I’ve just bit the bullet and went from 4.0.7 to 5.0.2 in a production environment.
Many griefs I had with the 4.0.7 have been solved in the new version, greatly improving OpenGL canvas functionality. Hopefully my F9 will be able to finally rest now.
Major improvements that make me happy with 5.0.2:
Interactive drag/move now snaps to grid. Makes it easier to keep things tidy as previously it ignored grid totally.
Crosshair cursor for most operations. I use Crosshair as a “ruler” to verify the alignment of parts on board.
Free Vias. Now ground stitching is a pleasure!
Delete segment without prior selection in “Select mode”. Nice!
I’m based upon my own part libraries (apart from some basic generic components) so the projects seem to upgrade easily (fingers crossed).
Thanks, developers, for your hard work!
This was also true with the nightlies not long after 4.0.7 was released. And, at that point in time the nightlies were generally well behaved, with only a few of them introducing unexpected behaviours. I could not imagine still using a V4 installation; so many things have been fixed and improved since then.
The Dev Team are very quick to address any critical issues found in the official builds. The only valid reason for not upgrading would be if the update happened at the same time as also being in the middle developing a design. But, even then, the V5 improvements may well have made any inconveniences worth the effort.
Switching over to nigtlies might be a good idea in case of Hobbyist/Enthusiast environment.
I’m using KiCad for production, and stability (both the software itself, as well as it’s output) is critical for me. I’ve started my KiCad experience with BZR3256, and basically get my things done on that – so my only major gripe about the 4.0.7 was the missing functionality of OpenGL vs the Legacy canvas (kind of, you get some nice features but you also miss some handy ones from Legacy).
Now after I have switched to 5.0.2 on my main machine (after playing with it on the secondary PC) I can upgrade to nigtlies 5.1 on the secondary PC and see what’s coming up. But even now I’m pretty sure things are going into a good direction, thanks to lots of people involved in the project.
Few years ago I had to choose an EDA for my project, and the contenders were Eagle, Designspark and KiCad. I’ve started with DesignSpark but couldn’t find “at home” with it (having no real previous EDA experience). Then gave Kicad a try and immediately fell in love with it. Since then, I’m a great advocate for KiCad and try to convince people to switch on every occassion. BTW, It’s a pity that my local technical university neglects KiCad (probably the staff is too old to adopt) but I believe it should be a “Gold standard” in Education market.
