OT: Kicad crap

Well. I am un-impressed. Extremely difficult if not impossible to create even a simple board outline. CONTINUOUS mouse movements necessary else get jaggies and discontinuous pieces. Better be perfect the FIRST TIME

NO WAY TO EDIT via given program. Had to use a text editor to fix the .kicad_pcb file to properly fix the "(gr_line (start..." lines.

The "help" doc is in error; one CANNOT "zero" or reset co-ordinates with the space-bar (ignored).

There are NO mounting holes in the 3.86 to 4.04 mm region; no other size will do for the Mouser 561-MTP500 "ball" top post, which are perfect for snap-in mounting of a PCB (#21 drill).

Diodes.THT DO-15 P2.54 mm looks shorted; and the pads look too damn large; a standard layout in other CAD programs give up to 0.1 spacing allowance.

Cannot select ANY footprint.

Yes, Kicad is Really Swift.

Well, I just made a nice rectangular board outline in about 2 1/2 minutes, and that included messing with creating an empty project.

There is. I edit lines all the time. I'd have to try it to remember -- but yes you can (it may involve right-clicking on the line). At any rate, once you get a line's stats up, it's just a matter of filling in the boxes.

No way _that you know_ to edit via the program.

Well, isn't it a good thing that they give you a perfectly good parts editor, then?

Yup. Just like every other electronic CAD package in existence, you have to spiff up the libraries yourself.

I absolutely don't know what you're doing wrong, but -- yes you can. Like absolutely every other electronic CAD package in existence, KiCAD has its quirks -- but like every other electronic CAD package in existence, a _smart_ designer can figure them out.

Tell that to the Large Hadron Collider people. And all the other folks who use it quite productively.

Y'know, if thousands of people use it productively, and one person tries it just a bit and doesn't like it -- who needs to adjust their thinking?

There are quite a few PCB examples and YouTube videos online that were successfully done using KiCAD: I presume these people didn't have the problems you mentioned.

What is different about their computers and yours? That might be a clue as to why you're having problems.

I'm certainly no expert on using KiCAD. Worse, I tried to use it without reading the docs or tutorials. It didn't take me long to realize that it's not intuitive and that I needed some help. So, I followed the 10 part tutorial at: The video series is now 4 years old, so there may have been some changes, but the basic functions seem to be the same. There are other much shorter video tutorials available, which might be more useful. This one looks useful: "KiCAD Quick-Start Tutorial"

In other words, start over from scratch, return your settings to defaults, assume nothing, follow a known working example, and get some online help.

You are handicapped, aren't you?

Watch these if you can urge your computer to do so and you can quit bitching long enough:

Also I think Robert's PC & OS is so old that the mouse driver doesn't support buttons.

His solution is to download the KiCAD source and recompile it himself ;-)

If you don't want to take of advantage of the tutorials and don't have the patience to experiment with it, then hire someone to do your layout for you.

• The so-called "help" file (which is not accessible due to demand that IE be used) has no entries for that.

I'd have to try it to remember --

• Check; and no clues given.

• Yes,made my own. Kicad wise,i screwed up and did that "outside" the library resulting in a stand-alone which i cannot bring into standard library (unless, maybe text oriented i could use dumb text editor). But cannot use it, like cannot use any other library component.

Less see..had zero problems with IVEX Winboard libraries. Tey had a way to modify/make a pattern either visually OR by text editor and one could switch between modes as desired. Had unlimited license, but they went under maybe 6-7 years ago so i dropped it.

Also, have yet to see library problem in Eagle.

Ditto for ExpressPCB.

Are you trying to say that the GoldenPocket CAD libraries are problematical?

Tutorials! They were supposed to be a PART of the downloaded install. NOW,with the help of the numerous responders, i have a chance.

Thanks.

All the others have found these by using a working browser and looking at the start page for KiCAD.

I just tried help with Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, and Opera. All of them work:

Incidentally, there are also KiCAD specfic forums: and a Yahoo group:

The 'puzzle' is WHY is it ONLY Robert Baer that has trouble connecting to posted URL's or running his PC in general? Is he still on Wimpows

Because he's an eccentric old coot like the rest of us. For various values of "old". Joerg and I are in an intermediate energy state, and rexie is an old-coot-wannabe. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I think only Fields is older than me ?? ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | STV, Queen Creek, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

I'm looking for work... see my website.

Thinking outside the box... producing elegant solutions.

Well, Virg Wall is a good dozen years older than you, if he's still with us.

Yo, Virg, you out there?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs (who has good hope of eternal life, on somebody else's dime)

I have TWO working browsers, neither are IE, and the programmatically buried Kicad link demands/requires IE.

• Link NOT from Kicad..

Thanks for the links.

I NEVER said i had troubles with *POSTED* URLs; those were given very recently. I documented,with screen shots the Kicad "link" failures. Wake up! You should be aware that Kicad will not install on any OS older than WinXP.

Comment not clear.

From KiCAD 4.0.6 32 bit running on Windoze XP, I don't see a "help" file. There is: Help -> KiCAD Manual and Help -> Getting started in KiCAD Additional manuals will appear when you invoke the sub-program, such as the Eeschema Manual when running the schematics editor.

All of these help files open HTML pages on my machine, not on the internet. They open nicely using my default browser (Firefox). When I switch my default browser to Chrome, they also work. There's no demand that I use IE.

This is not going to be an exercise in you supply the minimum information so that I can fumble around trying to decode what you're using, what you're doing, and what errors you are seeing. If you want help running these help pages from within KiCAD, please get it from one of the KiCAD specific forums, so that I can devote my time discussing methane explosions and popcorn poppers. If you're trying to get to: open a new Window with your unknown version of Windoze and view the help from there using your favored browser.

Also, if the cost of a new machine is a problem, it is possible to buy something up to date for about $100. For example: Dell Optiplex 790 with i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, 250GB HD, and Windoze 10. It comes in a tiny USFF (Ultra Small Form Factor) box, which will be a problem if you want to add things. I've bought several of these and find that they make acceptable workstations. Add at least another 4GB of RAM and maybe later replace the HD with an SSD (Samsung EVO 850) and you should have something usable. My only problem with these is that all the USB ports are 2.0, with no way to add a card for USB 3.0.

i have kicad on this old w2k