Design board with footprints only?

[MSO]

I'm trying to make an adapter that will combine an SMD oscillator footprint with the footprint of an 8 pin DIP device.  I suppose that I could make two dummy devices, but that seems like a lot of extra trouble.

I'd like to just place an 8 pin DIP footprint on my board, then overlay that with the oscillator footprint and then draw the wires as needed.  I've not found any way to place an unassociated footprint onto the board.

Am I overlooking something?

[donotdespisethesnake]

You can add modules in pcbnew that are not in the netlist (Place->Footprints, then left click). To lay traces you need to turn off various DRC checking.

Personally I find it quite easy to draw the schematic, you don't need to use correct symbols, just a connector with the right number of pins. Then wiring is quite easy using the "repeat last" function ("Insert" key).

[MSO]

Thanks Bob,

I finally acquiesced and built a new component for my footprint, added a DIL8 component to which I associated a DIP-8_W7 footprint and finally created the net list.  I must have ended up with my footprint stored in a half-dozen libraries; still can't figure out if there is an application wide scheme to library management. I'm sure there is, but I've yet to discover the key.

Ending up spending a load of time marrying a component designed in inches with another designed in metric; those traces just would not 'snap' into place.  That was compounded by my use of varying grid sizes.   Whoooeee, that was fun to figure out.

Still, the board is off to OSH Park; I'll be getting 6 adapters for $2.50 delivered.  Are those guys going to remain viable giving things away like that?

All in all, when some guy who doesn't know anything about a PCB except that it has a top, a bottom and whole bunch of stuff soldered on it, the experience wasn't bad at all.