How create a STM32 Nucleo board for KiCad 5.99

[paulvdh]

Normally I’d start with a search on github, but either I’m not awake yet, or they’ve removed the search button, which makes github unusable.

I had a look at the schematic packs from ST. It looks like it has a full schematic made in altium. This would be a good moment to experiment with the Altium importer in KiCad. (I have not used it myself, and it’s hidden in KiCad because it’s not developed far enough for … (Actually, I do not know in what state it id, as I wrote, I have not used it myself).

Another approach is to:

Reverse engineering KiCad project from Gerber files

The goal of this reverse-engineering tutorial is to re-create a complete KiCad project from partial information assuming the only information available is a schematic in some readable, (but not EDA form, such as a .pdf or a .png picture), and a set of gerber files. The Gerber files will create a PCB with much PCB information missing, however, using this method is easier than re-designing a PCB from scratch, and can also be extended to any other program that creates Gerber files. What is “resc…

(I still have to cleanup that FAQ article)

If you want to turn the whole board into a KiCad project, it’s quite a lot of work. If you just want the PCB outline and connector layout, it’s fairly quick and you have enough to design a PCB that can mate with the nucleo board.

I made a KiCad project from the mobilinkd template for KiCad V5.1 and it worked after sorting out the strange 4 layer deep directory structure. When you’ve created a KiCad V5.1.x project, you can open it in KiCad-nightly V5.99 and continue with it.
KiCad templates are very simple (I like simple) It’s just a regular KiCad project with some meta info such as a description in html and an icon. Which means, you can dump the files from: stm-morpho-template/template/STM_Morpho at master · mobilinkd/stm-morpho-template · GitHub in a directory, (maybe do some renaming) and then open it in the KiCad Version of your choice. This template does not have much info though. It’s just the PCB outline with connectors, and some empty connectors in the schematic. There are no labels with pin names, nor even power or GND. Combine that with that it’s for the 64 pin version and it also does not have the (horrible) “arduino” pin layout, and this template does not seem very useful to you.

Both experimenting with the Altium importer, and creating a KiCad project from the Gerbers seem valid options to get started. The Altium importer is the quiket if it works. Working with the Gerbers is almost certain to work. I did load the gerber files in Gerbview (It’s a 6-layer PCB) and it’ looks like it’s complete, but I have not exported it to a KiCad PCB.