_PATH, m_Shape3DName, wxT(.wrl) ); file = wxFopen( fullfilename, wxT( rt ) ); if( file == NULL ) Can the developers pick it up from here or should I talk to them in the kicad-devel group? Cheers, Dimitris
[kicad-users] PCB house in northern Europe
Dear all, I'm looking for a PCB production house in the Benelux+Germany area (preferably in the Netherlands) to produce prototype PCBs (= low quantities) of my KiCad designs. (this is where everybody says that KiCad rocks. Yes it does!!!) I do not require very fancy capabilities, my designs are rather simple dual-layer boards with SMD components, but I was wondering if anybody in this mailing list had any good experience with a particular production house in Benelux and KiCad-generated boards. I'm also a complete newbie, these will be my very first boards, therefore I could really use a PCB house with a friendly, helpful, informal attitude. Thank you, Dimitris
Re: [kicad-users] Installing KiCad, but not in usr/share/
On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:27:31 - Werner wernervanderstra...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: Hello, i'm running Ubuntu Karmic Koala. I've installed KiCad via the Ubuntu Software Centre. Next i create a new part in the current loaded library. Then i try to update the library file but get an error: not possible because no access to file This is because the library is in usr/share/KiCad/Library. And this is a root owned folder. When i remove KiCad from the system via the Ubuntu Software Centre, the KiCad folder with content remains in usr/share/ Would it be safe to change the ownership from root to my personal login? How did you install KiCad without losing permission to make changes to the library folder? Thanks... Dear Werner, Modifying directly the /usr/share/kicad files, either as root or by changing folder permissions is dangerous, not because of security, but because your Ubuntu installation will overwrite your modified files in case a newer kicad package is introduced in the Ubuntu repositories. As a result, the package upgrade will erase all of your custom components, replacing the files with the new ones from the package. Therefore, IMO, it is much better to make your own libraries of custom components somewhere within your home folder, or something like /usr/local, where your operating system cannot interfere. Cheers, Dimitris
Re: [kicad-users] Footprint vs module
On Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:11:42 -0500 Karl Schmidt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm working on updating some kicad documentation - I think the terms are both used for the same thing, unless I'm missing something. Do I have this straight - eeschema seems to use footprint and PCBnew calls the same thing modules? In other programs, footprints are called patterns or decals (PADSpcb/powerlogic called them decals). Karl Schmidt EMail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Transtronics, Inc. WEB http://xtronics.com 3209 West 9th StreetPh (785) 841-3089 Lawrence, KS 66049 FAX (785) 841-0434 Give me four parameters and I can fit an elephant; Give me five and I can wag its tail. (The source of the above quote?? Variants have been attributed to C.F. Gauss, Niels Bohr, Lord Kelvin, Enrico Fermi.) Footprint certainly refers to the physical footprint of an object on the PCB, so it is only relevant as a term within PCBnew and Cvpcb. EEschema uses abstract drawing symbols, and if I'm not mistaken, it uses the term components to describe such drawing symbols. A module seems to be the same thing as a footprint. If you hover your mouse pointer over the Cvpcb icon in the main Kicad window, it is described as Components to modules. Unless a module is a component combined with its footprint?
