SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the making-foss-tools-even-easier-to-use dept.
Hackaday reports:
One barrier for those wanting to switch over from EAGLE [software for producing printed circuit boards] to KiCAD has been the lack of a way to convert existing projects from one [file format] to the other. An Eagle to KiCad ULP [User Language Program] exists, but it only converts the schematic--albeit with errors and hence not too helpful. And, for quite some time, KiCad has been able to open Eagle .brd layout files. But without a netlist to read and check for errors, that's not too useful either.
[Lachlan] has written a comprehensive set of Eagle to KiCad ULP scripts to convert schematics, symbols, and footprints. Board conversion is still done using KiCad's built in converter, since it works quite well.
Overall, the process works pretty well, and we were able to successfully convert two projects from Eagle. The entire process took only about 10 to 15 minutes of clean up after running the scripts.
The five scripts and one include file run sequentially once the first one is run. [Lachlan]'s scripts will convert Eagle multi-sheet .sch to KiCad multi-sheets, place global and local net labels for multi sheets, convert multi part symbols, build KiCad footprint modules and symbol libraries from Eagle libraries, create a project directory to store all the converted files, and perform basic error checking.
The Eagle 6.xx PCB files can be directly imported to KiCad. The scripts also convert [Vias] to Pads, which helps with KiCad's flood fill when [Vias] have no connections. This part requires some manual intervention and post processing. There are detailed instructions on [Lachlan]'s GitHub repository and he also walks through the process in the video.
Previous KiCAD-related stories
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday January 15 2016, @12:56PM
while proprietary developers develop for the layman end user
No no no, never. They develop to the idle whims of marketing and management, which usually have no connection to reality or the end user.
In the rare event they're free of marketing / mgmt constraints, all development is done by a mixture of peer fads and trying to impress their peers.
Meanwhile there's a continuous cognitive dissonance observation that all software that's no longer new and socially cool is garbage, because of course it always was garbage but no one culturally can say that about the new stuff.
Its a miracle, really, that anything works. Of course most software is extremely lame, a skin over CRUD, over a custom calculator, thats about it.
layman end user
There is no such thing as layman end user of EDA tools. Its like searching for the layman nuclear reactor operator, or layman neurosurgeon. Its far more important that the programmers involved understand the problem domain and no one gets in their way (mgmt, marketing, etc), than satisfying marketing by hiding the text menus and rounding the corners while making the color scheme light blue.
We agree that GUIs suck. Like trying to write Shakespeare using crayons and a coloring book. But they sure are "cool and new" so we're stuck with them.