KiCAD : Design schematics and PCBs for FREE?

mj_sound_cubed · Post by **mj_sound_cubed** » 26 Sep 2018, 20:22

Hello All,

I am wondering if anyone is using KiCad for drawing schematics and creating PCBs?

Its available here: http://kicad-pcb.org

On the plus side:
- KiCad is free software and open source
- Its compatible with all the major operating systems like Windows, Mac OS and a lot of Linux distributions.
- Developed by CERNE
- A community and tutorials
- 3D modeling and lots of parts.

On the minus side:
-Lerning it can take some time, as much as any other.

Let me know what you guys think and suggest alternatives .

Zokk · Post by **Zokk** » 27 Sep 2018, 08:20

Hi

unless you have a real business in electronics and you can afford expensive software licences, kicad is the way to go.
There's a huge community support and that last version is way better than the older I used to work with.

Yazoo55 · Post by **Yazoo55** » 27 Sep 2018, 12:48

I agree completely. To build anything bigger than a standard guitar pedal with commercial software would cost an arm and a leg. Once you get to grips with Kicad, it's really good. I've just finished a big project, the HK Rotosphere. I sent the Gerber files off to a pcb manufacturer and it all worked fine.

You may have to do a bit of work creating symbols and footprints for non-standard parts not available from the supplied and online libraries, but again, once you have gone through the learning process, this works fine.

I would recommend regular saves. I am using version 4 on OS X and it does occasionally crash. There is a newer version available now and I will be using that for my next project.

mj_sound_cubed · Post by **mj_sound_cubed** » 27 Sep 2018, 20:30

Totally into the idea of getting the latest version, and starting a project

The KiCad community is pretty much english speaking right?

heaterman · Post by **heaterman** » 02 Dec 2018, 17:12

i use fritzing for a while now. it is pretty cool and not so complcated. (mac win and linux)
it has schematic, breadboard and circuitboard. you can also implement arduinos and the code with it.
on the circuitboard window is a autorute function and you can check the board for shorts or bad connections.

cool is that you can manufacture directly your boards. or you can export gerber files and have it manufactured somewhere else.

http://fritzing.org/home/

KiCAD : Design schematics and PCBs for FREE? [link]