KiCad power use: the most out of 8.0
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- Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
- There's always more than I can video: get updates/tips psychogenic.ck.page/d7b00b9db5
My favorite kicad 8 enhancements and optimizations: all the tools and tweaks that keep me in flow and focused on design. I'll show my favorite bits related to net classes, grids, hotkey optimization and more.
This assumes you're already comfortable with Kicad and want to leverage all the bits to get peak performance out of it. If you're new to kicad, Phil's Lab has some great walk-through that cover everything from the start:
• KiCad 7 STM32 Bluetoot...
If you have an hacks, tricks or tweaks I haven't covered, please comment and let me know: I'm always eager to get better at this. Also let me know if any of the techniques shown were unclear!
If you think kicad is awesome and want to help make it even betterer, head to
donate.kicad.org/
and give them a hand :-D 
Наука
I'm unreasonable happy about the power label being editable. This one of those things that brings me much joy but no one around me will understand my joy.
I know! I agree, and I know how you feel. Half the reason I put these videos out is to get a little proof I'm not the only one who cares about these things, hah!! 😀
@@PsychogenicTechnologies You guys are certainly not alone! I work with systems that have three, four or more separate isolated ground/power domains, and have to distinguish them by naming scheme, so this development is very helpful.
We are all happy about this :)
I'm still waiting for kicad to implement a harness feature like Altiums. Their 'bus' is almost there, but still super ugly in comparison.
@@JLK89 Yeah, the "unfold from bus" is kinda somewhat useful, but frankly I mostly use the bus to clarify notation more than for any optimization/simplification of use--I actually find getting it done more work than if I'd just used labels and benefits are... unclear. So, def some improvements possible there. I don't know the altium harness feature, will try and take a look, see if it leads to inspiration :)
In addition to the core content, I can say I also appreciated the factorio t-shirt and the "all your base" meme reference.
Not sure if you are joking or if you are talking about another video of his, but he is wearing the open source hardware logo :P factorio is a full cog
Hi David! Yeah, Håkon is right about the shirt (though the top half we see most of the time could be either)... as for the all your base: I didn't know if anyone would catch that, hah!! awesome
And here comes my subscription to this channel. I love how quickly you are able to deliver the message.
Thanks, and welcome :) I'm trying to put out more kicad (but also pnp, ASIC and more project-specific) videos every few weeks or so at least until summer's in full swing--hope you'll find them entertaining/informative. Cheers!
Amazing overview! Exactly what I was looking for since the release. Hard to come by such quality and relecancy on RUclips sometime.
Thank you Alexander, that means a lot to me :)
Your overview style blows my mind, and someday, I can only hope to keep up with you...but I enjoyed it, so please, keep making these, and thank you!!!
Thanks Jim, I much appreciate the feedback. I've got tons of ideas, and even footage, for videos but have been lagging in my delivery as things never seem to slow down. Am thinking of trying to put out "quickies" on specific topics (that's what I'd called the playlist, but I always seem to lean towards grand ideas that take such an investment to produce that they just don't get done). I have a bunch of ASIC and pick and place content to sort through, but I'd like to intersperse it with little nuggets of kicad like this one.
Thanks again, encouragement like this is what gets me to bust out the camera and the editing software! Cheers
Super stoked about the improvements to the BOM/bulk edit :)
Agreed, finding it really nice!
Having this be the most prominent "KiCAD 8" video 24 hours after its release definitely helped me find it - while it didn't help me figure out why I'm suddenly having trouble with the footprint editor (a custom library isn't showing up even though I added it the same way in KiCAD 7 less than a week ago. EDIT: after restarting KiCAD, seems to work now), I was happy to see a well done tour of "new" things for 8. Your use of KiCAD is clearly more sophisticated than mine, so... subscribed! :)
I really like this video, useful and straight to the point! I browsed your other videos and they seem super interesting! If they are as good as this one, I would be really really glad that RUclips suggested me to come here. Might have discovered a treasure!
Well welcome, I hope you do feel you've discovered a treasure :) I try to share what I find that I think might be interesting or useful--we might not have exactly the same interests all the time, but I hope I can enhance some bits you are interested in and maybe illuminate some corners you wouldn't have known about otherwise.
Thanks for the feedback and always feel free to tell me what you think. Cheers
Killer video. I've been using the RCs for a hot minute but had missed a lot of these features. Thanks for the breakdown and looking forward towards the follow-up!
Thanks for the feedback, Brian, much appreciated! I've got some pick&place videos on the stack I've been promising to deliver for a good while now, but I've got a whole lot more I'm excited to say on the newer kicad functionality: am hoping to get those out in not-too-long(tm). If you happen on anything particularly useful I haven't touched on, would love to hear about it. Cheers!
Great video as always Pat!
