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Need help making a fast transition to KiCad from Eagle.

genebren

For a while now, my desktop system was getting flakey.  Lots of blue screen crashes and finally a few reboots where the BIOS claimed to be unable to find the proper OS files (after resting for a while the reboot was successful).  I backed everything up and uninstalled/deactivated any software that I thought used any disk info as a part of the license lock.  I bought a new disk (larger than the old one that was filling up) and imaged the contents of the older disk onto the newer one.  Once everything appeared to be stable, I re-formatted the old disk to be a non-bootable, data disk.

I then started reactivating by software licenses.  This is when I found out that I did not deactivate my copy of Eagle.  Reaching out to Autodesk proved to be useless as they had no record of the purchase and claimed that the serial number that I had was not legal.  I am completely out of options to get a license key for my purchased copy of Eagle, so I am starting to look at using KiCad.  I downloaded the latest version and had luck importing a project into KiCad.  Now what I am looking for are any tutorials focused on prevision user of Eagle migrating to KiCad.

I started to try build a KiCad project from scratch (one of my existing project, but not imported).  Almost immediately I ran into parts not in the KiCad library which open a large can of worms that I was not quite ready to deal with.

I don't know if this is a function of advancing age, but my ability to understand or learn new things seems to take a larger and larger effort.  Thanks in advance to any help former Eagle user might be able to send my way. 

  • Shabaz has posted some useful material, all based on transitioning from Eagle:

     

     Working with KiCad 7: Importing EAGLE files 

     KiCAD for non-KiCAD (e.g. ex-EAGLE) enthusiasts - a discussion 

     Rapidly learning KiCad PCB Software within 5 days: And where I got to, a year on! 

    Others have also posted useful stuff: Jan Cumps, Bald Engineer, too many others but kudos to everyone!

    Try doing a search for Kicad on the site and you'll find a lot of useful links pop up, including creating footprints and parts (easy in Kicad).  The only other thing I could suggest is to try and re-create a small, existing project in Kicad - expect to take 2 or 3 days of active effort!

    Good luck Gene, it will be a transition worth persevering with.   I seem to recall Autocad saying they are going to drop Eagle and roll it into Fusion 360 but I might have been dreaming.

  • in reply to Andrew J

    Thanks Andrew!  I will check those links out.

  • Hi Gene,

    Sorry to hear about the PC issues.

    Obviously I'm biased! but I tried to put everything for complete beginners into the video which is in one of the links that Andrew mentioned.

    KiCad had a significant user interface change after version 5, but the version 6 video is still relevant for the latest version 8 (v8 provides some extra usability stuff, but all the v6 stuff still works). I'm convinced that is video will contain >90% of everything needed to produce a board from scratch, and it includes part creation.

    If you get stuck, feel free to reach out since as Andrew says, there are quite a few of us KiCad users on element14. 

  • Wow, losing a license sounds rough. Are you sure the Eagle license info is not lurking somewhere in your image?

    I know mine is on the disk as I have had to recover it in the past.

    Try searching for a file called "eagle.key"

    There is also a freeware.key in there that can view files and edit up to a certain size..

  • I started from bare metal to learn KiCad. 30 years ago we did PCB by hand. Graph paper to draw the circuit and marker with tape to layout the board. Etch with chemicals and you had a board. I was dabbling in Fritzing when I heard chatter here about KiCad.

    I purchased a training  package from https://techexplorations.com/so/kicad-like-a-pro-3rd-edition/ I got everything I wanted and more. Shabaz has been my greatest source of inspiration and knowledge base since that. I've used a few of his design ideas in my projects.

    I estimate it took me three days with the material to come up to speed. By the end of the second day, I was using my own projects and the video instruction to keep pace. I started in version 6. I now see 8 is out. I've gotten updates from this course.

  • in reply to dougw

    I have my license key and even the license file.  No joy either.

    Note to self:  Make time and learn Kicad.

  • in reply to kmikemoo

    Is this because you have lost the install file?

  • in reply to cstanton

    Yeah it has gotten pricey.

    I paid 75 bucks to get a book and access to the course material. It appears the material covered version 6 & 7 but I am on the hook to pay again for any version 8 material.

    They have priced themselves out of the market for any other training. I was looking at the Arduino stuff but being retired I have to be more picky on where I spend my hobby dollars.

  • in reply to kmikemoo

    Hi Mike,

    You'll make great progress even with just a days worth of trying KiCad. Some things will for sure be slower to achieve than with EAGLE, but some things are way more efficient, and some things reduce the risk of errors massively, compared to EAGLE (at least, old versions of EAGLE - I don't know anything about recent EAGLE versions).

    There are a lot of videos about KiCad, but despite being a version 6 video, I still reckon my video linked earlier, will get you up-to-speed as quickly as possible (it is compatible with the latest version 8 KiCad, which is what should be downloaded; no point now installing an older KiCad, v8 seems fairly reliable).