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Would You Be Interested in Roadtesting KiCad EDA?

rscasny

KiCad has a following on the element14 Community, so we figured it would be a good thing to roadtest. It's a little different than what we usually roadtest, so we have a few questions. KiCad is free, so we were wondering what the potential roadtesters would like to see in the roadtest kit. There was a suggestion for the roadtesters to design a Raspberry Pi HAT. But we could also use a Pi/Ardunio library or even someone's own design. 

I have some polls below. I'd appreciate you voting. Thanks.


  • in reply to cstanton

    Hmmm, I just checked and not all of my votes registered .... So I now made sure they did.

  • in reply to cstanton

    Friendly reminder it is spelled “KiCad” and not “KiCAD” …

    Ironically EAGLE is spelled with all caps, or it was when CadSoft owned it. 

  • I presume the objective is to increase the number of people using KiCad, more than trying to increase the complexity of PCBs designed by existing users. Showcasing the learning experience of new users and entry level tutorials would be good for this, and both new users and seasoned veterans could do one or other of these approaches. I also like learn-by-doing methods because they add extra motivation to the exercise, so a real working PCB has more appeal to me. It shouldn't be too complex, as learning the tool is hard enough for a contest. 

    PCB fabrication is pretty low cost these days, with some suppliers even offering the first proto order for free. So I don't think the logistical nightmare of element14 supplying board shop vouchers is worth it.

    As for supplying multiple spins of fabrication, that would make schedules too long, without adding much value. Everyone knows if you spin it enough times eventually you will get it right. If you have to hack up your prototype a bit to get it to work, that is interesting too, especially if you designed it to be hackable.

  • in reply to shabaz
    shabaz said:
    I'm still working on the RA4M1 symbol, since it's a 100-pin part:

    KiPart is ideal for making high-pin-count schematic objects. If you have a list of the pins in datasheet or elsewhere:

     KiCAD lovers, check out KiPart 

    Create my first KiCad part with KiPart utility

  • my preference would be:

    • free to submit any design proposal in the road test application, not restricted to analog, microcontroller, hat, power, ...
    • a reasonable shopping cart for components
    • a pc manufacturer budget/voucher, allowing for several spins of a small board, or a single big board spin
    • creative freedom in the design and the format/content of the report

  • I wasn’t sure how to vote on this one, perhaps I’m missing the point.  Isn’t “road testing” software essentially producing a tutorial on how to use it?  There are dozens of those already and Shabaz has a popular one on YouTube.  

    Maybe an approach would be to look at this in terms of problem resolution - how well does KiCad fit into a set of (open-source) engineering applications, e.g LTSpice for simulation.   Define a complex problem that requires serious thought to layout and board setup, see how well KiCad supports the engineer in “getting there” with an iterative design approach.  Defining a component and its footprint in Kicad is a trivial exercise but board layout for, say, high-frequency, high-speed operation isn’t so how does KiCad support such a scenario and what tools are available to help? 

  • An interesting idea. As someone who chooses ease of use and simplicity I have struggled to convince myself to switch from EasyEDA to KiCad. Maybe this is what I need to see what all the fuss is about and give it proper structured evaluation.

    As far as format goes, I would limit the size of the printed circuit board to say no bigger than a raspberry pi or compatible hat because when it comes to design the challenge is using the power of the EDA, and it's design rules checking system, to handle the concentration and routing of traces. No doubt there are other design tools included in the KiCad package that should also prove whether something like KiCad is worth it's street cred.

    Similarly you could also place a limit of whether it's a 2 layer board or a 4 layer board. Maybe the road-tester can explore going more complex as an option but if fabrication is required that's usually a higher cost.

    As an offer, I think paying for the fabrication of the PCB would be nice. I am sure you have contacts with various vendors who could do this for you.

  • I've worked with EasyEDA and Eagle but never tried KiCad, so i think this would be a fun challenge for me

  • in reply to Andrew J
    Andrew J said:
     Isn’t “road testing” software essentially producing a tutorial on how to use it?

    It's documenting your experience while using it in the real world.