Thanks, Noel :-D
I have been using Eagle since KiCad 5. I just swapped back to Kicad 8 and could not be happier with the library improvements. I have yet to explore almost any of the other new features, and its already a huge improvement lol.
Your video series are awesmly helpful
Thank you, Dhishoom--this is the kind of feedback that fuels the effort :) Cheers
Amazing, im just an average user of KiCad and seeing someone truly using it at this leves is amazing. I want to keep learning now.
Hello Sergio: yes, and it's exactly the same for me! There is, happily, no end to the hunt for knowledge and skill. In fact, one of the comments on this very video taught me that selecting with a drag acts differently depending on if you're moving left or right!! Hah, had no clue. Enjoy the journey and when you find something interesting, share it (maybe even with me :-D ). Cheers!
Thanks for sharing, looking forward to your walk trough.
And thanks for the feedback, Rick. I'm working on it, trying to decide what's worthy as an endeavor that'll be complex enough without getting lost in too many project-specific weeds.
Probably have to deliver on my promise of Pick & Place video(s) soon, too--and I'd really like to talk about sim... workin' on all of it, hope to knock a few out soon.
Woah boy that was quick! I just read about kicad 8.0 yesterday and boy is is nice to see a walkthrough of the changes. I will probably upgrade from 7.10 later today. Thanks a ton!
Hi! Yeah, been evaluating RCs for a bit already. I appreciate the feedback, cheers!
Ive been using fusion 360 electronics because I pay for a license for not electronics (I dont think anyone would pay for it.....), and this is what Ive been waiting on to really give making a transition a change. Even trying to make getting parts off easyeda not painful.
@@BeefIngot Hi! If you haven't seen it, I think you'll enjoy this: ruclips.net/video/inf5ETqLLGA/видео.html Nice details about easy easyeda 2 kicad from atomic14!
@genicTechnologiesI've actually been using it since we had this exchange and its been great. I've had to change a few details in footprints/move references/add courtyards etc, but its made my transition from Fusion much better/has added the huge benefit of being able to use JLCPCBs part catalog which seems to have a lot of different versions of similar things and low quantities of the usual brands I'm used to seeing.
I have a lot more to do but I've already almost wrapped up a PCB design for a test stand I've already made the physical components/design for. I wish I could share an image link directly, but if you are curious D5kBMN3.png on imgur is the board.
I'm currently working on getting a step file out with edge cut holes, silk screens etc/setting up stepup in Freecad to export to Fusion.
This is the second PCB I've ever designed and I've yet to receive the first to know just how beginner I really am 😅
Thanks very much for the tip
@@PsychogenicTechnologies I've actually been using it since we had this exchange and its been great. I've had to change a few details in footprints/move references/add courtyards etc, but its made my transition from Fusion much better/has added the huge benefit of being able to use JLCPCBs part catalog which seems to have a lot of different versions of similar things and low quantities of the usual brands I'm used to seeing.
I have a lot more to do but I've already almost wrapped up a PCB design for a test stand I've already made the physical components/design for. I wish I could share an image link directly, but if you are curious dJyFCQq on imgur is the board.
I'm currently working on getting a step file out with edge cut holes, silk screens etc/setting up stepup in Freecad to export to Fusion.
This is the second PCB I've ever designed and I've yet to receive the first to know just how beginner I really am 😅
Thanks very much for the tip
You guesses it right! It is released this week.
Time to actually use it and got my workflow and productivity much higher :)
Yes, have been having a blast but still building some reflexes (I still forget some of the tools like the search panel). Going to be fun--let me know if you hit on any other cool bits/tricks!
You deserve 3 Michelin stars for electronics. Thanks fo keeping us updated. Was just wondering whats new in KiCad 8.
Thank you! I'm excited to share what I find and hope to have a few more kicad-related videos in the near future. Thanks again for the feedback :-D
5:33 Ok, "They set us up the bomb!". That brought me way back.
hah, yah! Dunno how many caught it, but only David (above) and you mentioned it--tells me you've been at least elbow-deep in tech for a while now ;-)
100% agree with spending time using keyboard shortcuts. The productivity gains from that are more than anything else you can do in sch/PCB design.
Great video!
Thanks Filip!
I took a screenshot of those shortcuts. Gonna try it out this week!
@@stephenklatt7816 and you can customise them as suggested in the video so they are easily accessible with your non-mouse hand
These were my favorites, but there are more really neat goodies in there. I just discovered this:
www.kicad.org/video_clips/blog/2024/release-8.0.0/pin-helpers.mp4
Let me know if you find any others you think are awesome :)
this was very helpful, great video!
Very glad to hear it, thanks for taking the time to let me know 😀
You are awesome. Thank you for sharing this info !
