> From: Jon Elson
Dave Bridgham and I have been using KiCAD for our stuff, and we're pretty
happy with it.
Here are a few bits: this is just data, I'm not trying to convince anyone to
use it - the points about 'complex tools one is already very used to' are
very good ones.
> I'm most concerned about the reliability of the design rules check
> ...
> If these checks miss errors, I REALLY don't want to use the package.
I'm not quite sure what's covered here, but I have used the checker on my
admittedly-tiny projects, and been happy with it.
> and layout vs. schematic.
Again, Dave has used it to lay out at least one moderately-sized card, and
seems to have been happy with the results.
> (KiCad seems to still require picking operations from a menu, Protel
> has user-configurable keyboard shortcuts that are a big help. Maybe
> KiCad has that and I just need to learn them.)
KiCAD does have keyboard shortcuts. I don't know if they are configurable.
> From: Guy Sotomayor Jr
> In terms of community supplied libraries, Eagle has those too and I've
> found that by and large they are junk (it's easier/quicker for me to
> create a part on my own
> ... While I haven't seen a lot of KiCAD contributed libraries (that's
> part of the problem)
KiCAD came with a fairly large set of user-contributed libraries. For various
reasons (including working with archaic parts), I've wound up adding quite a
few, but i've usally found it pretty easy to modify an exising part from the
libraries, to get what I need. YMMV.
Noel
