17 Feb
2017
17 Feb
'17
12:05 p.m.
On Feb 17, 2017, at 2:35 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at
mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
...
One thing I learned with Eagle (an old version -- I started with it on DOS, with a
physical license dongle) is that you can define library stuff via scripting. This is very
helpful when defining 120-pin PCB footprints.
I don't remember precisely, but I think you can export libraries from Eagle in some
sort of text form. If that's true, then it would be SMOP to write a KiCAD library
importer. The key question is whether the library semantics are compatible. EAGLE is
rather nice in the way it handles schematic symbols vs. footprints and all that.
I used EAGLE long ago for one project, and more recently for another, but I haven't
found it sufficiently useful to buy it a second time to get the non-free version. Not
that I really need the autorouter, it isn't really all that useful. But still,
it's pretty steep for a hobbyist. I discovered KiCAD, haven't used it yet, should
give it a try.
One nice aspect of EAGLE is that a number of PCB fab shops will accept EAGLE *.BRD files
directly, rather than asking for Gerber and drill files.
paul
From: Guy Sotomayor Jr
In terms of community supplied libraries, Eagle
has those too and I've
found that by and large they are junk (it's easier/quicker for me to
create a part on my own
... While I haven't seen a lot of KiCAD contributed libraries (that's
part of the problem)
KiCAD came with a fairly large set of user-contributed libraries. For various
reasons (including working with archaic parts), I've wound up adding quite a
few, but i've usally found it pretty easy to modify an exising part from the
libraries, to get what I need. YMMV.