This is simply a note of reference. Yesterday I upgraded Lubuntu on my ancient laptop from 16.x to the current 18.x OS version. After that upgrade completed I was unable to open PCBnew. Kicad still opened and so did Eschema, but PCBnew would not. The KiCAD dialogue window said ‘opening PCBnew’ followed by a pause of a few seconds then it gave a ‘PCBnew closed’ message. I tried opening PCBnew from KiCAD’s main GUI, directly from the PCBnew option in my programs menu, and from the button on the Eschema toolbar, all options had the same result with a pause that did nothing.
I solved my problem by installing KiCAD V5 from the command line. I used the information available in this link:
Lubuntu is basically just a lighter weight version of Ubuntu. However, the default ‘Software Center’ application for Lubuntu is rather lousy and did not have KiCAD 5 listed. I also use the Synaptic Package Manager application I installed but the version available on that app is still KiCAD V4.0.7. Therefore I used the command line installation described at the previous link, or copied here with more explicit instructions with context:
1.) Copy and paste the following in a command line linux terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository --yes ppa:js-reynaud/kicad-5
(Then enter your password for super user [sudu] access)
2.) Next Type/Copy Paste:
sudo apt update
3.) Make sure you have a good internet connection and can remain connected for long enough to complete the dowload/install.
(My download speeds in the US averaged around 250kbs even though my junk laptop can usually manage around 1.5mps. I don’t know if the speed was due to local variables or something on the hosting side. Regardless IMO it is wise to optimize your local variables before beginning the next operation. If your experience is anything like mine the next step will take around 1.5-2 hours.)
4.) Copy and paste the following into the terminal:
sudo apt install kicad
That’s how I fixed my problem opening PCBnew after upgrading my Lubuntu OS to 18.x.
-Jake