Super happy this is useful, thanks a lot for the feedback!
I LOVE this type of video! More please! You might even consider doing a "lets route" or "lets capture" (ala "lets play") where you narrate your workflow as you work on a design. It might be easier to do VO afterwards? Anyhoo, keep up the awesome work
OMG I'm a dummy, you already do this
*facepalm*
Thanks Bryan! I never certain just how deep to go with these, and aren't certain how well I could do both the mental work and the narrating for full projects, but you're right I could just record the whole thing and maybe skip just talk at the start and end of each section with any important bits highlighted--like "ok, now we need to wire up the SPI flash... important thing is to have a pull-up on this line" whateverwhatever, and skip some of the deets. It becomes a good job in editing, but would probably let me do circuits without tooo many mistakes, while delivering a more detailed walk-through. At the moment, have some spice and asic stuff and some pick&place that I've been meaning to put out, but I do have a bunch of extra kicad things to say, so your comment encourages me to keep at that too. Thanks again, cheers.
dang 8 is looking gooooood
It's a great New and it is a Really good video. Thanks you for sharing
Thanks Luciano!
Cool. I don’t know 8 was out. But as it’s out today that makes sense. Downloading after dinner :)
Been playing with a few of the RC candidates, but couldn't wait until official, as I didn't want to advance on any of the realdeal projects (and muck with the source files) until it was official. Have fun, please share any interesting finds, impressions :)
Yay! Editing power labels!
Yessss, Just the other day found myself in an internal debate of the "well, I certainly can't have both +3.3V and +3V3 supplies, but I do need to differentiate them, but VCC and VDD isn't precise enough, but I'm a lazy slug and don't want to have to create another symbol" type. No more! :)
Wow, I was looking at the new KiCad 8 stuff when I found your channel, and what do you know, It is the same guy from Wokwi. Great stuff, both channels, keep it up. 😉👍
Yes! I've been working on fresh content for both channels and will get moving on that front as soon as I get back from Latch-Up. Thanks for the feedback!
This is awesome
Thanks!! 😀
Lol, they finally set us up the BOM! ❤🎉
Hah, yes! Might be the speed but I think it's the youtube demographics: either way, very few seem to have caught that one, lol!
I hope some day KiCad will allow to have a complicated projects with multiple boards and levels of schematic.
Multiple boards would be really cool--happens a lot that I wind up interconnecting multiple PCBs as part of a whole, and having it all together in one meta package of some sort, that describes interconnections but lets each layout be a distinct thing would be awesome.
This is very timely. I spent an hour yesterday complaining that I couldn't add a net to a polygon on the copper layer in KiCAD 7. LOL 😂
hah! Sounds like it came to you one day too late, lol. Or maybe... hey, could you spend an hour complaining about the millions missing from my bank account? Might be something in it for you... (will let you know tomorrow).
I heard that complaining makes you live longer, so it has that benefit at least. Let me know how it goes 🤣. I just migrated from multisim/Ultiboard and that's how you made high current traces. I was only 4 or 5 in before I realized you needed to use the "copper pour" feature in KiCAD
Wow I need to install it.
Yeah, give it a spin, let me know what you think and find!
@@PsychogenicTechnologies I seem to use KiCad once a year around this time.
Last year I had to design a schematic and pcb around this time too and was impressed with the improvements 7 had given me over 6 the previous year 🤣it’s great software especially for being free.
Love it! Can't wait for it to be available on Debian in 2035!
hahahouch!! XD
More kicad stuff ❤
Yes! On the way, though I have also have been promising a bit of pick&place content for a while now, which I'm going to deliver (at some point!!)
Hey Pat, nice video. Did you have any issues with opening KiCad 7 projects with KiCad 8?
No issues at all (yet), though it's a one-way trip once you save
Great video! If possible, talk a little about the integration of FreeRouting into KiCad. It seems like the way it's done has changed a lot and so far I haven't been able to make it work... thanks
Hi Francisco! First: thanks for the feedback, glad you found it useful/enjoyable. Also, that's a good suggestion... I'm def not an expert on that front, though, and have these past years insisted on doing my routing manually but I am curious to try it out and see where we're at. If you happen to discover hints/tricks to get it going, let me (us) know!
subscribed
Wow! Some cool enhancements. I like being able to add a little bit of colour to schematics, even if only for two or three classes of signals. Without having looked into it (I'm a very occasional KiCad user), I would hope that in the PCB editor there is the ability to display tracks on a given layer in a single colour regardless of their colour in the schematic. Otherwise, multi-layer work could become very confusing very quickly.
