EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => PCB/EDA/CAD => KiCad => Topic started by: Scutarius on September 19, 2013, 03:41:45 pm
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Hello I have downloaded the lastest version of KiCAD and the learning curve is hitting me, In every tutorial I see a different screen to add a component, I am looking for this button "By Lib Browser", as seen in figure 3
http://store.curiousinventor.com/guides/kicad/schematic (http://store.curiousinventor.com/guides/kicad/schematic)
In my machine there is no button to add a "By Lib Browser" :-//
Do you know if I missed a step?
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Unless I'm missing something, there's something seriously wrong with your installation. Both the latest testing and the latest stable have that button (though it's renamed to "Select by Browser"). What is your actual release number (version or date/revision from the About box)?
Do you have a "Library Browser" under the Tools menu?
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My version is build 2013-mar-25-stable (MacOs 10.8.5), and yes I have the "Library Browser" under the Tools, however I can only see the "power" lib
I followed this instructions http://www.mdx4.org/index.php?/categories/5-Kicad, (http://www.mdx4.org/index.php?/categories/5-Kicad,) to unzip Library-20-03-30.zip to /Library/Application Support/
I have to do this every time I have a new project?
https://code.google.com/p/opendous/wiki/KiCADTutorialAddingLibraries (https://code.google.com/p/opendous/wiki/KiCADTutorialAddingLibraries)
As far as I can see is a problem with the libraries, I would try to reinstall everything and let you know.
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You might have to open your default project (kicad.pro) and add the libraries, it should be located in <kicad-install-folder>/share/template.
Make sure you do this for both the schematic symbols (eeschema) and the footprints (pcbnew), and save the kicad.pro file.
I use the windows version, so I can't provide help on the Mac specifics.
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Wow, March 25? That is not the latest KiCad... or maybe it is, for Mac...
Couldn't tell you why the button isn't there, but yeah, you can just use the selection under the Tools menu. I think you'll find you don't use it much once you learn most of the names of the parts - just press A, type a name and press enter.
And yes, figure out where the default project template is installed and add the libraries to it. I'm a bit shocked they're not installed by default. Haven't used KiCad for Mac, though.
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OK it seems KiCAD is not as good in Mac...
http://interactive-matter.eu/blog/2011/12/08/installing-kicad-on-mac-os-x/ (http://interactive-matter.eu/blog/2011/12/08/installing-kicad-on-mac-os-x/)
http://forum.diyefi.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1186 (http://forum.diyefi.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1186)
There is even no kicad.pro, I will try to make it work if not I will stick with Eagle on mac and Altium on Windows what a shame...
Thank you for your support
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I wonder if, instead of using the "Mac version", you could just download the main source and compile it directly. If all the libraries are installed it should work just fine, if not seamlessly fitting into the OS (Mac is POSIX-compliant IIRC). Could need a couple "OS checks" removed from the Makefile to make it STFU about the fruity smell of the system... Might be more trouble than it's worth. I compile my own for Debian because theirs is outdated and I like to play with the nightlies sometimes...
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The latest stable build should be on this (http://www.mdx4.org/index.php?/categories/5-Kicad) link.
I looked through the archives, and there's no default project.
This is rally strange as the different versions should be built from the same sources.... :-//
However, there's also this wikipage (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Kicad/Installing_on_Mac_OS) on installing kicad on mac, it claims that it's necessary to download a linux version to get the proper libraries.... :palm:
Could this be the case here?
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thank you, it seems to work with that folders, no "By Lib Browser" button whatsoever...
For the moment I will give it a try... It is really urgent to have good tools for mac..
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Mac seems to lack good tools for anything that's not artsy shit.
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It is frustrating but yes... you are correct, I still can make a bunch of good engineering with some tools: matlab and microchip's mplab are good examples, LTspice can be easly ported too
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I tried installing the files from mdx4 (http://www.mdx4.org/index.php?/categories/5-Kicad) moving the executables into "Applications" and the libraries into "Libraries/Application Support".
This seems to work.
The default project and the other content in the template folder isn't included.
- To create the default template you open the "kicad" program and from there you start eescema and pcbnew.
- In eescema and pcbnew you go to preferences->library and add the libraies.
- After this you rename the .pro file (in the executable folder) to kicad.pro.
I did this on work, so I haven't been able to test it extensively.