[sdiy] RS Designspark PCB tool

[Mike Beauchamp]

As far as I've been able to tell, extra pads and mounting holes are
extra footprints that need to be added separately as components. Which
makes me run into the issue of importing a modified netlist, if I check
"remove any unused components" (or whatever it says) all of my mounting
holes disappear since they aren't explicitly referenced in the netlist!

There are some mounting hole footprints already in the libraries, but
it's very easy to make your own to the right size, clearance, etc in the
footprint editor.

My minor issue with KiCad is not knowing where options might be, or how
they work (and visual things like very small and confusing icons). Once
I've used it a few times, it does make sense and I can see how the
creator chose that.. but from an initial intuitive standpoint, it's not
quite polished. But that's been my minor issue with most open source
stuff, and I'm very grateful that KiCad even exists and works as well as
it does.

I always found the KiCad mailing list to be very helpful, etc.

Mike





On Fri, 2012-06-22 at 08:09 -0400, Harry Bissell wrote:
> Thanks Mike.  It indeed does that. Its more a matter of your expectation while learning a new tool.
> I wanted to place 'pads' for mounting holes... in effect those are not really 'vias'.  So it was
> a little tricky to select the trace/via tool, place the via, then end the tool.
> 
> Probably KiKad would expect that you would make the mounting hole a component (yeah that's the wrong word, more learning
> curve :^)
> 
> I'm used to Hiwire which assumes that you either want to place a pad, or a trace. In effect there is no such thing as 'via'
> So I was looking for something like that.
> 
> So far I'm finding KiKad slow but not ~too~ painful
> 
> H^) harry
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> Hi Harry,
> I'm pretty sure just pressing "v" while you are routing tracks will
> place a via and switch to the next layer. Granted, I don't have KiCad
> right infront of me, but I'm pretty sure that's the shortcut if that's
> what you're looking for.
> 
> Mike
> 
> I On Wed, 2012-06-20 at 07:43 -0400, Harry Bissell wrote:
> > I played with it a little bit but decided to learn KiKad instead. I was worried that as a corporate supported software
> > it might suddenly disappear or become non~free.Just paranoid I guess. KiKad has a bit of learning curve to it... right now I'm trying to figure out how to place vias at will (not just at the end of a trace)
> > 
> > H^) harry
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Tom Wiltshire <tom at electricdruid.net>
> > To: synthdiy diy <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
> > Sent: Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:26:03 -0400 (EDT)
> > Subject: [sdiy] RS Designspark PCB tool
> > 
> > Hi All,
> > 
> > Does anyone use the free RS DesignSpark PCB software? Is it any good?
> > 
> > I remember reading that it was originally called something else, but then RS bought out the company in order to keep up with Farnell, who've cut some deal with Eagle or some such thing.
> > 
> > Anyway, the important bit is "Is it worth the effort of learning it?"
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Tom
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> > http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
> > 
> 
> 
>