I'm trying to create the .gitignore file for a KiCAD project that is versioned with git and stored remotely on GitHub.
What are the minimum files I should I add to my version control system in order for others to replicate the project?
Electronic – Which files to version control for KiCAD
kicad
Related Solutions
Leon's link is right on the mark as far as importing downloaded libraries into KiCad.
I highly recommend all of the posts from curiousinventor.com. Start here and go through all of the posts. There aren't that many, and they are quick and easy reads.
In a nutshell, the icons in the toolbar are your friends, so learn them right away. You'll put parts into you schematic with the "Place a Component" function in the right toolbar. You can pick the part you want by using "Select by Browser", or you can do a keyword search. The problem with the keyword search is that if you've modified a component and saved it into your own custom library, when you search for the keyword you'll get multiple instances, and you won't be able to tell which library the instance is from! So in this case, "Select by Browser" is the way to go.
There is a better alternative to autoplace. I think autoplace is used to minimize board space, keep things closer together for auto-routing purposes, etc. If you just want to space things out so it's easier to manually layout your board and not worry about having overlapping identical components (ie: resistors), just do the following:
- Open PCBNEW
- Import your netlist
- Click on the "Mode" button near the upper right of your horizontal toolbar icons right under the "File", "Edit", horizontal menus. Make sure it is depressed, and says "Mode Footprint:" when you hover the mouse over the button.
- Make sure you have the "Arrow" tool selected (topmost icon in the vertical list of icons on the right hand side of the screen).
- Right click anywhere on the board (except directly on a component), select "Glob Move and Place..." ==> "Move All Modules", and click "Yes" at the following prompt.
- Done, and you don't even have to create a "PCB_edges" layer. It intelligently separates the parts so they have at least a single "unit" radius (depending on your current grid resolution options) so there is no overlap with other components, as shown below.
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Best Answer
When archiving a project that is a design based upon some specific CAD tool it is strongly suggested that you save all the produced collaterals (schematic PDFs, Gerber files etc). As designs age can be a problem to expect to be able to access and run the tools that created the collateral.
This is particularly true in environments where a design may use these collaterals for production purposes over multiple decades. PDF files to read schematics and Gerber files to produce raw circuit boards have been in use for nearly 30 years now but on the other hand the CAD package after CAD package has come and gone. And even some that are still around in name may not run on modern platforms or will refuse to read old version files.