Re: Kicad

On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 3:51 AM Baltissen, GJPAA (Ruud)
<ruud.baltissen_at_apg.nl> wrote:
> About two years (?) ago I opened a discussion about using Eagle or Kicad. I was thinking about switching to Kicad...
> During that discussion I was able to lay may hands on Eagle 7.70 and that ended the discussion from my side.

Hi, Ruud,

What a timely message.  I too looked at KiCAD a few years ago and
decided it wasn't up to the task (yet), but I was just setting up a
new-to-me Linux laptop and discovered that the license for new
versions of EagleCAD require a subscription and the old versions that
do not (i.e. 7.70 and older) are not new enough to run on recent
versions of Linux (not sufficiently backwards-compatible with
up-to-date system libraries).

So I just started using KiCAD this week.

Vintage but not directly Commodore related, it's the "Simon" schematic
from Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar, Byte magazine, Apr 1979, pp 10-18.  I
want to re-implement what I did in 1979 that I attached to a PET and
bring that to the Vintage Computer Fest East this April because the
theme is the 6502.

> - Most important: the conversion of Eagle files, SCH and BRD, went w/o a problem. I used the 8088 board for the CBM-II as a test case.

Interesting.  I haven't tried that yet, but I'm sure I will.  I
probably don't have as many projects as you, but I do have over a
dozen in EagleCAD.

> So I have decided to use Kicad from now on. Just to inform you.

As it turns out, I was getting ready to do my second project this week
in KiCAD and it has already asked me to reach out the community.  I
asked in a vintage computing group on Facebook (with no good answer),
so I'll ask here - are there parts/footprint libraries for parts
commonly found in Commodore computers?  In particular, I'm thinking of
vintage RAM (especially 1Kx4 SRAM) and 0.156"-spacing edge connectors.
Of course I can enter them in myself but if anyone is already using
KiCAD for Commodore machines, it won't take long until you need to
place parts that are not found in modern designs.

The first one I really need is the dual-row 22-pin 0.156"-spacing edge
card, as would be found on a VIC-20 ROM cartridge.    The second would
be the 12-pin version for User Port/GPIB port.  I have not been able
to find these on any sort of search for KiCAD libraries.

Cheers,

-ethan