Re: [kicad-users] Re: Default field allocations in component properties - let's define those field

[Hristo Antonov]

Roger wrote:


apluscw wrote:

>
> Regarding KiCad, on more than one occasion I have questioned whether
> we made the right decision going with KiCad. We were burdened by the
> fact that we needed 3 seats and none of the "professional" packages
> were economically viable at that time.
>
> While I still have reservations, now that I am making a point to
> create every component in my own library before using things are
> flowing much, much better. There are still some
> bugs/features/strange behaviors that bother us, but it looks like it
> will be OK for schematic capture.
>
> Board layout, however, is a different matter. While we did an
> initial evaluation, it is still unproven in our eyes. If we
> outsourced the layout to someone who could do it in KiCad, then we
> would forever be able to tweak it if need be.
>

I second what has been said above, by your description it looks like a
long shot for KiCAD, people who specilise in that kind of work use EDA
packages that can calculate noise/emissions etc.

Price is not what you should be looking at when chossing EDA tools for
work. That might sound odd coming from someone like me who looked at
KiCAD when faced with a $1500 dollar bill for upgrading my commercial
package to go over 700 pins. But my boards are much simpler, they are 2
layer and just have lots of interface stuff (connecters, fuseholders,
relays etc that are modified to customer requirements. I miffed a bit at
paying for a package that included spice emulation and upto 6 layers or
whatever that I just did not need. In my line of work a more complicated
package could slow me down rather than speed me up!

I did however look at other low cost simple packages, to see if they
better suited my needs, and KiCAD does compare favourably. The fact that
it is OSS is a great bonus.

 

HI ALL
well KiCad will do the capture and the layout even ;)
i am trying ot implement in on my work and sofar no major problems or bugs
it is very very friendly and has all the basic and some advansed options 
that would a CAD package need
i am not a Pro yet(still not an experienced) but think that Kicad is 
much better than some comersial CAD systems

please correct me if wrong
i work in Bulgaria and here the electronics is a few years in the past 
but i think that if u dont make anything very very spesial Kicad will do

;)
what is the board complexity u work on (number of pins ,layers 
,clockspeed )?

send the netlist and .mod files
thow i am not experienced enought yet i am a wolf in sheepskin ;)

question
is it more complex than the videoboard example in Kicad?

will be glad to help u ;)

Re: [kicad-users] Re: Gerber and HAL (PCBpool)

[Hristo Antonov]

apluscw wrote:


--- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com 
, Roger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> I often use PCB-Pool. With target I just sent them the board file
but in
>
> Roger.
>

Just an FYI, I used PCBpool before and was pleased. I even got an
extra board free that I did not order. :-)

They sent me a St. Patrick's day card last year. I am the only person
I know that got a St. Patties Day card from Ireland, at least around
these parts.

I am interested in trying Olimex. Looks like the cost is good, but the
shipping from Bulgaria to NA might be painful.

apluscw

 

hi
i have ordered a board made whit Kicad in Olimex
and they say it is in production
when it is ready i will give u a call what quality it is
and for the shipping
thow i am in Bulgaria  Bulgaria now is in the EU and i think it would be 
no problem to send it to u

Re: [kicad-users] pulling my hair out

[Hristo Antonov]

Ian bell wrote:


wsterlingy wrote:
> Can anyone make the following Spice circuit in Kicad. I can't do it.
>
> series circuit
> v1 1 0
> r1 1 2 3k
> r2 2 3 10k
> r3 3 0 5k
> .dc v1 9 9 1
> .print dc v(1,2) v(2,3) v(3,0)
> .end
>

I cannot do it either. First there is no spice voltage source in the
standard libraries so I guess you need to make one. Second, although
you can specify a spice command when you save the netlist in spice
format, Kicad seems to ignore it. I can get this far.