Oh, yes, you're right: with the coloured nets it can actually look like there are shorts where there aren't any, because you lose the ability to know what layer you're on. However, colour-by-layer is the original and default behaviour: classically red for top layer, green for bottom, yellow for in1, some sort of pink for in2... those are the ones I know by heart (configurable of course). I switch between both views--sometimes I'm caring about stackup, sometimes about logical families, and it's more this ability to focus on either aspect than the colours themselves, that I find uber useful.
@PsychogenicTechnologies Thanks! That's really good info. I always selected my own colour pallete for the layers to suit my needs. I think nets coloured by classification could be useful, but it's a whole new way of looking at a board, especially if manually routing.
@@GodmanchesterGoblin absolutely. I always route manually, and now use the colours to highlight important/sensitive tracks (high speed, diff pairs, analog) and things that should go together for some reason (like any group that cares about skew or whatever). Then I use it in phases, like I'll start with power and all the hyper sensitive stuff, then work mostly in colour-by-layer, then get big picture view and do validation correction back in netlist colours etc. I like it a lot.
Behold! The powah of Kicad 8.0! :D
Pin helper :my new fav feature
Yeah, pretty awesome and I actually completely missed that one! I bet there are at least a few more gems in there for me to discover...
There ia pne hidden gem, VIM mapping in pcbnew,i am working on it video, its truely helpful plus 'F' key in pcbnew so much helpful (hotkeys helps alot, my mapping alt+[wasd] and alt[vh] and alt+tab to get to pqrent heirqchy sheet, alt1 to import sheet pins, q to add lable, alt+q to convert in sheetlable,alt+ctrl+q to convert in global.
ooh, that BoM might be what moves me over from Eagle :D
I had my scripts setup, and really there's nothing I couldn't do with them. But it was so opaque, and making changes meant playing with Python... let's call it "suboptimal". So yeah, I think that's a really neat and useful feature and a wise addition :)
Nice
:-D
Dang! I need proper models for my simulations.
The number of times I've been hijacked by my own inability to accurately copy from LTSpice (which is my usual go-to due to it being free and having lots of models - how good they are, I don't know) is legendary.
I've jiggered several production prototypes (at fairly great cost to me in time and money) simply because I did something like copy-paste a bunch of resistors for speed and then forget to change the value of one of them. A simulation would pick stuff like that up, but models are a gotcha for me and I've been less than effective at getting the ones I did find to work.
Op Amps are a particular bugbear since I'm not good enough to read a SPICE model, I have little or no idea were the pin assignments appear. I know this is fairly basic stuff but I don't know where to start.
Ah, yes. The models, what a thorn... but I do think having everything in one place, schem and sim, is super powerful, and have found some pretty good ways to work with ngspice within kicad. Am hoping 3rd time will be the charm: twice already, I'd started a video specifically on the topic and, by the time I got around to editing, well kicad had made things different and better. Going to try again, this time do it all in one go with v8, and finally put something useful out there.
Thanks for the comment, Marc!
@@PsychogenicTechnologies Totally agree with your response. I've never been near to Altium and their prices, I won't be any time ... ever.
But KiCAD is more than enough and your video had some excellent suggestions for productivity.
One thing I wish they would "fix" is the cut/paste so that I could paste an op amp (specifically) from the part selector and have it align the inputs. I expect the same could apply to other parts too if they are bilaterally mirrored in some direction.
It's a minor one but it's caught me out before (on a production board too). My fault of course but this is where even a "one size doesn't fit anyone well but it keeps you drier" raincoat. op amp would come in amazingly handy.
Seems a good fit and would just have to be "ideal" to check basic functionality.
The tab in edit is a killer cause if you’re in there it’s probably not for V. Loving your workflow though. Kicad starting to give altium a run for it’s money.
Can't believe it'd be a super hard thing to fix... there might, however, be some logic for how it's working that escapes me... will go bother them in the discord when the 8.0 release dust settles. Thanks for the feedback (also cool username XD ), cheers
Super summary blipvert, appreciated!; grab yourself a coffee! Thanks! :)
Thank you, Clark, and thanks a lot--I will enjoy a coffee on you 😀
I am still on Kicad 5. I think I need to upgrad. 🙂
Only three years overdue ;)
A case of "if it ain't broke..." ? heh, well 5 is where I found kicad really started getting shiny, but yeah, that was a little while ago now and it might be worth trying out something a little more fresh. Have fun!
Tools like Altium, can also be used to design harnesses. Can KiCad8 easily lend itself to design System Wiring diagrams?
Hello Ben, this is the second time this week I've seen mentions of Altium's harness capabilities--I still don't get how different it is from just defining buses, but it's not something I've used and it must have some interesting functionality I'm unaware of (can you clue me in--what's the biggest selling point of the harness design system, to you?).
Anyway, I'm not aware of anything specific for this in kicad as of yet (maybe someone else here can chime in?)
