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Re: schematic improvements
Hi,
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In the Component Library Editor, right click on the line that forms the rectangle, choose Edit Line Options, and the fill style should be available in that dialog. There are standard foreground and background colours, must admit I don't know whether they can be customised.. HTH, Jon On 29/05/12 14:30, Dr. Michael J. Chudobiak wrote:
Hi all, |
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Re: schematic improvements
Hi,
Dr. Michael J. Chudobiak wrote: 2) Filled rectangles in components. Having a background color in aSome parts have it (the op-amps for example). I don't know how to do it thought. |
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schematic improvements
Dr. Michael J. Chudobiak
Hi all,
I've been evaluating alternatives to Protel 99, which still lives on in some VMs. I've done a few boards in kicad now, and it's looking great. I'm impressed. (I tried geda too, but it had some serious shortcomings - particularly the absence of arbitrary fills on non-copper layers, no auto-loop-removal when drawing traces, and a patch I submitted is bit-rotting...) Here are 3 things I miss in the schematic tool, however. Maybe someone can tell me if I'm overlooking existing features, or if they're on a roadmap: 1) The ability to assign colors to individual wires (not just green). This makes a schematic easier to follow, especially if the colors happen to align with real wire colors in a wiring harness. 2) Filled rectangles in components. Having a background color in a component's "body" also improves schematic legibility. (Again, this is especially helpful when making wiring-harness diagrams for technicians to follow.) 3) Re-annotate / back-annotate. Is this really missing? Any insights on these features? - Mike |
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Re: help with stencil
Andy Eskelson
How easy it is to do will depend on how you have created your
stencil layout. If you have used lots of the same module perhaps just a 1 pin conector as your pad, then if you right click on that pad you will see a global editor option. The problem is that it is not a true global edit, but it can edit all the pads on a module, and also any pads on the same modules elsewhere. You can also copy the curent pad to a global setting, and then use that to modify the current pad, which saves lot of typing if you have to modify a lot. (all on the right click context menu) So if you have used the same module everywhere then you can change all at once. If not then no. However there is another option, if you are OK with writing some scripts the kicad files are all simple text, so you could easily scan the file and replace all the pads with the dimensions you need. A typical pad description is: $PAD Sh "1" R 550 550 0 0 0 Dr 320 0 0 At STD N 00E0FFFF Ne 8 "N-000009" Po -500 0 $EndPAD It's only the Sh line that you will be interested in, 1 is the pad name R is the pad shape R= rectangular, C = circle O = oblong, T = Trapezoid The next two numbers are X and Y size the last 3 are Xdelta Ydelta Orientation See the file formats document which will be in user/local/kicad/doc for a more detailed description. Andy On Mon, 28 May 2012 17:15:08 -0400 Patrick <patrick@...> wrote: Hi Everyone |
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help with stencil
Patrick
Hi Everyone
This is my first post here. I am not quite ready to fabricate my own boards yet but I am using Kicad to help me repair circuit boards. Pad repair kits don't seem to work well for me. I have been trying to use stencils to apply a coat of conductive epoxy to a set of pads to give me something to bond chips to and I have been using Kicad to make the stencils. Everything is almost working but the conductive epoxy is a little thinner then solder paste and the epoxy applied to the pads is running together. The stencils I produced have the same dimensions as the pads in the footprints used with them. I suspect this is not an issue with solder paste but it doesn't work well in the application. is there an easy way to change the dimensions on the pads without altering the footprints? |
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Re: Exporting to bitmap
--- In kicad-users@..., Oliver Kirsch <oliver.d.kirsch@...> wrote:
Amazing. It works! Thank you so much. |
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Re: Kicad and Mac OS X Lion install paths.
VirtualBox works on several platforms including Mac. I see lot of Mac users use it to run other operating systems. I am Windows user but I also use VirtualBox to run various software that has particular requirements (windows version or service pack etc.) KiCad runs very nicely inside it too. Ivica From: Andy Eskelson To: kicad-users@... Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 2:12:09 PM Subject: Re: [kicad-users] Kicad and Mac OS X Lion install paths.
?
Does the mac have a VM capability?
