[Discuss] [Open Manufacturing] Lady Ada interviews Autodesk after EAGLE purchase

[Tom Igoe]

Haven’t seen a circuit CAD program yet that *didn’t* have UI issues. It’s not been a priority for circuit CAD software, I guess. Maybe it's a good opportunity for UI/UX designers who want to get involved in OSS.

Tom

> On Jul 6, 2016, at 8:28 AM, Nancy Ouyang <nancy.ouyang at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Did someone say UI critiques and user documentation in the same thread
> 
> I'll try using kicad this weekend,  haven't made a board in two years hence why I'm talking about diptrace and haven't used kicad yet
> 
> I'll write it up too :3
> 
> Enthusiastically,
> Nancy
> 
> (only semi relatedly,  osmand is already so much more full featured and usable offline than Google Maps,  but they have some major ui issues :/)
> 
> On Jul 6, 2016 8:03 AM, "Tom Igoe" <tom.igoe at gmail.com <mailto:tom.igoe at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Thanks Javier,
> 
> For those who’ve been hooked on Eagle forever, is there a guide to transitioning to Kicad available anywhere?  Perhaps instructions on converting your libraries, or what to look out for when migrating a project from Eagle to Kicad?  I think for many people, the desire to do the open-source thing is only going to take them part of the way. Instructions and guides and easy translation are a big help too.
> 
> Tom
> 
> > On Jul 6, 2016, at 4:11 AM, Javier Serrano <Javier.Serrano at cern.ch <mailto:Javier.Serrano at cern.ch>> wrote:
> >
> > [[not sure I have the right to send email to all these lists, giving it
> > a try anyway]]
> >
> > On 07/06/2016 05:45 AM, Nancy Ouyang wrote:
> >> lolwut. Autodesk bought Eagle?!
> >> https://blog.adafruit.com/2016/07/05/exclusive-interview-with-autodesk-about-the-cadsoft-eagle-purchase-autodesk-cadsofttech-technolomaniac/ <https://blog.adafruit.com/2016/07/05/exclusive-interview-with-autodesk-about-the-cadsoft-eagle-purchase-autodesk-cadsofttech-technolomaniac/>
> >
> > Thanks for the link!
> >
> >> yay for free 6 layer!
> >
> > Free as in beer "to students and faculty for non-commercial work."
> >
> >> in other words, go KiCAD go! i'm rooting for you :3
> >
> > Thanks! The KiCad [1] project leader, Wayne Stambaugh, is actually
> > spending this week with us at CERN, working with 5 other people in what
> > turned out to be an improvised KiCad mini-hackathon. In my view, the
> > reasons to use Eagle over KiCad have very quickly shrunk to zero. As we
> > are preparing the roadmap for the next stable release, I would be very
> > interested in people's opinions about missing features and UI quirks in
> > KiCad.
> >
> > We are also seeing a slow-but-steady increase in the number of people
> > who volunteer to contribute to KiCad development. If anybody here would
> > like to participate, please email me off list. We can use all sorts of
> > help, not only software development. For example, I think we could
> > really do with a user experience (UX) person. PCB fab houses also tell
> > us they get more and more KiCad files, and some are asking how they can
> > help.
> >
> > For those of you new to the subject: the big difference between KiCad
> > and Eagle is that KiCad is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) [2].
> > KiCad gives you the same type of freedoms on your software as the ones
> > you get in hardware when you use a licence compliant with the OSHW
> > definition. In particular, there is no constraint on your ability to
> > copy, distribute and modify the software as much as you want. In my
> > opinion, a FOSS toolset is key to OSHW development. Only with a good
> > FOSS toolset you can guarantee that anybody will be able to open, modify
> > and share back your design files now and in the future, without any
> > artificial constraint. An open file format is only a step in the right
> > direction, and you get that necessarily with any FOSS tool.
> >
> > If you are less into freedom and more into features, I invite you to
> > compare the feature list. One example: 6 layers free for students and
> > faculty for non-commercial work vs. 32 layers free for everyone to do
> > whatever they like, including of course commercial work.
> >
> > I think it's a matter of time until most OSHW work gets done using FOSS
> > tools. The question is how long it will take. Please help us so this can
> > happen sooner rather than later!
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Javier
> >
> > [1] http://kicad-pcb.org/ <http://kicad-pcb.org/>
> > [2] GEDA is another example of a FOSS EDA tool.
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