--
Kind regards,

Peter Dalmaris, PhD

Founder, Tech Explorations, Inc.
Online instructor (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, KiCad and more)
Author of Electronics Education for Makers & KiCad Like a Pro
techexplorations.com
@futureshocked

开云体育

Turned out to be quite simple just ad this line:

My wife and I both use Chrome books for everyday surfing and email because they are cheap and light weight. For running Kicad I use the 'big' computer in my workshop. However I have often wished I could run Kicad indoors. Rather than shell out for an expensive laptop I wondered if Kicad could be installed on a Chrome book. We have just replaced our ancient Samsung Chrome books with new ASUS one with Intel chips inside. These Chrome books have Crostini installed which is Google's Linux based development framework. Anyway I got this set up on my new Chrome book and I see it provides a basic command line version of Debian stretch. I followed the instructions in the Crostini wiki to set up X apps and got xclock working OK. So on a whim I typed in apt install kicad and to my surprise off it went and installed it. Better still, typing kicad at the command line brings up the familiar Kicad project manager. And it all seems to work (only tried schematic entry so far).

The only downside is it is version 4. Anyone have any idea how I can upgrade this to version 5?

Cheers

Ian

Love google : Scrivo in inglese, perché il mio italiano è inesistente.? and got it translated.
1. lock down thanks - using the wrong lock down option button.
2. yes: did add holes - symbols to the schematic after writing my blurb, and finding a previous post indicating such action was needed and how to do it.
The ultimate in schematic driven layout, got to love it.
Thanks for the many replies.
Saluti, grazie. }
Hutch

The mechanical designer places circles in the DXF. Obviously there's a
circle for the hole proper, with additional larger circles as required
for the copper annulus and/or keep-out (don't forget things like the
bolt head, washers, and tolerances). Having imported the DXF, I then
place a pad to match. KiCad 5 helpfully snaps the pad into position,
whereas previously I would have had to eyeball it (which is actually
very easy).

There are errors in this process, which can be reduced if one goes back
to the original mechanical drawing so the hole can be positioned using
measurements taken from that, with the imported DXF being used as a
check. In practice I don't bother; I just feed back some sort of
mechanical export from KiCad, such as STEP, and let the mechanical
designer check everything fits into the 3D model of the product, because
that's what actually matters, not a 2mm bolt hole being 0.001659mm
off-centre. He's yet to complain about the errors, as they are
insignificant. I don't know where they creep in in the chain from the
original 3D model through to KiCad and back again, but they do; maybe
something is going through a metric/US units conversion. Just recently
we've been trying to rationalise the numbers, eg by making sure
everything is a multiple of 0.1mm. That just makes it easier to spot a
real problem.

Regards,

Robert

On 13/11/2019 11:35, Lev wrote:

How do you specify your mounting holes in the DXF?

--
() Plain text email - safe, readable, inclusive.
/\

Yes it is good to add Mechanical Items on your sch if you use DXF layers you still need to add a hole Just DXF does
Not equate to Hole in Drill file. You have no Idea how many times people proudly share their work on Linkedin and have
Mounting holes

DXF is good to position a Hole but you need to put a Hole on the pcb to create a Hole in the NC Drill Slots can be done Via DXF as they are Routed
not drilled .

This is Not CAD tool related no Cad tool Creates a Hole in the NC Drill from a DXF layer.


Arie

How do you specify your mounting holes in the DXF?


Levente

Sure, if attaching a file to a post works on groups.io (it was rather
hit-and-miss on Yahoo groups). If it doesn't work, I'll send the image
direct to you.

The image is confusing if you don't know what it all means. Firstly,
it shows just the left-hand end of the board. The green and the yellow
lines are on the eco1 and eco2 layers, used to show me where are the
keep-out areas on either side of the board. The outer green line
overlays the board profile, so you can't see the lines on the profile
layer, but they're there, baked into the footprint. The purple text is
on the silk screen. The items in grey (the drawings layer) show me
where one of the other engineers wants me to place items that have to be
in a specific position, including the pig-tail pads (I just have to
remember which side of the board they are on). 1 to 9 are pads for a
pig-tail, and the pads marked 10 are for bolt holes that connect
electrically to the metal case. I could have made the pigtail pads a
separate footprint, but it was convenient in this case to do things as I
have. I could also have numbered the pads marked 10 as 9, since in
this case they are connected electrically, but instead I opted to show
the connection on the schematic to make it salient to people looking at
the schematic. Speaking of which, this entire footprint is represented
in the schematic as a ten pin connector. Sometimes I have the board as
a separate component (with or without a connection to chassis); it just
depends on what works best for a particular project.

All the elements you see except the pads are imported from DXFs sent
through from two engineers working on other aspects of the project.

Regards,

Robert.

On 13/11/2019 09:21, José Eduardo S. C. Xavier wrote:

Hi Robert, can you show how it looks like?

"The board I'm currently working on even has solder pads for a pig-tail baked
into the board footprint."