* EESchema Netlist Version 1.0 (Spice format) creation date:
4/2/2007-15:08:11

R3 3 2 5K
R2 3 0 10K
R1 2 0 2K

.end

 

well
there was an windows help file
who was saying that
spice commands could be send th the netlist file
by adding ./spice   or something like that as a TEXT on the 
schematic capture but now i am on linux and cannot see how exactly ,
but i would like to use the spice engine with Kicad am curious too if it 
is possible. Please keep in touch ;) many 10X ;)

[kicad-users] HI A footprint discussion

[Hristo Antonov]

Hello i use KiCad 4 months now and find it a real modern hi-end CAD system,
but i think that the component and footprint databases are not 
coressponding to the hi-end soul of Kicad.
It is obvious that we cant have all the component and footprints present 
, but i would like to start a discussion about  the need  of an web 
service on the Kicad component site for ONLINE search for components , 
footprints and the upload , download and viewing  of them , creating a 
really big database where everyone could participate and contribute.
 I know that this is hard to accomplish , but I think that an open 
discussion about this would be helpful .

Cheers

p.s. i am not sure is this the right way about adding a new topic on the 
forum so apologies if i have something stupid

[kicad-users] ERC report bug

[Hristo Antonov]

Hi i have notised that the ERC  reports the errors (to file) only from 
the mainpage of the project .Also the "plot all " plots too only the 
mainpage as dicklebeck has noted.

Re: [kicad-users] Re: PCBNEW not refreshing netlist

[Hristo Antonov]

yajeed2000 wrote:


--- In kicad-users@yahoogroups.com 
, "richmogd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>
> Hi guys,
>
> I'm almost there with my first Schematic/PCB on kicad. However, I'm
> getting stuck on the PCBNEW netlist read. I read an early version of
> the netlist to check that the modules and nets were coming in
> correctly. I've since updated the netlist to change some footprints.
> However, wehn I re-read the netlist, PCBNEW seems to be reading a
> cached version of the file. I've looked at the netlist file in a text
> editor and the file itself is ok, but PCBNEW doesn't appear to be
> reading from this file as the source. Any idea how I clear the cache
> and make sure that PCBNEW reads the new file completely?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Glenn.
>
Hi,
Have you tried opening the netlist file in CvPCB and then reimporting
the file into PCBNEW?
Please try this and see if it works.




Regards,

David.




























HI 
do you compile the netlist after read?

it is stupid question but it is possible
i had about a 10 corrections in a netlist and everything  went right
I use  "Build Version:
EESchema (2006-06-26) - Unicode version
"

Re: [kicad-users] Power Ports - local or global?

[Hristo Antonov]

apluscw wrote:


Are power ports local to a sheet, or are they global across the entire
hiearchy?

For example, my design has mixed analog and digital 3.3 Volt circuits.
My digital circuits are in one sheet, and my analog circuits are in
another sheet, all tied together into a hierarchy.

If I tie "3.3V" to my analog source in my analog sheet, and "3.3V" to
my digital source in my digital sheet, will they become merged as one
node, or will they be two separate nodes (which is the intent)?

Thanks,




a+
















Yes they are global i think
look at this
" 1 VSS )
 (2 VDD )
 (3 MCLK_1 )"

this is part of netlist

VSS and VDD are global labels and the MCLK is local label on page 1

Good luck ;)

Re: [kicad-users] Power & GND Nets

[Hristo Antonov]

richmogd wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I've created a hierarchical schematic layout and have used the 3.3V
> and GND power components for the power on each page. When I export to
> netlist, these items are shown as separate nets as opposed to
> connected together. Do I have to connect each of these to the global
> 3V3 and GND net via glabels for each page or is there an automated way
> to make kicad release that all 3V3 connections are for the same net
> and all GND connections are for the same net?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Glenn.
>












   Hi
this cannot be all power symbols are Global
I have tryed a test design evaluating KiCad and it was fine.
Do you have a power port symbol connected to the power nets thou it is 
rarely the problem

The problem is more likely :
You have invisible power pins that EEschema connects automatically like 
VCC on the one page and VDD on the other and the 3V3 power net .
EEschema connects all invisible power pins in groups leaving you to 
believe 


Look at the netlist file
if the net names are 3v3_1 3v3_2  this means that the are not global
see this

" 1 VSS )
  (2 VDD )
  (3 MCLK_1 )"
vss and vdd are global labels and mclk_1 is label mclk in page 1

this could be a major bug so please investigate further
hope you come out of this soon





















>  

Re: [kicad-users] Power Ports - local or global?