For wires that stay on the same sheet I would not use global labels. Just use net labels. This makes your schematics look cleaner and you are not forced to create unique names for an entire project. Global labels should be used only for wires running across several sheets. At least this is what I do. Otherwise, great tips !
Fact is, I agree with you on the globals. I may have made a bad decision in using them for this, but the circuit is an open hardware/community type thing, and hopes to be as self-documenting as possible.
And labels... don't have DIRECTION! There's not enough differentiation with text, to me, and they don't have the added clarity the global labels provide to say "signal is coming out of here" "signal is read by this pin" that the globals have. So, on occasion and depending on audience, I'll abuse the globals like this.
@@PsychogenicTechnologies Fair points! Maybe it’s just that I come from software development, so seeing “globals” used as “locals” feel kind of out of place to me. For single sheet projects it certainly makes little difference, but for very repetitive highly hierarchical projects, global labels quickly become a mess. On the other hand you can safely use net labels in sub-sheets and they remain unique on every instance. In order to tell signal direction I tend to place inputs on the left and outputs on the right, whenever possible, or make it explicit through label names. Anyway I’m far from an expert here, and I appreciate your reply and insights !
Did you know that you can use AFNOR SPEC 2212 for your design rules? I've made a video on the subject if you're interested. Thanks for the video!
That is cool, I think: I actually had to look up the spec and the AFNOR itself. Haven't had time to look into it yet, but am curious and have many questions. Does the spec supplement or supplant IPC stuff? What's the advantage, how stringent/compatible is it with, say, cheaper chinese fab capabilities? Anyway, I've queued "Conception de circuits imprimés : une révolution pour la vérification des règles de conception !" -- is this the vid in question?
Thanks for the pointer, cheers.
@@PsychogenicTechnologies Yes, this is the video. It explains the importance of routing parameters and how to choose their values. I show that the manufacturers' limit values, the NF C93-713 standard and the IPC do not meet our needs, unlike AFNOR SPEC 2212. The values comply with IPC 2 and 3. They are complementary. If you're interested in the subject, I've set up a free training course on my site (France CAO) and created dynamic tables to easily search for AFNOR SPEC 2212 values. The video is in French, but an automatic subtitle translation is available (pending audio translation from RUclips "Aloud") as for the website. I've translated the dynamic tables, which you'll also find on the website. This document is a real revolution for designers. There are 10 routing classes to choose from, allowing you to select design values according to the complexity of your board, and thus adapt the price and difficulty of manufacture. There's a lot more to say. I'm preparing two more videos to complete the training.
Yes, this is the video. It explains the importance of routing parameters and how to choose their values. I show that the manufacturers' limit values, the NF C93-713 standard and the IPC do not meet our needs, unlike AFNOR SPEC 2212. The values comply with IPC 2 and 3. They are complementary. If you're interested in the subject, I've set up a free training course on my site (France CAO) and created dynamic tables to easily search for AFNOR SPEC 2212 values. The video is in French, but an automatic subtitle translation is available (pending audio translation from RUclips "Aloud") as for the website. I've translated the dynamic tables, which you'll also find on the website. This document is a real revolution for designers. There are 10 routing classes to choose from, allowing you to select design values according to the complexity of your board, and thus adapt the price and difficulty of manufacture. There's a lot more to say. I'm preparing two more videos to complete the training.
@@france-cao That's great, ok, will check it out for sure. A noter, je suis a Montreal, le francais: pas vraiment un probleme :-) merci/ciao!
Ah super, n'hésite pas à me contacter alors si la vidéo ne t'apporte pas toutes les réponses. Montréal est une ville géniale, j'y suis allé deux fois et j'ai de très bons souvenirs !
Hi. Can you explain, how can to Export the pcb of kicad to easyeda or eaglecad?
I have to admit, I don't know. I'm aware that kicad has had--and has recently done lots more work on--importing from from a number of EDAs, including both of those, but I haven't looked into any way of exporting to non-kicad formats. It would probably be easier to look for eagle/easyeda imports of kicad format that the other way 'round, I would imagine.
Power is editable?!! HUGE!!
I know, right? Hadn't realized just how much I wanted this until it came out, nor how many felt the same!
P.S. love the username, AngryMosfet! :-D Please don't fly(back) off the handle, heh
yes, completely new to kicad - where's this link?
Hello! Well it pops up at the top of the video when I mention it, and it's in the description, but I happen to have an extra link with me, which you may use:
ruclips.net/video/nkHFoxe0mrU/видео.html
:-D
I think you'll enjoy a number of his videos--there are more leisurely walkthroughs of each step, and his expertise runs deep. Have fun!
