Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Phil Mattison" <mattison20@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi Wayne,
> I just spent an hour looking at KiCad. Looks pretty impressive,
> though I got the impression that the footprint library may be
> a bit light. Could be a big time sink if too many components
> require custom footprints. The 3D views are impressive as well,
> but may suffer from the same problem, and the symbol editor
> seems a bit awkward. Overall it looks like a fairly steep learning
> curve, and I hate to invest the time only to find that it has
> some fatal flaw that makes continued use impractical. I'm
> wondering if you have used it for any real projects, or have
> seen accounts from people who have. I didn't have much luck
> searching for anecdotes.

When it comes to CAD packages, either ECAD or MCAD, there
is always a learning curve.  I have done the KiCAD tutorial
and found it to be reasonable.  It did not feel that steep
to me.

Your observation about landing pads is correct, but as the
community grows, the landing pads should be fleshed out.
The KiCAD community continues to take submissions for new
landing pads.  The 3D views will take much longer, but more
and more vendors are starting to publish their parts in either
IGES or DXF format.

For me, the biggest weakness is that KiCAD does not
provide for panelization right now.  I tend to do lots
of small projects that need to be combined onto one board
for fabrication.  There is a program called GerbMerge that
might be able to do it.

For evidence of suitablity, I would recommend joining
KiCAD@YahooGroups.Com and asking for some examples.

The final question of whether or not I have used it yet,
is no, I continue to use a home grown PCB layout package
that I developed over the past 20 years.  If you are really
really bored, here's a URL for my stuff:

  <http://gramlich.net/projects/hobecad/index.html> 

My stuff is on its last legs, so pretty soon now, I need
to switch over to something that is not nearly as brain
dead.

-Wayne

[much snippage]