Total KiCad noob

[joeqsmith]

I have been using Protel since version 3 and stopped upgrading at 99.  I thought I would try out KiCad and see how it works.   Installed the stable version of 4 and it's pretty nice.  Easy enough to use for the most part.

Just downloaded 5 and am installing it.  "Vias can now be placed freely (for stitching, etc)"   "Microwave tools now available"     

[bson]

The excellent "getting to blinky" introduction is also getting updated to v5 as we speak...

[joeqsmith]

It tool me a while to figure out that to use the new via feature, the fills must be active to auto assign them.  It's very fast indeed.  The new document has no mention of this but like other features, trial and error seems to go a long way.   Just downloaded the Digi-key library and will have a look at it.   

[bson]

Keep in mind you can hide fills, so there's little reason anymore to remove them just to see the board.  There are three zone visibility options on the toolbar to the left: visible, hidden, outline.  Normally I keep them hidden and just make them visible to inspect the actual fills, then hide them again.  I don't really ever use the outline visibility personally.

[joeqsmith]

Seems like when I would change a footprint the fills would not automatically regenerate with 4.  I have not tried this with 5.  Very well could be a user problem.   

I was attempting to follow the manual to make a part.  The manual in 5 requests selecting menus that do not seem to exist.  I spent a fair bit of time trying to do the most basic steps.  Looked on-line for a better manual for 5 but everything I came across was for the older versions.   Is there a popular beginners forum?

[malagas_on_fire]

Here is the documentation from the kicad repo but i don't know if it has the features required:

http://docs.kicad-pcb.org/stable/en/

[hermit]

Is there a popular beginners forum?

https://forum.kicad.info/

[The Doktor]

The excellent "getting to blinky" introduction is also getting updated to v5 as we speak...

Where/when can I find this updated tutorial? I can find no reference on google.

Also, any other decent tutorials based on v5.0?


Thanks
Ed

[laneboysrc]

Seems like when I would change a footprint the fills would not automatically regenerate with 4.  I have not tried this with 5.

Haven't tried in Kicad 5, but in version 4 you can hit the 'b' key to re-fill the zones.

[malagas_on_fire]

HI everyone

If you are interested in running Kicad on Linux Stable Releases, compiled from the source code , here are some results:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/kicad/kicad-5-looks-official-now/msg1711409/#msg1711409

So far the schematic editor is running perfectly.

[Bassman59]

Seems like when I would change a footprint the fills would not automatically regenerate with 4.  I have not tried this with 5.

Haven't tried in Kicad 5, but in version 4 you can hit the 'b' key to re-fill the zones.

It's the same in 5.