On Wed, Nov 13, 2019, 08:55 Robert <birmingham_spider@...
<mailto:birmingham_spider@...>> wrote:

That's what I do. And if the board profile is something complicated
that has come from a mechanical CAD application (as a DXF), I have a
"board" component that includes the holes, the profile, and anything
else I will need to know whilst laying out (such as keep-outs). The
board I'm currently working on even has solder pads for a pig-tail baked
into the board footprint.

Regards,

Robert

On 13/11/2019 01:26, John wrote:
> Do you seriously have to place "hole" symbols on the schematic?

--
() Plain text email - safe, readable, inclusive.
/\

That's what I do. And if the board profile is something complicated
that has come from a mechanical CAD application (as a DXF), I have a
"board" component that includes the holes, the profile, and anything
else I will need to know whilst laying out (such as keep-outs). The
board I'm currently working on even has solder pads for a pig-tail baked
into the board footprint.

Regards,

Robert

On Tue, 12 Nov 2019 at 23:45, John <jphutch60bj@...> wrote:

Have made "hole" footprints. place in a "local hole library" - feedback insane requirement to make a footprint for holes.
Place my holes nice holes in the PCB.
Then "updated" my PCB to schematic to make sure I was not missing anything.
Tools->Update PCB from Schematic
Placed "hole" footprints just went away.!!!!!!!
How do you keep this from happening?

You select the footprint in your PCB and edit the properties. There
you have a choice of "locking" the component, so it will not be be
removed
by an update from the schematic.

-?Do you seriously have to place "hole" symbols on the schematic?
There are > 200 messages about mounting holes.

What did I miss in the help manual ?
Please Oh Please enlighten me, On how to keep my mounting holes from being tossed.

Have made "hole" footprints. place in a "local hole library" - feedback insane requirement to make a footprint for holes.
Place my holes nice holes in the PCB.
Then "updated" my PCB to schematic to make sure I was not missing anything.?
?????????? Tools->Update PCB from Schematic
Placed "hole" footprints just went away.!!!!!!!
How do you keep this from happening??? -?Do you seriously have to place "hole" symbols on the schematic? There are > 200 messages about mounting holes.
What did I miss in the help manual ?
Please Oh Please enlighten me, On how to keep my mounting holes from being tossed.

On Sat, 09 Nov 2019 09:14:28 -0800
barryc@... wrote:

If you run ldd against the kicad executable, it should give you a report
on which libraries it's pulling in for each of the dependencies. does
that give you anything useful?

It doesn't list ngsipce library, hence it is loaded dynamically at runtime. However, if I define

LD_DEBUG=libs

and run kicad, I get this:
[...]
7390: find library=libngspice.so.0 [0]; searching
7390: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
7390: trying file=/usr/local/lib/libngspice.so.0
7390:
7390: find library=libfftw3.so.3 [0]; searching
7390: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfftw3.so.3
7390:
7390:
7390: calling init: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfftw3.so.3
7390:
7390:
7390: calling init: /usr/local/lib/libngspice.so.0
7390:
7390:
7390: calling init: /usr/local/bin/_eeschema.kiface
7390:
7390: find library=libngspice.so.0.0.0 [0]; searching
7390: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
7390: search path=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64/x86_64:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64/x86_64:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64/x86_64:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64/x86_64:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:/lib/tls/x86_64/x86_64:/lib/tls/x86_64:/lib/tls/x86_64:/lib/tls:/lib/x86_64/x86_64:/lib/x86_64:/lib/x86_64:/lib:/usr/lib/tls/x86_64/x86_64:/usr/lib/tls/x86_64:/usr/lib/tls/x86_64:/usr/lib/tls:/usr/lib/x86_64/x86_64:/usr/lib/x86_64:/usr/lib/x86_64:/usr/lib (system search path)
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tls/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/tls/x86_64/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/tls/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/tls/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/tls/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/lib/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/tls/x86_64/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/tls/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/tls/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/tls/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64/libngspice.so.0.0.0
7390: trying file=/usr/lib/libngspice.so.0.0.0

It is very interesting, hence I really do have /usr/local/lib in ld.so.conf, and even in ld.so.cache.

So I'm a it confused.

Levente

--
Levente Kovacs
Senior Electronic Engineer

W:

If you run ldd against the kicad executable, it should give you a report on which libraries it's pulling in for each of the dependencies. does that give you anything useful?

It is there

lev@mercury:~$ cat /etc/ld.so.conf.d/libc.conf
# libc default configuration
/usr/local/lib

Still no luck.

I don't have any plain debian systems to confirm with, as my boxen are generally ubuntu variants, but they don't typically stray TOO far from debian.

I assume the ngspice library is actually in /usr/local/lib , correct?

check the files/etc/ld.so.conf and if the directory exists, the files inside /etc/ld.so.conf.d/
One of these files should contain the line

/usr/local/lib

If none of the files include the line, add it to /etc/ld.so.conf
(or read the man page for ldconfig for how to properly add it to a file inside /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ )

run?

sudo ldconfig

The program ought to be able to find it then.