If so you could run up a basic Linux install - Ubuntu will do and then install kicad in there. That will give you time to evaluate the programs while you sort out the mac specific parts. In kicad speak - libs are the component symbols, and modules are the footprints. However just to confuse new users, modules are often referred to as footprints :-) You get used to it. Kicad is also distributed as a binary, and as you have discovered the entire system is dumped into /usr/local/kicad... That's how I generally install kicad here (SUSE Linux) just use the file manager to show the contents of the archive then drag it into usr/local (after renaming the old version first) Modules are easy enough to make, they are not very clever, just boxes. The module editor is not very advanced, and does have some limitations but I find that it works well enough. There are 1000's of converted parts from other systems such as eagle - see the kicadlib site. That has a lot of contrib. libs and such like, and the link at the top of the page to Pierre Launay search engine will bring up loads more. There are also various libs in the files of this group. Some scripts exist that will generate some lib parts. Shouting here for a particular module often gets a response as well. Andy On Sat, 26 May 2012 20:08:52 -0700 Julie Porter <jporter@...> wrote: > I have been using Eagle and Express PCB for a while now. Neither does > exactly what I want. Recently on the PCB-Gcode list there has been a > lot of traffic about KiCad. So I thought I would take a look at it. I > am really impressed with what I have see so far. > > A short search on installing for OS X Lion lead to the following > instructions. > > <> > > These for the most part worked. I already use github, so that part was > easy. SVN seems to be installed as well, so I was able to get the > wxWigets. Through macports I was able to install Bazaar. So the > installation went well. The project opened in Xcode and built with a > lot of warnings. > > I am able to run the tools, through Xcode, but they do not talk to each > other. I moved the .app files to the proper applications directory, but > they still would not talk to each other. Since I have the development > tools set up for building the project, I was able to put in some debug > strings, witch indicate that the kicad.app is looking for the > executables in /usr/local/kicad/bin. I tried moving a copy of > eeschema.app into this path, but I still get the "Bad bundle message." > > I was able to find some 2011 instructions (partly through the wayback > machine, as a lot of the brokentoaster links are well broken.) These > lead me to load the libraries through Bazaar, so I can at least open > some of the demo files, although It seems that there is still stuff that > is not being found through the default search paths. > > These links had some sketchy stuff about installing the static parts of > the linux distribution into the /Library/Application Support. The main > kicad wiki at sourceforge seem to be broken, but the wayback machine > found the text that points to the Bazaar launchpad stuff, which was the > missing library and documentation files, although it is unclear where > the doc files for help go. > > > I am still fiddling with the help file paths. I found some code which > indicated that the docs should be /usr/local/share/doc/kicad/help. But > this code is not being called, So I am working on finding where it is > looking for the help files. > > Ideally Mac applications should be looking in the /Applications/kicad > path, as that is where mac users expect such things. The support files > are correctly placed into /Library/Application Support/Kicad, so that > part seems to work. > > Is there documentation somewhere that explains exactly where to put > things. Like the template kicad.pro? I notice when I run eeschema.app > if can not find kicad.pro template file, even though I have copied this > into a bunch of the search path possibilities. Most Mac apps tend to > put this stuff inside the .app folder which I think is still called the > Bundle, although the term bundle seems to be migrating along with the > move to i-OS. My expertise was writing postscript, so I do not write > complex apps what use multiple executables. > > At least the individual tools seem to work, but I am at a loss as to how > to get the projects to work through the main kicad entry point. > Especially as I want to be able to switch back and forth between the > schematic and the board view as I do in eagle. I did make a kicad > folder under documents, but it seems that everything is under new > project, when I would like to have separate *.pro files, with a single > schematic and board under it. > > I have not even begun to think of where to get or how to make the > footprint libraries, although most of what I use is standard SMT stuff > with Atmel and FTDI type components (I think called modules in KiCad.) > The footprint I will need to find is for SD and Micro-SD. I did notice > one of the demo things had a lot of ?? boxes, so this is probably more > problems with the paths. > > I can see why KiCad is gaining popularity, especially now that > Farnell/Newark/Element14 have decided to take Eagle into the realm of > semi-pro-tools, with a semi-pro-pricetag. I am really looking forward > to delving into using this code to make my boards. > > > -julie > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > 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 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 ! Groups Links > > > |
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Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
thank you Aaron, yes i saw it,?i hope more people mention it as an issue. it is enough to state "this affects me too", or just "i agree". i have reported several bugs, in some cases things got changed with just one comment but this is not always the case. bugs that get more attention do get resolved faster. with comments from 4-5 users,?this is likely to be done with the next
release. so fellow KiCad users, don't be lazy and report what bugs bug you... :-) Ivica From: Aaron Wolfe To: "kicad-users@..." Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 3:51:35 PM Subject: Re: [kicad-users] Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
?