Re: [kicad-users] managing parts in kicad
On Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:12:04 -0700 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 3 Oct 2008 at 14:53, Martin Mortensen wrote: I modified a part, (capacitor) added the value, part number, etc. fields and saved it in the local library. When I add it to the schematic I only get the default fields not the ones I added. What am I missing here? What is the best way to manage part information with kicad? I'm used to a system with a part database where I can select the part from the database and the symbol comes into the schematic with all the data. For each project, I make a schematic library and a mod library. I copy parts from the supplied library and modify as necessary to the new library I created. You should not modify supplied libraries as they may get overriden if you upgrade Kicad. I use field1 for the part #(usually DigiKey, sometimes Mouser) and field2 for the cost. If you fill in the footprint field, then cvprt will automatically assign that footprint to your part. Dave - WB6DHW http://wb6dhw.com I'm also still trying to figure out the best way to manage efficiently my custom symbols and footprints. Your idea is nice Dave, but there is a logical gap I believe: How do you manage to remember which project used what? If at a certain point you want to reuse something from your older projects, say an already modified symbol, how do you figure out in which past project you created it? There is also the kicad.pro template project. If you make new libraries and add them to that project, then every new project will inherit them automatically. So in theory you could have a directory somewhere safe, away from the built-in libraries, where you create all your custom libraries and add them to kicad.pro project. Then another question is, can we put this directory and all its library files under version control (like CVS)? If yes, then one could synchronize the libraries in his office PC with the ones in his home PC, at the click of a button. Is there anything binary in library files? I think I read on the wiki that everything is text, so version control would work like a charm, modifying the contents of the text files with new component declarations. Cheers, Dimitris
Re: [kicad-users] Re: newbie question
No it is actually something that I had been trying to solve as well in the beginning. It is a bit counter-intuitive, but it is no problem in the end. Cheers, Dimitris On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:31:33 - tom_iphi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Dimitris, hooray, that was the trick!!! Now it's working!!! Maybe that's an obvious technique for Linux users, in Windows it's not. Anyway, thanks for your help! Regards Tom --- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com, Dimitris Lampridis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:52:33 - tom_iphi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi David, You must click on the rectange tool on the right hand toolbar That's what I do and I see the pen icon, but the rectangle vanishes after clicking again! Doesn't work with circles or arcs either! ??? Tom --- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com, yajeed2000 david@ wrote: --- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com, tom_iphi iphi@ wrote: Hi, I have just started playing with KiCAD by working through the tutorial KiCad Step by Step Tutorial by David Jahshan: kicad at iridec.com.au. I'm stuck in libedit while creating a connector. I could create the pins all right, but when I draw the rectangle around the pin names, it won't remain visible, i.e. I draw it and when the final shape is reached I press the left mouse button, then the whole object including pins moves with the mouse. Then I place it somewhere and press the left mouse button again and the rectangle is gone, while the pins are still there. What am I doing wrong? Tom Hi, You must click on the rectange tool on the right hand toolbar to create a rectangle for the symbol. If you don't click on this icon your are in block select mode, which means you can select several objects at the same time (all those within the rectangle that you see) and move them around the schematic sheet. David. Hi, if I'm not mistaken, you shouldn't drag the rectangle around your symbol. Instead you should select your tool, then click ONCE on the drawing to start the rectangle, move your mouse without pressing any buttons, and click a second time to end the tool. Cheers, Dimitris -- Dimitris Lampridis | Computer Engineer cosine Research BV | CCI reg.nr: 28091022 Niels Bohrweg 11 | 2333 CA Leiden, NL tel: +31 71 5241840 | fax: +31 71 5284963 http://cosine.nl
Re: [kicad-users] Re: newbie question
On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:52:33 - tom_iphi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi David, You must click on the rectange tool on the right hand toolbar That's what I do and I see the pen icon, but the rectangle vanishes after clicking again! Doesn't work with circles or arcs either! ??? Tom --- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com, yajeed2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com, tom_iphi iphi@ wrote: Hi, I have just started playing with KiCAD by working through the tutorial KiCad Step by Step Tutorial by David Jahshan: kicad at iridec.com.au. I'm stuck in libedit while creating a connector. I could create the pins all right, but when I draw the rectangle around the pin names, it won't remain visible, i.e. I draw it and when the final shape is reached I press the left mouse button, then the whole object including pins moves with the mouse. Then I place it somewhere and press the left mouse button again and the rectangle is gone, while the pins are still there. What am I doing wrong? Tom Hi, You must click on the rectange tool on the right hand toolbar to create a rectangle for the symbol. If you don't click on this icon your are in block select mode, which means you can select several objects at the same time (all those within the rectangle that you see) and move them around the schematic sheet. David. Hi, if I'm not mistaken, you shouldn't drag the rectangle around your symbol. Instead you should select your tool, then click ONCE on the drawing to start the rectangle, move your mouse without pressing any buttons, and click a second time to end the tool. Cheers, Dimitris
