Best modern SPICE simulation software with extras and why?

[abbey road d enfer]

Wait, so you thought that something wasn't to your liking, and when you're told that the feature you wanted was actually added to the software a couple of years ago and that your opinion was obsolete, you respond by claiming "the community acts like a sect when criticized?"

You haven't read correctly. The time line is not what you think.
That was before they made the fix. Instead of saying they were working on it, they said I was just stupid for not getting along with it.
They finally fixed it in a half-assed way (not fully accepting that it was originally wrong).

There's a log in your eye. Better do something about it.

No personal attacks, please, that's the rule.
It's funny how criticizing Kicad almost always results in religious war.
Like criticizing Mother Theresa.
Because the people who work on Kicad are (or supposed to be) working pro bono, no one is allowed to criticize. It's like blasphemy. Instead of accepting positive criticism, the worshipers excommunicate the heathen.
Well, they had to do something about it a couple of years ago, when CERN became involved, but still, the spirit is the same. I know not every Kicad user is like that (Ian in particular), but here, I believe we have a perfect example of bigotry.

 

[ruffrecords]

We ave covered this ground before. Abbey asked his question on an independent Kicad user group which is linked from the Kicad web site but not an 'official' one and it is only a few years old. Like all user groups they are populated by some people with strong opinions which are strongly expressed. To the best of my knowledge, Abbey was not rebuffed by the developers of Kicad. There is no real official Kicad user group although the one I started nearly 20 years ago is listed on the Kicad web site under the community tab as "User Mailing List". I moderate it and would not have allowed the kind of response Abbey received from the other user group.

Think of my Kicad user group as groupdiy and the other one as gearslutz and you will get the picture.

Cheers

Ian

 

[abbey road d enfer]

There is no real official Kicad user group

That is unfortunate. In continuation with the "fuelled by good-willed volunteers" paradigm, it creates the feeling that nobody wants to own the project. As a result, a bunch of zealots has the same mediatic presence as more cold-headed groups. If I were you, I would demand to become THE official , publicly-supported forum.

 

[ruffrecords]

That is unfortunate. In continuation with the "fuelled by good-willed volunteers" paradigm, it creates the feeling that nobody wants to own the project. As a result, a bunch of zealots has the same mediatic presence as more cold-headed groups. If I were you, I would demand to become THE official , publicly-supported forum.

I think you need to differentiate between users and developers. Anyone can set up a user group but there is only one developer group. As with most open source projects, there are mechanisms for proposing changes and gaining support for them via the developer group, but user groups are not the place to do this. It is unfortunate but very common that many user groups are dominated by a small number of very vocal people. In the Kicad user group I moderate, **** stirrers and zealots get short shrift which probably accounts for the lower rate of traffic. Unfortunately, such people are plentiful. When I first started the Kicad users group, within a few days I was contacted by a new member who told me in no uncertain terms exactly how I should be running the group. I told him my vision for the group to which he accused of being egotistical because I used the word "i" all the time. He said even if I banned him he would join again using a different email and disrupt the group. My reply was he had just given me the best possible reason for banning him and I did.

Cheers

Ian

 

[abbey road d enfer]

I think you need to differentiate between users and developers.

I do. Developpers may think they have more important things to do than monitoring a user group. However, I think it's a very fundamental way of getting feedback from the user base. From the beginning, I had a perception of autistic isolation from the developpers. Knowing that CERN had taken over the project, I thought it would evolve favourably, but I don't see it coming soon. I must admit I haven't taken any serious time with the new versions, but it seems to me, seeing the repetitive questions in the news bulletins that the old demons are still there.
At the same time, the zealots interpret the silence from developpers as an empowerment to excommunicate.

 

[ruffrecords]

I do. Developpers may think they have more important things to do than monitoring a user group.

As far as Kicad is concerned I know this has not been in the case in the past. When I first started the group the then developers contacted me and said they would monitor the group for user feedback and feature requests and this was included in the yahoo groups header at the time. When the development was subsequently taken over by another developer this arrangement continued. I have had no official communication from CERN since they took over much of the development but the fact the group I moderate is listed separately as the User Mailing List under the Community tab speaks for itself.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions for features or improvements to Kicad please feel free to post them in the group. I guarantee zealots will not be permitted.

kicad-users groups.io Group

Cheers

Ian