Ivica, I added my two cents onto your bug report, so that makes the count on that bug 2!? Maybe a few more will join.
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Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
Aaron Wolfe
Ivica, I added my two cents onto your bug report, so that makes the count on that bug 2!? Maybe a few more will join.
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Re: Exporting to bitmap
Hi,
Which is the best method for exporting KiCad board in bitmap (raster) file ?I don't know if this is any help, but you could try inkscape's convert function without GUI via console by using: inkscape -z -e outout-file.png --export-dpi=600 input-file.svg Regards, Oli |
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Re: Kicad and Mac OS X Lion install paths.
Andy Eskelson
Does the mac have a VM capability?
If so you could run up a basic Linux install - Ubuntu will do and then install kicad in there. That will give you time to evaluate the programs while you sort out the mac specific parts. In kicad speak - libs are the component symbols, and modules are the footprints. However just to confuse new users, modules are often referred to as footprints :-) You get used to it. Kicad is also distributed as a binary, and as you have discovered the entire system is dumped into /usr/local/kicad... That's how I generally install kicad here (SUSE Linux) just use the file manager to show the contents of the archive then drag it into usr/local (after renaming the old version first) Modules are easy enough to make, they are not very clever, just boxes. The module editor is not very advanced, and does have some limitations but I find that it works well enough. There are 1000's of converted parts from other systems such as eagle - see the kicadlib site. That has a lot of contrib. libs and such like, and the link at the top of the page to Pierre Launay search engine will bring up loads more. There are also various libs in the files of this group. Some scripts exist that will generate some lib parts. Shouting here for a particular module often gets a response as well. Andy On Sat, 26 May 2012 20:08:52 -0700 Julie Porter <jporter@...> wrote: I have been using Eagle and Express PCB for a while now. Neither does |
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Exporting to bitmap
Which is the best method for exporting KiCad board in bitmap (raster) file ?
I used SVG + Inkscape, but with the recent board its export to raster function fails. Inkscape just freezes. I tried DXF and HPGL, but resulting polygons has no fill. I need PNG,TIF or GIF with 600 dpi resolution. |
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Kicad and Mac OS X Lion install paths.
Julie Porter
I have been using Eagle and Express PCB for a while now. Neither does exactly what I want. Recently on the PCB-Gcode list there has been a lot of traffic about KiCad. So I thought I would take a look at it. I am really impressed with what I have see so far.
A short search on installing for OS X Lion lead to the following instructions. <> These for the most part worked. I already use github, so that part was easy. SVN seems to be installed as well, so I was able to get the wxWigets. Through macports I was able to install Bazaar. So the installation went well. The project opened in Xcode and built with a lot of warnings. I am able to run the tools, through Xcode, but they do not talk to each other. I moved the .app files to the proper applications directory, but they still would not talk to each other. Since I have the development tools set up for building the project, I was able to put in some debug strings, witch indicate that the kicad.app is looking for the executables in /usr/local/kicad/bin. I tried moving a copy of eeschema.app into this path, but I still get the "Bad bundle message." I was able to find some 2011 instructions (partly through the wayback machine, as a lot of the brokentoaster links are well broken.) These lead me to load the libraries through Bazaar, so I can at least open some of the demo files, although It seems that there is still stuff that is not being found through the default search paths. These links had some sketchy stuff about installing the static parts of the linux distribution into the /Library/Application Support. The main kicad wiki at sourceforge seem to be broken, but the wayback machine found the text that points to the Bazaar launchpad stuff, which was the missing library and documentation files, although it is unclear where the doc files for help go. I am still fiddling with the help file paths. I found some code which indicated that the docs should be /usr/local/share/doc/kicad/help. But this code is not being called, So I am working on finding where it is looking for the help files. Ideally Mac applications should be looking in the /Applications/kicad path, as that is where mac users expect such things. The support files are correctly placed into /Library/Application Support/Kicad, so that part seems to work. Is there documentation somewhere that explains exactly where to put things. Like the template kicad.pro? I notice when I run eeschema.app if can not find kicad.pro template file, even though I have copied this into a bunch of the search path possibilities. Most Mac apps tend to put this stuff inside the .app folder which I think is still called the Bundle, although the term bundle seems to be migrating along with the move to i-OS. My expertise was writing postscript, so I do not write complex apps what use multiple executables. At least the individual tools seem to work, but I am at a loss as to how to get the projects to work through the main kicad entry point. Especially as I want to be able to switch back and forth between the schematic and the board view as I do in eagle. I did make a kicad folder under documents, but it seems that everything is under new project, when I would like to have separate *.pro files, with a single schematic and board under it. I have not even begun to think of where to get or how to make the footprint libraries, although most of what I use is standard SMT stuff with Atmel and FTDI type components (I think called modules in KiCad.) The footprint I will need to find is for SD and Micro-SD. I did notice one of the demo things had a lot of ?? boxes, so this is probably more problems with the paths. I can see why KiCad is gaining popularity, especially now that Farnell/Newark/Element14 have decided to take Eagle into the realm of semi-pro-tools, with a semi-pro-pricetag. I am really looking forward to delving into using this code to make my boards. -julie |
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Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
i was dealing with same problem and asked for help. eventually i reported this as a bug about half a year ago, but the status is still 'undecided' and nobody was assigned to look into it.?they use bug heat index as indicator of seriousness of the issue, if couple of users add their feedback, this may get higher priority. care to chime in? ?? From: Jeff Kaskey To: "kicad-users@..." Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2012 2:11:48 AM Subject: Re: [kicad-users] Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
?
