I have a GPL project that I imported from Eagle 7.x. using 5.1.6. Unfortunately, I am on Mac OSX 10.13. My iMac (10.12) at home cannot be upgraded, even though it is I7, due to Apple’s checks, I might be able to defeat that, but have not tried. So 5.1.6 is the current usable one, due to forcing OSX 10.14.
First, I am really impressed with the import process. I got a board out of KiCad which looks good, and a schematic which is (mostly) what was input. Very good job, indeed!
The board looks good, the schematic looks good. However Schematic DRC complains about unconnected pins. DRC on the board complains about trace overlap when a trace goes to a pad. I see that the schematic is not seeing the connector pin for that pad connected to the trace, so it complains. An attempt to fix it on the PCB by deleting the segment and re-routing shows that dramatically.
I am still learning KiCad. It could be something simple on my part, but after 8 hours of YouTube, Google, and Forum searches, I am not convinced it is me. I think it is just a matter of some very little additional polish needed in the import process. (Or in the ability to force connect close pins to close wires on the schematic with some user intervention).
KiCad seems to have an issue with connecting close but not there traces to pins if you are using something other than 50mil.
The original schematic is not on 50 or 100mil, it is on 10 mil. (I know, bad deal, but it is similar to other projects dumped in my lap.)
I went to a spacing of 1 mil and moved the connector to fix the “off trace” connection (for instance) and received a “dot” on the wire, but when I reran the DRC it still said the pin was not connected.
Eagle lets you do a “move” on a part, back and forth, and then on the schematic it creates a connection when the wires are close but not yet connected using dots. You can then delete the dangling net components and move on. Any similar process for KiCad? I was unable to discover such a method.
I really don’t want to re-draw the schematic in KiCad if I can avoid it. These unconnected errors bother me, even though the board looks usable. I would hesitate to release this as a KiCad with unconnected pins.
I can provide the eagle project if interested.
thanks!