Well I was lucky because I never ran 4, so I never suffered upgrade trauma. Although I probably could figure it out if I encountered a problem. I suspect 90% of the problems boil down to library paths.
The reason I'm holding off is simply because I only design hobby boards for myself not for a living so I can live without the new features a bit longer. Also I want any unfortunates who download my designs to be able to open them with a production version. I don't want to have to say you have to install 5.99 to modify my design.
If you are trying it for the first time, or haven't used any version since 4, I'd recommend making a fresh start with 5.99. Make sure you clear all vestiges of any 4 installs though. Many professional users have already given the thumbs up to 5.99 so it will be good. In any case, within a couple of months time it will be moot.
I downloaded the v5.99 version (or whatever it was a couple of months ago), and it looked good, but I'm afraid to transition my work in progress to it as it apparently uses a different library structure and you can't revert back. Since I'm pretty happy with v5.1.8 I was planning to hold out for the official 6 release.
I went through a similar thinking process about the non-reversibility. After playing with 5.99 (All the nightlies are '5.99', you need to use a date or the git hash to distinguish between them) in a parallel setup I switched to using the nightlies as daily driver. For the last six months or so I've found almost all the nightlies as stable as production versions - only one have I had to grab the next day's version because of a problem. I don't update nightly, only every few weeks.
The glacial progress of many FOSS projects means that often the ostensible alpha/beta version is the one to use once it's basically stable rather than wait a year or two for the pukka 'release' version. KiCad is no different in that regard.
Have you in general been able to update (or try 5.99 in parallel with your prior version?) without problems?
There are instructions (somewhere, don't ask where, it's more than six months ago I used it) on setting up in parallel and they worked without a hitch for me. I soon however migrated off that setup because 5.99 is surprisingly trouble free. As always with these things, I find it best to regard the secondary set-up as "throw away" if need be, and the main original setup as sacrosanct. That way you don't mess up your workflow if the parallel setup goes horribly wrong. As I say, I probably migrated within a month of first trying 5.99.
Plugin and content manager now active in the latest nightly version. Only one so far is an INTERACTIVE HTML BOM plugin.
I just installed the latest 5.99 (after archiving all my existing jobs and libraries) and it is really nice. Setting up the library path was easy (I use my own custom library), and as a test I opened up an existing test project. Schematic, layout, 3D render -- all look good. I tried a little board editing, and while I haven't checked all the functions i's sure nice to see the cut/paste/move/drag command keyboard shortcuts normalized between the schematic and PCB tools. I added a couple of layers to a 2-layer test board and it all went smoothly. The PCB layer opacity features are nice. Thanks, Cerebus, for nudging me to upgrade.
[edit] And it has hatched area fills! I don't know if I need them, but it's a nice feature.
i's sure nice to see the cut/paste/move/drag command keyboard shortcuts normalized between the schematic and PCB tools
That is one of the things that was driving me
crazy before it was fixed.
I just installed the latest 5.99 (after archiving all my existing jobs and libraries) and it is really nice. Setting up the library path was easy (I use my own custom library), and as a test I opened up an existing test project. Schematic, layout, 3D render -- all look good. I tried a little board editing, and while I haven't checked all the functions i's sure nice to see the cut/paste/move/drag command keyboard shortcuts normalized between the schematic and PCB tools. I added a couple of layers to a 2-layer test board and it all went smoothly. The PCB layer opacity features are nice. Thanks, Cerebus, for nudging me to upgrade.
[edit] And it has hatched area fills! I don't know if I need them, but it's a nice feature.
Can you elaborate on the steps for setting up your own library path? I'm in exactly the same situation and have been putting it off because I didn't want to mess around.
Thanks in advance.
[edit] And it has hatched area fills! I don't know if I need them, but it's a nice feature.
Not something I ever use, or at least haven't since PCB processes improved and it wasn't necessary to accommodate a board house's requirements. Then the other day I read a recommendation in an Analog data sheet (ADR1399) to use a hatched ground plane to reduce thermal mass when dealing with a device where thermal emfs may be an issue. Might find a use for them yet (I have an ADR1399 sample on order).
Can you elaborate on the steps for setting up your own library path? I'm in exactly the same situation and have been putting it off because I didn't want to mess around.
If you mean for V5.x, I have a directory(folder) where I keep all my design stuff, completely separate from KiCad installation directory. In this I have folders for each rev of a project (schematic, PCB, and related files). I also have a personal library folder there, and that contains three more folders: 3D, footprints, and symbols. I started out by opening up the default KiCad libraries and saving what I was using from that in my personal libraries. From this point on any design uses parts from my personal library, and when I need a new part I build it myself (I prefer my own schematic symbols to what I usually find through SnapEDA or UltraLibrarian. I do grab the 3D file (if available) from those sources, or elsewhere, I still haven't learned how to do my own 3D models.
