[Arm-netbook] Schematic and PCB layout CAD files

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Sat, May 18, 2019 at 4:05 PM Arun Isaac <arunisaac at systemreboot.net> wrote:

> > KiCAD and gEDA simply aren't up to the job of dealing with this type
> > of project.  i dedicated several months making a huge effort to design
> > a Card in KiCAD, it was... well, it wasn't time wasted: it was "time
> > discovering that KiCAD is so inadequate that its use would *ACTIVELY*
> > prevent and prohibit the completion of the entire goal"
>
> That's very disappointing. I was hoping to fabricate the PCBs for at
> least the housings. Now, it looks like I have to redo the PCBs in
> KiCAD. :-( Will you be providing KiCAD files in the future?

 the question needs to be read as, "will someone pay me the
extraordinarily large sum needed to spend vast amounts of time -
estimated somewhere around 7-12 months - just to deal with the
complete utter lack of any kind of professional capabilities that
KiCAD simply and utterly fails to have, which would approximately
triple or quadruple the completion time"

> Being able
> to use only free software is a highly desirable feature. And, just out
> of curiosity, in what way, did you find KiCAD inadequate?

 where the f*** do i even start???

 * corruption of schematics
 * assumptions by the developers that adversely affected understandability
 * violation of "principle of least surprise"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_surprise
 * intransigence on the part of the developers to fix the problems
when reported (despite other people reporting the same)
 * corruption of PCB files (destruction of traces)
 * total lack of DRC
 * total lack of being able to specify track, pad, component, net, net
group, via and other clearances in any kind of meaningful way
 * total lack of matrix interdependent clearances between the same
 * total lack of differential-pair support
 * total lack of any kind of "assisted routing"

 you name it, it's not there.  i'm staggered that anyone who has
worked with *professional* PCB layout software would even remotely
take KiCAD seriously.

 eagle - even the monetarily-zero-cost version, which i used to create
a far better 40V 32-bit-capable version of the RAMPS 1.4 (btw, RAMPS
1.4 is so dangerous it's actually burned peoples' houses to the
ground)  - is better, by miles.

 do take that as a warning that if you are considering using KiCAD,
you'll know what to expect.


> >  you'd be the second person - in the entire world - to be using
> > pyopenscad.  yes, really.
>
> No, I don't use pyopenscad per se. But, I am comfortable using text and
> programming interfaces. I'm not a big fan of using the mouse. So, I have
> no issue with the CAD designs being available only in pyopenscad.

 great.


> > let me know how you get on.
>
> Thank you for the detailed explanation. But, for now, my interest is
> primarily in the PCB designs. I'll be trying out the CAD designs only if
> I can fabricate the PCB. So, for now, that is a blocker. :-(

 i'm absolutely serious: you'd be better off with the
[monetarily-zero-cost] eagle, then, just before production, export /
convert to KiCAD format if you absolutely insist on using it.

 hypothetically you could use both applications, working round the
monetarily-zero-cost limitations (2-layer), importing from one to the
other, 2 layers at a time.

 or just pay for an eagle license.

 yes, really, KiCAD is so bad (and the developers so incapable of
understanding how critical the flaws are in what they've written) that
yes, i'm a software libre advocate, recommending to you, another
software libre developer, to use proprietary PCB CAD software.

l.