"That's sweet!" 3:09 🤪
Yes! It has upsides and downsides (recently was trying to set the grid to something else and it would pop back to settings as soon as I tried to wire, which was annoying... haven't found a workaround/way to say "override prefs" yet). But mostly upsides, I really like this :)
I tried to use Kicad but just could not get the hang of it coming form easyeda.
It was a while back now, but I came at it from eagle and though it's getting a bit hazy I do remember some aspects being really alien... some of the manipulation controls, how footprints were associated--there was definitely a learning curve. I have come to love kicad and think it was worth the effort, but truth is that if you've not hit any hard limits with your tool or can work around them, and are satisfied with the flow and what you can accomplish, might as well stick with it.
These features are great news, but highlight my frustration with KiCAD generally, that this is mostly really basic UI stuff and should have been there a long time ago. The historical UX of KiCAD really shows it was written by a subset of end users for their own needs with no real appreciation of software UX. The awful bulk properties editors should just be gone now there are properties sidebars, I should be able to select anything and edit any shared/common properties on those objects. It also highlights the lack of disconnected development between PCBNew and EESchema that colours aren't brought over for nets etc. I just hope the dire footprint editor has been improved as that has to be one of my biggest gripes as I am really tired of having to use a CAD package to get a novel footprint built.
Hi Neil! Ah, yeah... I can really see both sides of this: I totally agree with you on most of that and also am absolutely guilty of doing exactly the same thing, hah. I'm terrible at UI and UX--and it's not even that I wasn't trying but, when you're too close the bare metal/data structure/db/whatever, it seems really hard to break away and look at things from the UX side. And, ok, I'll admit that the zillion edge cases and ways users break everything drives me nuts ("Just use it RIGHT!!1!" hah, the absolute opposite of the way an interface designer should think), and you wind up just wanting to get back to what you were doing, your itch finally scratched.
That's not the way to wind up with a usable, polished, enjoyable, professional interface/tool. And, though kicad had more people and more time than most of my dreadful UI work, I think it suffered from similar types of history and attitude, plus the fact is was a number of disparate projects getting smooshed together.
Anyhow, that's all excuses and, if you presume to make a usable GUI program, you have to get over all that and get it done right at some point. Took a while, but I think they're getting there and as the program gains traction, momentum and support (cash), that will just accelerate.
On the other hand, I actually like the bulk edit and basically use a whole lot of math to create and place pads in the footprint editor (I love that the fields just let me directly translate the logic and info of engineering diagrams into position, for example... "ah yes, y will be (1.27/2)+((14.58-2.54)/2)" or whatever), and so I use lots of that, and ctrl-T and ctrl-M... a steep learning curve, maybe, but I've personally no complaints there.
@@PsychogenicTechnologies100% agree I first saw it transitioning in the differences between 5.x and 5.99, I felt they were really significant. What really saddens me, is KiCAD dev feels exclusionary. I am a UX software engineer first, I could easily and have regularly, seriously contemplated contributing to this O/S software I get a ton of value from, yet every time I read a KiCAD forum post it is always "you should know better" etc, you need to learn how "we" do things etc, "it is our way or the highway". 6.x+ feels like that attitude might be changing, but why take on those battles - I do that in my day job, I'm not doing it for fun. The problem is I'd love to contribute, but I find it a very unfriendly and TBH conceited community compared to other O/S communities I have been involved in.
Is there an easy way to upgrade from 7 to 8 while keeping all the custom symbols and stuff (that I left in the default locations instead of in an external library)? I’ll be going Linux soon so I hope package managers will handle that all for me. I went through all the P-channel MOSFET symbols and flipped them so the body diode points upwards, as god intended, I’ll be damned if the update reverts that. Or even better, CHANGE THE DEFAULT P-CHANNEL FET ORIENTATION! Already lost one board revision on that, spent a few hours bending legs to get TO-220s to fit.
Oh, sadness. I can't answer for anything other than Linux, but can tell you: when I was playing with the release candidates, I was running kicad 7 and 8 side by side, and it would've been a simple matter to add the symbol and/or footprint libs from 7 to 8 (in terms of paths, potential naming collisions are another story).
However, as far as I can tell, the upgrade to 8 just squashed all the old libs in /usr/share/kicad/*
So, my first bit of advice is, at a minimum, get yourself a copy/backup of anything you've edited in the standard symbol libs.
It should actually be a pretty simple matter to configure some path KICAD7_SYMBOL_DIR var and import all of those libs--as long as they don't get overwritten by the upgrade. Main problem I foresee is untangling all the 7 vs 8 duplicates you'll wind up with if you do it this way.
I have a number of custom libraries, to which I add things like your corrected P-FETs and then it's just a matter of making certain they're in the config as globally available libs after any major update like this, and they'll never be overwritten by updates etc--I'd recommend this approach moving forward.
