[volt-nuts] volt-nuts Digest, Vol 88, Issue 4

[Dan Kemppainen]

On 12/13/2016 12:00 PM, volt-nuts-request at febo.com wrote:
> If you don't have any personal preference, then
> KiCad is definitely the way to go. It has improved
> dramatically since it got the CERN treatment and
> doesn't cost a cent regardless of size and layers.
>

I haven't run PCBArtist, however it supports outputting Gerbers, which 
is nice. You are not tied to a particular board house.

I've sort of been forced to play with KiCAD for a project, and can't 
stand the user interface. I've been running eagle for a long time, that 
probably biases me towards that. Granted, eagle does have a sharp 
learning curve also, but KiCAD just hurts to use.

Keep in mind I'm referencing this to other CAD programs like AutoCAD, 
PTC Creo, ViaCAD and Eagle. KiCAD just feels clunky, even worse than 
LibreCAD.

This really is frustrating to me, because I really like the idea FOSS 
software, but lack of support and clunky UI make it hard to adopt for 
anything but one off hobby projects.

Anyway, my $.02. If anyone has any advise on how to get up to speed on 
KiCAD, I'd be interesting in hearing it!


Dan