Ack, I have 40+ pages in my schematics. This really counts as a bug for KiCad. The tool spontaneously resets the page number which changes the ref des generation, losing all the benefits of having the numbers based on the page number. Worse, since KiCad does not have a way to tell you what page a signal goes to, I have taken up a fairly common practice of including a single page which is simply a graphic explaining the page number of each section. This makes is easier to wade through a multi-page schematic, at least up until KiCad changes the page numbers and the graphic is full of bad information. -J From: Patrick Maupin To: kicad-users@... Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 8:51 PM Subject: Re: [kicad-users] Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
?
I haven't done this in a couple of years, but before when I had this issue, I clicked save on all the sheets in reverse order, I think. On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 1:49 PM, AW <a_wolfie@...> wrote:
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Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
Ack, I have 40+ pages in my schematics. This really counts as a bug for KiCad. The tool spontaneously resets the page number which changes the ref des generation, losing all the benefits of having the numbers based on the page number. Worse, since KiCad does not have a way to tell you what page a signal goes to, I have taken up a fairly common practice of including a single page which is simply a graphic explaining the page number of each section. This makes is easier to wade through a multi-page schematic, at least up until KiCad changes the page numbers and the graphic is full of bad information. -J From: Patrick Maupin To: kicad-users@... Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 8:51 PM Subject: Re: [kicad-users] Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
?
I haven't done this in a couple of years, but before when I had this issue, I clicked save on all the sheets in reverse order, I think. On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 1:49 PM, AW <a_wolfie@...> wrote:
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Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
I haven't done this in a couple of years, but before when I had this issue, I clicked save on all the sheets in reverse order, I think.
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On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 1:49 PM, AW <a_wolfie@...> wrote:
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Re: Hierarchy sheet numbers changing
AW
I was looking for a solution regarding this today too. I know this is an old post by Karl, but I figured it would be good to reply just the same.
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After messing around with a text editor I think I figured out what dictates the sheet order... It is the order that the sheet shows up in the base .sch file when editing it with a text editor (search the file for $Sheet, there should be one for each sheet in the schematic file open). To get my sheets to have the correct order I had to move them in order in the text file, lowest sheet number first. The "Sheet" indication at the top of the .sch file seems to have nothing to do with the actual sheet numbering. I only have three sheets, so I don't know what happens when you get into complicated hierarchy and nested sheets, but this is a start for knowing how sheet numbers are determined. Aaron --- In kicad-users@..., Karl Ekdahl <elektrodwarf@...> wrote:
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Layer Setup Type.
I recently look at the menu Design Rules --> Layer Setup in PCBNew and find that is possible to define a type for each layer. These types are:
Signal Power Mixed Jumper I read in the PCBNew help that these attributes are useful forn an "external routing application". I'm not a very big fan of autorouting boards but when the board is simple this is a great help. I want to know if there is an autorouter program that can work with KiCAD besides freerouter, beacause the latter don't support "types" for each layer. This property is something that I ask to the freerouter designer but he wouldn't do. There is another utility for this option in KiCAD (Layer Setup --> Type of each layer)? Thanks in advance. Regards, Mauro. |
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Re: Can I add custom fields & footprints to schematic library parts?
jimbojr80
Thanks Oli - I guess things have moved since the tutorial I was looking at which is why I got a bit confused!
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--- In kicad-users@..., Oliver Kirsch <oliver.d.kirsch@...> wrote:
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