I’m once again new to Kicad. A few years ago I downloaded an older version of Kicad. 2. something. I’m a vintage computer guy who likes to make my own boards for these old timers. My purpose then, was to have a nice schematic program ( I used a very old version of OrCad prior to that) and since I wire wraped everything, I was not interested in the PCB part. Well, now I want to attempt a board. I have decided to make and addition to my communications card on a CPM machine using an S-100 bus. I have a circuit that works and would like to attempt to make a PCB board rather than a wire wrap. I have downloaded Version 4. something and noticed that the libraries are on GITHUB. Which seems like a good idea. But, some of the chips I use are not listed. I’m looking for Intel Chips like the 8212 I/O port and the 8251 UART chip. The older version of KiCad that I used also did not have these so I made my own library. My question is should I go down that same path and make my own library or maybe attempt to make something of the GITHUB libraries? So… where can I learn more about the GITHUB libraries. How to use them, how they are made etc. Thanks for the help, Mike
Another question, if I wanted a s-100 bus connector, would I make one that is similar to one that is listed as BUSPC? Thanks Mike
I’m assuming you want information about the footprint libs. (all libraries are on github. But in the current version only footprint libs are handled as i describe below.)
There are split opinions on the use of the github libs.
If you use kicad out of the box the libs are not stored anywhere on your pc.
(They are downloaded as a zip file everytime kicad needs a lib. Examples are: opening cvpcb, opening a lib in the footprint editor, importing a netlist with footprints that are not already in the pcb file, …)
There is a way to get them onto your pc. Here a good instruction of how to use local libs created by @bobc.
If you use local libs you have more control over when you get updates.
Note that footprints that are used in a pcbnew file are stored in the header of this file. This means that the footprint does not change in the pcb file without a command by you if the footprint has been changed in the lib.
(In the case of using github, the footprint can be changed at any time by anyone.)
I use the github libraries as the basis for my personal libs. This way i know that the footprints i use do not change without my knowledge and i can tweak them easily such that they suit my needs.
If you create your own part, do it in your own library. Otherwise it will be overwritten by an update of the library.
(Github libs are read only anyway. If you use local libs you could in theory change the footprints directly in the local lib.)