As far as I know, EVERYTHING in the libraries KiCAD comes with is getting nuked every time you upgrade - those should be treated as effectively read-only. If you want to change anything about them you'll either have to create your own custom libraries from the defaults, or you'll have to do some rather creative lib location wrangling completely manually each time you upgrade.
@@AttilaAsztalos Yeah, agreed. Find it a little odd how the various KICADN_* paths seem to be accumulating, tho (like KICAD7_SYMBOL_DIR etc under my linux anyway)... you'd think it might be to avoid jostling everything around on each update, but it all winds up in the same place, as far as I can tell.
Almost unrelated, but how do people get schematics like those on easyeda/jlcpcb into Kicad without just rewriting the footprints and schematics? Surely theres gotta be a way to scrape/export?
I've found how to get the step files for any given part, but the foot prints and schematics in a non painful manner, linked with the 3d parts would be really nice.
I don't have any good answer/experience for you there, but actually did see an atomic14 video on the topic go by pretty recently that might be useful:
ruclips.net/video/inf5ETqLLGA/видео.html
@@PsychogenicTechnologies This looks like exactly like what I want.... I feel stupid for not having found it and starting to create my own script. Not sure if poor Google Fu due to assuming it was too niche to exist and giving up early or subconscious not made here syndrome.
Definitely going to give it a try.
Seems pretty fancy, converting all of the various aspects of footprints/schematics and bringing in step files.
@@BeefIngot Yeah, have been down that road a few times myself, and only happened upon that specific info by chance, as I keep an eye on Chris' channel and watch pretty much anything he puts out!
@@PsychogenicTechnologies I've actually been using it since we had this exchange and its been great. I've had to change a few details in footprints/move references/add courtyards etc, but its made my transition from Fusion much better/has added the huge benefit of being able to use JLCPCBs part catalog which seems to have a lot of different versions of similar things and low quantities of the usual brands I'm used to seeing.
I have a lot more to do but I've already almost wrapped up a PCB design for a test stand I've already made the physical components/design for. I wish I could share an image directly, but if you are curious dJyFCQq on imgur is the board.
I'm currently working on getting a step file out with edge cut holes, silk screens etc/setting up stepup in Freecad to export to Fusion.
This is the second PCB I've ever designed and I've yet to receive the first to know just how beginner I really am 😅
Thanks very much for the tip
@@PsychogenicTechnologies I've actually been using it since we had that exchange and it's been great. I've had to change a few details in footprints, move references, add courtyards etc, but its made my transition from Fusion much better and has added the huge benefit of being able to use JLCPCBs part catalog which seems to have a lot of different versions of similar things and low quantities of the usual brands I'm used to seeing.
I have a lot more to do but I've already almost wrapped up a PCB design for a test stand I've already made the physical components/design for. I wish I could share an image directly, but if you are curious dJyFCQq on imgur is the board.
I'm currently working on getting a step file out with edge cut holes, silk screens etc/setting up stepup in Freecad to export to Fusion.
This is the second PCB I've ever designed and I've yet to receive the first to know just how beginner I really am.
Thanks for the tip.
Posted this here because for some reason the comment wouldnt post on the other comment.
What the, 8 dropped already!? I was just getting used to 7.
The pace of the kicad dev team has been crazy and seems to be on an exponential curve these last few years. Impressive to the point of being hard to keep up with!
eh Pat, won't you show up at Montreal 2024 Open Hardware Summit? you're not on the speakers list... des embrouilles avec OSHWA? ou pas le temps?
I'll be there, yes. AND I submitted a talk back in Octobre, but apparently it went to the spam folder, and I didn't follow up until it was tooooo late (pouen pouen). Mais bon, j'y serai quand meme--on se voit la bas?
What keyboard are you using?
Hi,
It's a keychron k2 pro, like
www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k2-pro-qmk-via-wireless-mechanical-keyboard
I find it pretty, good form factor, perfect without the numpad etc and for use with a scroll mouse, and it has the sweet sweet clikz
mm, just realized maybe you were asking about my "non-standard keyboard" comment in the vid (durp), where I was referring to the layout. In that case, the answer is: dvorak.
Tried KiCad on my Mac, crashes every time I try to open a PCB, went back to version 7
Hm, well that sucks. I'm (almost!) certain you're not the first person to use it with a Mac, I wonder what's different. Might be worth a www.kicad.org/help/report-an-issue/
Wooooow A power symbol became editable in 2024! What a great achievement. I mean it. Every time I was forced to create a new power symbol, I wanted to switch the platform.
PS They wouldn't be developers if would not add one annoying thing. Now, when you select a footprint for a symbol, you CANNOT MEASURE it right in a selection window. That's ... annoying
I have to agree with you--sounds a bit sarcastic there but if it was I understand: I myself feel a mix of joy/relief and a touch of well-that-took-long-enough, hah!
