AutoCAD and Design Software Discussion

I saw some people talking about this in another thread somewhere. Seems like it wasn't working well on Mac, but could have just been under certain circumstances. I will look into it. Thanks

thefastvinny said:

I saw some people talking about this in another thread somewhere. Seems like it wasn't working well on Mac, but could have just been under certain circumstances. I will look into it. Thanks

Click to expand...

It is definitely a work in progress. Kicad has been around on Linux and Windows for some years now and a Mac version was always in mind especially with OSX which is  very Linux like under the hood.

Cheers

Ian

ruffrecords said:

thefastvinny said:

I saw some people talking about this in another thread somewhere. Seems like it wasn't working well on Mac, but could have just been under certain circumstances. I will look into it. Thanks

Click to expand...

It is definitely a work in progress. Kicad has been around on Linux and Windows for some years now and a Mac version was always in mind especially with OSX which is  very Linux like under the hood.

Cheers

Ian

Click to expand...

Kicad on OS X 10.6 is completely unreliable, and from what I can tell from the mailing list and source-code checkin logs, nobody really cares to work on it.

Having said that, it's orders of magnitude better than gEDA.

-a

Install Boot Camp and Windows and you can run most windows program on your mac.
I have tried RIMU pcb and schematics + the old Pcb designer without any problems.

That is my next plan of action. Getting a new HD for my Mac and do it then rather than partitioning my drive twice. I haven't checked out the PCB Layout editor but drawing Schems in PCB Artist is coming along ok. Kind of a pain in the ass to add new components but most of that is the learning curve.

thefastvinny said:

Kind of a pain in the ass to add new components but most of that is the learning curve.

Click to expand...

That was the biggest issue for me when I first started using that program. Now I can whip up a schematic symbol and pcb footprint in just a few seconds.

Andy Peters said:

ruffrecords said:

thefastvinny said:

I saw some people talking about this in another thread somewhere. Seems like it wasn't working well on Mac, but could have just been under certain circumstances. I will look into it. Thanks

Click to expand...

It is definitely a work in progress. Kicad has been around on Linux and Windows for some years now and a Mac version was always in mind especially with OSX which is  very Linux like under the hood.

Cheers

Ian

Click to expand...

Kicad on OS X 10.6 is completely unreliable, and from what I can tell from the mailing list and source-code checkin logs, nobody really cares to work on it.

Having said that, it's orders of magnitude better than gEDA.

-a

Click to expand...

Replying to myself: I checked the launchpad site that hosts Kicad, and it seems like there is lots of effort going into making it work reliably on OS X. It starts up and seems to work pretty well. The library set-up is completely baffling, but then again, that's the weak point of so many EDA tools.

-a

Andy Peters said:

Replying to myself: I checked the launchpad site that hosts Kicad, and it seems like there is lots of effort going into making it work reliably on OS X. It starts up and seems to work pretty well. The library set-up is completely baffling, but then again, that's the weak point of so many EDA tools.

Click to expand...

That's encouraging although a little disappointing about the library set up. That said, I have been responsible for or an active user of EDA for 30 years and I have yet to come across a library tool I really like. However, one thing I have learnt is that creating your own libraries is a big part of PCB layout, maybe as much as 50% and time invested building your own libraries is time very well spent.

Cheers

Ian

That's encouraging although a little disappointing about the library set up. That said, I have been responsible for or an active user of EDA for 30 years and I have yet to come across a library tool I really like. However, one thing I have learnt is that creating your own libraries is a big part of PCB layout, maybe as much as 50% and time invested building your own libraries is time very well spent.

Click to expand...

Agreed here, It would take some time to build but much easier to navigate through.