Author Topic: Libraries for Kicad - Resources  (Read 107104 times)

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Offline lameiroTopic starter

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Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« on: June 10, 2011, 11:29:37 am »
Hi everyone, I am starting to learn how to use Kicad now, on Linux, and I was searching for parts libraries, so I figured out that this could be a nice place to share some links to webpages containing libraries.

Kicadlib- It seems to be a somewhat "official" place with libs for Kicad www.kicadlib.org/

library.oshec.org/ - Its a place with tons of libraries converted from Eagle to KiCAD. You can download all of them on a single compressed file w00t!! http://library.oshec.org/

kicadlibraries.com - This website has KiCAD and LTSpice libraries./kicadlibraries.com

A nice tutorial to add libraries is over here

And a nice tutorial in how to create parts here


Well I hope this resources are helpfull for someone. I would like to remeber that KiCAD is Open Source Software, available for Windows and Linux.

lameiro

Fixed broken links
« Last Edit: December 30, 2012, 09:16:00 am by GeoffS »
 
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Offline nessatse

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2011, 07:07:55 am »
 

Offline lameiroTopic starter

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2011, 12:35:15 am »
thanks nessatse !!! Awesome libraries indeed. do you mind if I append it to my first post? so it can be all on the begining?

Again thanks, I really needed the relays for a project I am making :D
 

Offline madworm

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2011, 08:11:21 am »
I'm not sure if it already counts as a library, but here's a re-scalable (if you have perl installed, which is easily available on winblows btw.) OSHW logo for kicad. It is fully vectorized and looks quite good at normal logo sizes. The non re-scaled logo is 1.18in high, which is a bit big - hence the perl script ;-)

I'm not the first to have done this, but the other one I could find was somewhat coarse and 6MB large. This one is just a few kb. You can easily load the .emp file in the module editor of pcbnew and quickly insert it to your current board. There are a few pre-scaled logos in there for convinience (1-20mm).
 

Offline Simon

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2011, 05:31:54 pm »
I started to draw my own parts after an experience with the LM339 symbol that had the outputs for section a and B swapped, no matter what i did to change the pin numbers they kept reverting themselves. So i started my own symbols, bad enough having to route boards and link symbols to footprints, I can't face symbols with incorrect pins too
 

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2011, 07:05:39 pm »
*** ALL (and any) EAGLE LIBRARIES ***

* WARNING: Check the converted library is correct, especially the component pads *

This is by far the most useful resource I have found for KiCad libraries. It is a  ULP (user language programme) to convert the vast range of libaries available in Eagle into Kicad libraries. Many 'maker-style' sites feature Eagle libraries of their components so this should be even more useful. I have attached the ULP here, but you can find the latest version here: http://www.cadsoftusa.com/cadsoft-downloads/ under ULPs, filename eagle2kicad_sch.ulp.

With some very basic knowledge of Eagle and Kicad you should be able to use this straight away. If you get stuck, post here.

(I had to rename the file extension to .txt so I can upload it. It should be .ulp)
« Last Edit: December 13, 2011, 07:20:58 pm by Alex »
 

Offline amspire

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2011, 10:43:15 pm »
Thanks Alex.  I will try the converter out.
 

Offline Vasi

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2012, 07:57:40 pm »
Another good source (even if is a little older) is here.
To have an idea, here is the author's gallery.
 

Offline con-f-use

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2015, 03:03:29 pm »
Sorry to grave-digg this out, but I'm switching to KiCad and wanted to know, if there are RECENT libararies out there.

I'm surprised, that even the libraries that come with KiCad frequently have this problem:

 

Offline Simon

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2015, 03:17:34 pm »
Switching to kicad ? good luck. I gave up when it because clear that the only users who will ever be able to use it are the developers as they change stuff and offer no documentation and they develop so slow;y that project will soon be going backwards.
 

Offline con-f-use

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2015, 03:38:56 pm »
Thank you, I just want to give it another fair change. I hear it has come a long way in the last two years, and I really like the idea of open sources. Circuit Maker is Cloud and doesn't run very well on Linux or in Virtual Boxes (same goes for Diptrace) and Eagle is slowly ding ever since farnell took over.
 

Offline Bassman59

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2015, 04:34:35 pm »
Sorry to grave-digg this out, but I'm switching to KiCad and wanted to know, if there are RECENT libararies out there.

I'm surprised, that even the libraries that come with KiCad frequently have this problem:

The latest and greatest official libraries are on github: https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-library

BTW, the official stable release on Windows, Linux and OS X is imminent.
 

Offline Wilksey

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #12 on: July 13, 2015, 05:08:11 pm »
KiCAD has come on a way since the last stable release, I do weekly updates from source on Windows, and it always seems to run fine, I have even made a few boards with a development release in May this year, no worries!

Eagle isn't dying, the latest release 7.3 wasn't that long ago.

As Bassman said, there is a new stable release in the next month or so.

Libraries can be difficult sometimes to produce with a package, because there are so many,you can't tailor them all, which is why the likes of Altium have a footprint wizard built in, and you can also get these multi tool PCB library editors based on IPC, your best bet is to start creating your own libraries.
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2015, 05:41:02 pm »
Switching to kicad ? good luck. I gave up when it because clear that the only users who will ever be able to use it are the developers as they change stuff

Using a devel build are we?

Quote
and offer no documentation

I'm not entirely sure what you call the "documentation" link here, from the home page, then:



Quote
and they develop so slow;y that project will soon be going backwards.