[Hristo Antonov]

Yes they are global i think
look at this
" 1 VSS )
  (2 VDD )
  (3 MCLK_1 )"

this is part of netlist

VSS and VDD are global labels and the MCLK is local label on page 1

Good luck ;)

sorry this was the original message i wrote the first time

Re: [kicad-users] Re: some troubles

[Hristo Antonov]

Ken Ames wrote:


hi Charles,
 and everyone else. I created a file directory kenames and put those 
files there. actually, DATA 0-7 goes all over in a complex schematic 
but the kpicubed-io.sch is where the signals actually originate. there 
are also address lines in the io that have the same problem, coming 
off the 74ls541 chips. I really appreciate your help on this and let 
me know if you need more to help out. (I just don't want to clutter 
the files area to much.)


thanks again,
Ken
















   Hi Ken

   I have noticed a simillar problem
   this is the mail i have posted

   "BUS bug in multisheet schematics"
   so if the buses are not drawn complietly in the main page (Page1)
   this could be causing no conn between bus members in different pages.
   This would rarely be the problem. What could be happening is
   probably the following:
   You have entries to a sheet from more than one place.
   For ex: Can you enter sheet that is herahly part from sheet A from
   sheet B?
   If yes this is causing the problems.Remember Kicad hierashy is
   straight forward and does not support this.

   Look at this

   Mainpage
| |
| |
| Page1
|  |
|  Page2
Page3

   This is correct
   But if you have this

   Mainpage
| |
| |
| Page1
|  |
|  Page2
Page3
  |
  Page1,2 or Mainpage


   This causes problems

   Hope that this helps you
   Sorry i have not looked at the sch files :(

[kicad-users] free-ecb-at91

[Hristo Antonov]

Hi 2 all
i have a plan to export the AT91 Linux embedded computer 
(http://wiki.emqbit.com/free-ecb-at91) to Kicad file format as main 
embedded platform for our firm . The project is GPL and all the 
documentation will be free . I think that this is good way for Kicad to 
grow , cause at this point Kicad is professional CAD system and blinkin 
led and battery chargers should be left in the past. If someone wants to 
help or use the project feel free to write ! I think , that in 2-3 
months we might have working board. The gEDA team is also working on 
this task  . ;)


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-devel 
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[kicad-users] Great Idea

[Hristo Antonov]

Hi 2 all ,
I have the following idea for very useful KiCad new function :
A  netlist select function . It will do the following :
When pin or label is selected with this function it will go to the 
netlist file and finds the net name this pin or label is associated with 
, and popup window in which are displayed the name of the net  and pins 
connected to this net . This resolves many problems with the design 
verification actually and is very simple to implement. Making this 
function work with wires will be hard , but for pins and labels it is 
really simple.
I think that this is topic for the devel group , but i wanted to discuss 
this first .
I made a pool about this and will be very greatfull to know what do you 
think about such function.


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-devel 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-users/

<*> Your email settings:
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Re: [kicad-users] Undo & ruler

[Hristo Antonov]

On Mon, 2007-10-15 at 03:47 +, gsun wrote:
> Hello, I am a new user of Kicad. Is there a undo function in PCBNEW
> and 
> a ruler displayed with the dimension of the drawing with units
> choosen?
> 
> Another small thing, how do I turn on snap-to-grid feature in PCBNEW?
> 
> TIA
> 
Yep the ruler is called Add Coatation and it is on the right menu. Do
not use it on copper layers . The display metric or imperial depends on
the mm or inch tools on the left menu.

There isn`t any Undo feature implemented yet i think , but there is
Undelete function .

Snap to grid and snap to electrical grid is default turned on.
I think that it cannot be turned off exept for magnetic pads which is
from the Preferences --> General options menu.