I hadn't stumbled on your annoying thing, yet--will have to check that out. Because I *often* wind up double-checking pad spacing or whatever in the footprint selection dialog, before moving on and it sounds like they've made that harder, which would suk.
@@PsychogenicTechnologies Exactly! Many times I just preferred to use some predefined footprint rather than to create a custom one, and as you said the double-checking helped. A lot. Now I'm not sure anymore, and with a saving time on new useful features, I have to spend it on checking dimensions in a footprint editor. I believe they will fix this soon. Cause that "Select footprint" dialog has plenty of an empty space to place a dimensional info there.
Did you get your Ham license?
Actually, I did! Just a short while after doing my last video on the subject (got my basic w/honours which, in .ca, means access to all bands). Either people didn't much care for the topic, or g00tube couldn't figure out who to propose it to, so the vids washed out pretty hard and I didn't do any more RF content since.
@@PsychogenicTechnologies my guess is that it's youtube not recommending it - I am definitely interested in RF from an amateur radio perspective. Then again, I never saw your channel at all until today. :)
@@riz94107 Yeah, it's a huge pool with tons of awesome channels and content, easy to get drowned out... I probably won't be focused on the ham side so much, but there are a few RF topics I'm itching to talk about, so will likely be sharing at least some interesting and related bits, likely a couple of videos down the road from now.
That was so fast i think i need to lay down for a bit..
haha, sorry Maria: sometimes I'm a bit heavy on the gas. I'm told more than 7/10 people eventually recuperate and watch another of my videos 😀
can KiCad 6 and 8 co-exist ?
I had 7 and 8 (release candidates) co-existing without issue, but 6 and 8 are getting a little distant, and I don''t actually know the answer to that or how to make sure it works (which probably depends on platform a lot). Best place for answers, I think, would be the kicad discord:
discord.gg/FANuKv8sZn
@@PsychogenicTechnologies thanks for letting me know.
I just did a trail during the weekend, it works. KiCad 8 can import KiCad 6 project without problem. Thank you.
Hah, boxen. Classic Brian Reagan.
Kicad is so much better than Altium
am a big fan, as you may be able to tell if you're very observant XD
Great video but the pace is much to high to follow everything properly!
Thanks for the feedback! This was more "top 10 list" than tutorial, but I do sometimes get a bit too zippy, I know. Will keep trying to find that perfect pace. Cheers
Shoutout to neurodivergents watching this, considering a career change because this looks cool.
It is cool 😀And my best advice on the career change front is: when the barrier to entry is this low (the price, of course, but also the giant community creating tutorials and willing to help), you can just start right away, play around... if you love it enough, keep at it and share what you make, the career comes to you! Good luck/have fun
Same shit again..Every time someone demonstrates a function in KiCad.. So it takes ages to arrive at What is essential. WHY.....?????
too many missing libs in kicad , that's why i switched to other softwares
I can't argue with you there--there are tons of parts in kicad, and I hear Wurth has just committed to providing their whole catalog as library parts, but there are always more. I'll often turn to snapeda and get lucky (or sometimes even pay them to do a part) but I do wind up making a number of libs myself, that's certain. Which software do you use?
net classes JUST DO NOT WORK, you cannot assign them even with a label and even if the tracks are linked to a net class, colors do not show up
It is really dumb, but you need the "full name"... I bet that's the problem. If the name is global, like a power flag, I bet it works. For things like labels, let's say you made ENABLE_WIDGET, a label in the top schem page. well, duh, the name is /ENABLE_WIDGET, so /EN* would work, etc.
This is 'cause you have /path/to/LABEL in the hierarchy, nothing works without the / and even I forget that and get bitten. Hopefully that solves it for you.
Meh, KiCAD is a still an ass-backward clickfest.
Compared to ... (what)?
@@mortenhattesen Diptrace for one, I really gave KiCAD good 2 weeks of practice, but I just can't, I hate the interface and the workflow with passion.
@@mortenhattesen Diptrace. I gave KiCAD good 2 weeks of practice and hated each moment of it.
@@mortenhattesen Diptrace.
I hate the UI. It looks like someone chopped up the worst of late 2000s opensourse stuff, eat it, and then puked it up on the screen.
I don't know whether you have valuable observations of what could be improved, but at the moment your metaphor is not at all helpful, since Kicad clearly bears no resemblance to actual puke.
@@Graham_Wideman I'll conscied to that point. Puke is actually more attractive.
To be fair this is an industrial tool, not a video game or a website
@@daviddickey9832 That just makes the UI all that more egregious - if you can't see that, I can't help ya!
@@GeorgeGravesyou still haven't articulated any coherent critique. If you can't do that, your complaint is pointless.