Tell that to the hard-working pair from CERN who have developed a whole new routing engine way faster than I ever could...

(Though I'll have to concede that before they came along, development was very slow. We're picking up the pace now! :box:)
« Last Edit: July 13, 2015, 05:53:32 pm by c4757p »
No longer active here - try the IRC channel if you just can't be without me :)
 

Offline con-f-use

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2015, 06:56:18 pm »
Eagle isn't dying, the latest release 7.3 wasn't that long ago
But they didn't add any significant features, they've been lacking. It's bascially the same program it was in 2009. Also they should offer an unlimited free version comparable to CircuitMaker.
 

Offline twl

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2015, 08:09:03 pm »
But they didn't add any significant features, they've been lacking.

Maybe they don't need to add more features to keep their clients. There's a large group of people that seem to be perfectly happy with what Eagle offers. Besides, Altium also hasn't added any important features to their software since Winter'09 edition...

twl
 

Offline Simon

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2015, 08:11:39 pm »
Switching to kicad ? good luck. I gave up when it because clear that the only users who will ever be able to use it are the developers as they change stuff

Using a devel build are we?

Quote
and offer no documentation

I'm not entirely sure what you call the "documentation" link here, from the home page, then:



Quote
and they develop so slow;y that project will soon be going backwards.

Tell that to the hard-working pair from CERN who have developed a whole new routing engine way faster than I ever could...

(Though I'll have to concede that before they came along, development was very slow. We're picking up the pace now! :box:)

I know people put a lot of work in but after nearly two years and no official release I gave up, they used to come out every 6 months. I can use a software for comercial work that shows the unstable backing that kicad does, reluctantly I had to go and pay for diptrace.

The autoplacer apparently was not put there to be used, just to make it look pretty. The last time I used the autorouter it ignored existing traces and crashed new ones into them, the thing was a joke.

I have no intention of telling my employer one day that all the work I have done is brocken because some freeware software went by the by.

It's just a mess, I need something that just works. Sorry but if they took a regular payment off me and produced quality software I'd not have a problem but the track record so far is it's unreliable unless your a poor hobbyist.
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2015, 08:17:07 pm »
Quote
The autoplacer apparently was not put there to be used, just to make it look pretty.

As is the case with every autoplacer.

Quote
The last time I used the autorouter it ignored existing traces and crashed new ones into them, the thing was a joke.

Freerouting isn't part of KiCad, it's just a nice bonus thing that KiCad has support for. It's like saying Microsoft Word is bad because it can export to Wordperfect and you don't like Wordperfect.

Quote
I have no intention of telling my employer one day that all the work I have done is brocken because some freeware software went by the by.

If you don't like it because you're biased against FOSS, just come out and say that.
No longer active here - try the IRC channel if you just can't be without me :)
 

Offline Simon

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #18 on: July 13, 2015, 08:23:21 pm »


If you don't like it because you're biased against FOSS, just come out and say that.

If that stands for Free Open Source software then yes i very much like it, why shoudn't I ? but free cannot come at the cost of disaster. Just because it's here and supported today does not mean it will be tomorrow and i have to look to the future. I can't keep swapping backwards and forwards between software based on how the developers are getting on this year. Like I say I would happily donate to something that has a reasonable likelyhood of succeeding. After waiting of over a year for a new version with aknowledgements from developers that stuff needed fixing I gave up. I don't know what it has been like for the last year as I moved to kicad, like I said i can't keep swapping back and forth just because they made an effort this time.
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #19 on: July 13, 2015, 08:24:21 pm »
No longer active here - try the IRC channel if you just can't be without me :)
 

Offline Simon

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #20 on: July 13, 2015, 08:26:59 pm »
That is good to see like i said I wated for nearly 2 years, and then had to jump as i had to start producing comercial work and at the time kicad was not up to it, so now i have a diptrace licence and a number of libraries already created that i rely on, do i ditch my investment and start doing libraries all over again ?

I really hope they do make something good of it as diptrace does not progress that fast either but at least it's stable.
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #21 on: July 13, 2015, 08:31:45 pm »
No, of course you don't ditch your investment - once you've spent a large amount of time setting up a development environment, it's another large investment to switch to another.* Just don't keep talking trash about it because you don't like what it used to be. Neither do I, KiCad used to suck...

*There's quite a bit of interest among some devs in creating importers for various formats, so that might not be true at some point in the future...
No longer active here - try the IRC channel if you just can't be without me :)
 

Offline Simon

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #22 on: July 13, 2015, 08:33:42 pm »
Well I'm downloading it and lets see what it has to offer now. The last time i tried to use it the library management had been changed and complicated to such an extend it was unusable.
 

Offline Wilksey

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #23 on: July 13, 2015, 09:02:31 pm »
For Eagle to be comparable to Circuit Maker it would have to go backwards and remove local file saving, at least they have a free version you can look at designs with.

I have no issues using DipTrace, EAGLE or KICAD, all capable, DipTrace being the least capable in my opinion as there is no high speed, but there is a new version imminent apparently, so we will see what they come up with!
 

Offline con-f-use

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Re: Libraries for Kicad - Resources
« Reply #24 on: July 14, 2015, 07:08:29 am »
Well I'm downloading it and lets see what it has to offer now. The last time i tried to use it the library management had been changed and complicated to such an extend it was unusable.

Chris Gammel, you hosts the AmpHour together with Dave, made an excellent primer video series on KiCad. Without it I would have been very frustrated, but now I kinda like it. Make sure you use the OpenGL canvas, it's much much better.
 


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