Getting Started Tutorial Question - Stuck at Chapter 3 - Step 47

Software
1

I’ve been working my way through the Getting Started tutorial using the latest nightly build and got suck at point 47 of Chapter 3 which states:

“You can now quit the schematic editor. From KiCad, click on the Run Cvpcb icon on the top toolbar. If a
missing file error window pops up, just ignore it and click OK.”

So, up to this point I’ve finished with the schematic layout and generated and saved the .net file but I can’t see any “Cvpub” icon from the top/main toolbar.

I tried the next icon along from left to right from the schematic editor but it didn’t seem the correct thing to do.

Has anyone else encountered the same issue?

Thanks
Graham

2

The developers removed cvpcb as a separate tool and integrated it into eeschema. Just stay in eeschema and click on the cvpcb icon. It’s the third icon from the right in the eeschema toolbar (at least it is in my version).

3

You can also run CvPCB by selecting the “Tools” drop-down menu, then “Assign Component Footprint”.

(Or, link a single schematic symbol to its associated board footprint by right-clicking on the schematic symbol, then select “Edit Component” > “Edit” . Select the “Footprint” field from the “Fields” list, then the “Assign Footprint” button near the lower right corner of the window. I know - that’s a lot of clicking just to assign a footprint, but I prefer it if I’m just adding or changing a few components, since I usually edit other component parameters - like value, reference designator, etc - at the same time.)

Dale

p.s. - A picture is worth 10^3 words (though NOTHING beats hardware!). I made a fancy screenshot image to illustrate these instructions but “New Users” can’t attach images.

4

Hi

Thanks for your answers. I now managed to generate the footprints, and wasn’t seeing the icon on the right hand side in the schematic tool since I’d got the app open on the left of my screen and the tutorial document on the right, and I’ve noticed there are several icons on the toolbar and if the screen size is reduced the toolbar icons don’t reorganise themselves and become hidden…potential bug?

However, when I move onto generating the PCB board layout I get a whole stack of errors in the "Messages list:

"
Info: Reading netlist file “C:\graham\kicad-projects\tutorial1.net”.

Info: Using references to match components and footprints.

Error: No footprint defined for component ‘R2’.

Error: No footprint defined for component ‘R1’.
…
"

and the PCB canvas remains black with no components displayed.

I have another issues at step 56 on generating the BOM. I’m using the latest Windows build and there is no “plugins” directory in the installation. I created a “plugins” directory in the tutorial directory (so as no admin rights issue) and copied the .xml file from:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KiCad/kicad-source-mirror/master/eeschema/plugins/bom2csv.xsl

When I add this file as a plugin and name “bom2csv” in the list and then click generate I get a kicad error dialog that states:

“…xml” failed (error 0: operation completed sucessfully.)"

which is funny and should read unsuccessfully!

Closing this dialog and returning to “Bill of Material” dialog I see a “Return code -1”.

Any thoughts?

This “Getting Started” tutorial reminds of the pain of going to see a dentist!! It needs a LOT of work.

Graham

5

The symptom " . . . and the PCB canvas remains black with no components displayed. . . . " will occur if you generate the netlist BEFORE specifying footprints for each component by running CvPCB. Create the netlist AFTER you run CvPCB.

And be sure to “Save Changes” in CvPCB before you create the netlist.

Dale

6

Thanks. I don’t I was saving the .net file changes and overwriting the existing file.

It’s working now.

7

I had the same problem. I think the tutorial points the steps in the other order: generate net list, then run CvPCB. I did it the other way around: run CvPCB and then generate net list, and I was able to successfully add the elements to PCBnew.