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Comment by nategri | Hacker News Reader

Picked up KiCad over the summer and I'm really glad I did. Bums me out so much when I see OSH projects using Eagle :(

Eagle is in a weird place right now. For years it was functionally quite good, but horribly outdated UI-wise. I learned PCB design using Eagle, and will still go to Eagle first because I know I can knock out a breakout board in half an hour. But, the user interface was like something from Windows 95.

Then Autodesk got involved and everyone flipped their tables. On the whole, I think it's been a good move. Cadsoft let Eagle stagnate. Autodesk have already implemented a lot of really useful features - why did it take so long to add layer groups (like top/bottom sets)? Or board previews? Or push/shove routing? Real-time DRC violation alerts? On the other hand, the UI changes slightly every time there's a (frequent) update which takes getting used to. They're very active on the Autodesk forums and they seem genuinely interested in making it a more usable piece of software.

I think it still needs a year or two for the dust to settle, but I still enjoy using it. I'm fortunate that I have a license as university staff, but the free version has always been pretty nice (I don't think I've ever needed a board bigger than 100x160).

Part of Eagle's popularity stems (I guess) from SparkFun and Adafruit using it, historically, for a lot of their tutorials.

> Bums me out so much when I see OSH projects using Eagle

Can not agree more. There are multiple alternatives for open source EDA packages. I started using gEDA before the KiCad project even existed, so I mostly still work in gEDA. But I have done work in KiCad, it is probably more beginner-friendly than gEDA but I always seem to bump into things I miss from gEDA when doing a KiCad project.

In any case, with two mature (and I have heard other newer projects exist???) open source EDA packages available, it is frustrating to see open hardware projects still using proprietary cripple-ware.

> and I have heard other newer projects exist???

Yeah, know of librepcb [1] and horizon [2]. Both try to solve kicad's library problems. Librepcb files are designed with version control in mind, which I like. Horizon used parts of kicad (like autorouter) and is more feature rich.

I probably would have switched to kicad by now, but these new projects seem nice, too, and I decided to wait and see where the community settles. Hence, in my case, variety in open source hurts adoption.

[1] https://librepcb.org/

[2] https://github.com/carrotIndustries/horizon

Could you elaborate what Kicad's library problems are?

I've never done serious work in it but the current way of managing libraries is quite confusing and (I imagine) difficult to use version control will

Eagle is straight-up weird. It’s like using a DOS program in 1985, when developers were experimenting with UI.

To copy and paste from one design to another: group command, select components, cut command (it will copy them, not cut them), close the file, open another file (only one file can be open at a time), paste command.

Eagle was a great start, but once Autodesk started up with the licensing crap, I moved to KiCad, which although took a bit of time, was well worth the effort!

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