Cheers

Re: [kicad-users] +VCC and -VCC

[Hristo Antonov]

On Tue, 2007-10-16 at 21:50 +1000, jeremy wrote:
> VCC is there in "powers"
> 
> I can't find -VCC in "Powers."
> 
> Can I make one somehow?
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> 
Please do not ;)
The "opposite" of Vcc is not -Vcc . It is Vee !
Look here 
http://encyclobeamia.solarbotics.net/articles/vxx.html

-Vcc is used for better explanation only. It means that Vee is same as
Vcc and it is with opposite polarity .

Good luck !

Re: [kicad-users] Relation betwen EeSchema and PCBNew

[Hristo Antonov]

On Sat, 2007-10-20 at 12:23 +, jt.openflyers wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I create my schema en built my circuit board
> But I make a mistake and I want to modify schema, one connector must
> be in symetrical position
> 
> On schema I changed my connector with the tool miror Y || and I
> redrawn all the connexion to this connector
> 
> But relation with schema and PCB is always the old version and radnest
> is not conform to my schema
> 
> Can I regenerate all the link
> 
> Thank
> 
> 

Well

1 Save the updated netsit
2 Load the updated netlist in PCBNEW
3 Compile the netlist 

This should change nets and components.

Cheers

[kicad-users] Autorouter question

[Hristo Antonov]

Hello

I am using Kicad for almost a year now and i have some questions about
the autorouter`s work. Is there a file with settings for the router .
And also what is the "anneal" file.

10X in advance

[kicad-users] Pad question

[Hristo Antonov]

Hello ,
I would like to know if there is a way for composite pads creation. For
example a copper pad assembled from few copper pads and solder paste
pad , that differs from the copper one. For example a power pad witch
solder paste is divided in four equal parts and a solder mask pad wich
is much bigger or smaller than the copper pad. Is Kicad made in mind for
such actions or pad shape is same for all layers?

Thank you

[kicad-users] Data Base system integration

[Hristo Antonov]

Hi to all
Kicad is really good CAD system with real professional look and feel ,
but what i think is missing for use from buisnes clients is integration
of component libraries in DB and the creation of open online database
libraries and the integration of the product with it. I know that such
step demands great human and financial resource , but an open discussion
about Kicad future path of development is important i think. 
First of all is it appropriate to develop Kicad as fully pro CAD
system , that could be recognized by buisness clients. And used as a PRO
system from normal users.
And second would a open lib online database improve so much the system
capabilities as i am thinking :)

Thank you for every opinion .

Regards

Re: [kicad-users] Is it posible to split a single multi-part device across sheets?

[Hristo Antonov]

Hi,
Yes it is possible. Just look how opamp symbols are made in Kicad. I
think that it is possible to split the part on A B C D subparts. I would
use double page size but split the part is a good idea too. Remember to
override the automatic part annotation for this part only so you keep it
as one footprint. 
Good luck.


On Wed, 2008-04-30 at 07:46 -0700, Mike Panetta wrote:
> The subject pretty much says it all.  I have a part I have made for
> the LPC2468 with a part for each port.  I want to put the 2 ports
> dedicated to the expansion bus on one sheet and the other ports on
> another so I can keep the sheets to 8.5x11 for easy printing.  Is this
> possible?  If its not I guess I could double the paper size, but I
> would prefer not to.
> 
> Thanks,
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> __
> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try
> it now.
> 

> 

Re: [kicad-users] Removing inner pads with vias

[Hristo Antonov]

Hi,
I am not sure that this is possible. Vias and through hole components
have pad for every layer. Try to edit the files with a Gerber editor and
trim the pads . Could you send a visual representation of the DRC ? Most
likely you will have to rework the problem zones.
Regards


On Fri, 2008-05-16 at 22:46 +, mkajdas wrote:
> My PCB house DRC check complains about vias having pads on inner
> layers.
> How to have via pads on the outside and no pads inside the board on 4 
> layer board?
> The inner pads are not connected to anything and do not hurt anything 
> but I get over 500 errors that I want to clean up.
> Martin
> 
> 
> 
> 
>