I set up the path in the schematic-capture using "Preferences / Configure Paths" and "Preferences / Manage Symbol Libraries"
In PCB layout it's "Preferences / Manage Footprint Libraries"
There may be more to it than that, I just sort of tried stuff until it worked. Somewhere along the line I removed the paths to the default libraries so I didn't have to scroll through those every time I wanted to place a component.
@fourfathom - thank you for the info. I have exactly the same structure.
I figured I would toss my hat into the version 6 ring....
I like what I see. There are numerous improvements to functionality and "quality of life".
I can't see going backwards to 5.x from a nightly....
(and yeah, I know that can bite me)
Just liking the new experience.
I'm a little confused about what's going on with this.
Here are their GitLab Milestones:
https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/milestones?sort=due_date_desc&state=allThey show version 6.0.0-rc1 as 100% complete with no open issues, but there isn't either an RC2, or a full release milestone.
Does this mean it's ready and they are just working on logistics of pushing out the official v6 release?
Is there some other place where they are keeping track of what's left to do for the 6 release?
They show version 6.0.0-rc1 as 100% complete with no open issues, but there isn't either an RC2, or a full release milestone.
Does this mean it's ready and they are just working on logistics of pushing out the official v6 release?
Is there some other place where they are keeping track of what's left to do for the 6 release?
Complete means
that task (RC1) was done. Other tasks remain to be done before release.
They show version 6.0.0-rc1 as 100% complete with no open issues, but there isn't either an RC2, or a full release milestone.
Does this mean it's ready and they are just working on logistics of pushing out the official v6 release?
Is there some other place where they are keeping track of what's left to do for the 6 release?
Complete means that task (RC1) was done. Other tasks remain to be done before release.
I get that. I've worked with milestones before.
My confusion is coming from the fact that when you complete one milestone in a big long term project you typically move on to another one.
If there was more work to do for v6, it would typically be included in another v6 related milestone.
I was expecting them to be working on something like "v6-RC2" or "Official v6" or something like that.
The only obviously open milestone is "7.0".
I really don't care what they call their releases, or how they manage their project. I'm much more interested in what bugs they still think need fixing in the nightlines for 6.0, and that's not obvious from their gitlab.
Maybe they haven't decided on the remaining milestones yet. Not every project is super-organised, small ones manage the best they can. Just sit back and it will be a pleasant surprise when it's released.
I like what I see. There are numerous improvements to functionality and "quality of life".
I can't see going backwards to 5.x from a nightly....
What would be the most significant improvement in your opinion?
I like what I see. There are numerous improvements to functionality and "quality of life".
Just liking the new experience.
Bugs should get less as time goes on.
But having said that adding new code creates new bugs.
Test test test is the answer or just put it out to people to debug it for them.
My preferred method is to just be very careful with the code you write in the first place.
hello, i have a question... when can i download the latest KICAD (v6.0.0 rc1 or rc2)? does anyone here have the link? i don't really want to build that myself since i don't have the compiler
This gets you RC2
sudo add-apt-repository --yes ppa:js-reynaud/kicad-dev-nightly
sudo apt update
sudo apt install kicad-nightly
Or equivalent for your distro. That is the legacy way that I used.
Latest:
sudo add-apt-repository --yes ppa:kicad/kicad-dev-nightly
sudo apt update
sudo apt install kicad-nightly
But I've not tested that.
Has anyone here achieved a successful install of the reynaud nightlies on Ubuntu or Mint virtual machine lately, as in the last few days? I tried on both LTS 20.04 based ubuntu minimum and Mint (mate edition). The result is the download appeared successful and I can get the top level running but the moment I try to launch eeschema, or PCB ect. it crashes silently.
I fear I am doing something really stupid and obviously wrong.
Has anyone here achieved a successful install of the reynaud nightlies on Ubuntu or Mint virtual machine lately, as in the last few days?
I installed RC2 on mint 20.2 from kicad-dev-nightly that @woofy posted above.
No issues, everything work fine and I didn't need to do anything special. I will say it's a physical desktop rather then a VM.
Try running one of the programs directly from the cli and see if you get an error message e.g /usr/bin/eeschema-nightly
My Mint 20.2 updated Kicad to 6.00 rc2 to my surprise a few days ago and works (my limited usage) just fine.
Looks like 6.0.0 has been tagged in the source repository, I'm compiling it as I write this post. The master branch has already been switched to version "6.99.0". Libraries and 3D models were also tagged, I've already downloaded and installed them.
I'm guessing all that's left is writing the announcement