[GreenKeys] PC board work.

[RETRO Innovations]

On 1/25/2021 8:19 AM, Bob kb8tq wrote:
> Hi
>
> KiCad has it’s quirks but it works very well. The price (free) is right
> and will stay that way. As long as CERN is backing the development
> process, it should keep getting better. With budgets always an
> unknown, that part of it is very much “we’ll see ….”.
>
> Bob


EAGLE has it's quirks as well :-)

For many years, CADSOFT's EAGLE was more feature complete that gEDA and 
KiCAD, and you could open any size board in the free EAGLE software to 
create gerbers, which made it ideal for open source projects.  That's 
why many of us started using it. For small boards and non commercial 
uses, EAGLE's free price tag for their entry level option was indeed a 
draw, but many of us had no issues paying for capability, within reason 
(ORCAD, PROTEL, were just so expensive at the time, while EAGLE was much 
more reasonable).  It was the free "viewer" option coupled with the 
overall capability that made the suite a powerful force. So, I started 
using it in 2005 or so and have become extremely proficient at board 
design (I think I actually bought the expensive autorouter, but there 
are two kinds of autorouters, in my opinion: useless and crappy, so I 
don't use it).

But, like Gil, I had significant issues with the AutoDesk move to 
subscription licensing for the tool.  And, so I share Steve and John's 
recommendation to try KiCAD.  I've downloaded it many times over the 
years, and I can do a bit with it, but I am just so much more productive 
in EAGLE at this time, and it's always a hard decision to take precious 
hobby time away from new designs to learn a new tool.  Still, I think 
KiCAD is reasonably feature complete now (I still wait for complete back 
annotation, which is a piece I use all the time in EAGLE). Like Gil, I 
continue to soldier on with my v7.7 of EAGLE, which works fine, and work 
to become proficient in KiCAD.

For PCBs, if jlcpcb.com has not been suggested, please consider them. 
Quite frankly, the great options for inexpensive PCB manufacturing now 
are almost overwhelming.  oshpark and batchpcb for incredibly quick 
protos; elecrow, pcbway, jlcpcb, etc for flexible colors and quick 
turnaround; and others for larger runs. V scoring, hard gold, immersion 
gold plating, immersion silver plating, 4 layer, panelization, etc. all 
seem to be a single checkbox click.

I don't use this much anymore, since I typically just head to batchpcb 
for super cheap protos and elecrow/jlcpcb for regular stuff in colors I 
want, but folks can use this shopping tool to find an ideal service:

https://pcbshopper.com/

I also have used PCB assembly services since about 2006 or so, but those 
are harder to recommend.  The one I use is much less web automated, but 
so much more flexible than the current web quoting companies online. I'm 
sure the PCBA online options are very good, but once you're spoiled with 
a PCBA firm that does not require you to pick from their stock, it's 
hard to migrate away...

Jim