Kicad installation advantage

Hello everyone,
whether for a validated release (Stable Release) or for a non-validated version trial (Nightly Development Builds), is it better to uninstall Kicad before reinstalling another version? (I’m on Win10-X64).
Can several versions live together?
Subsidiary question, where to see the evolutions / fixes of one version versus another?
Finally, where can I download the trial version 6 (5.99) for windows X64?
Thank you
Vincent.

Yes, there have been recent changes in the nightly builds Windows installer and in KiCad itself which made it possible to install and run the stable 5.1 and the development build 5.99 at the same time without problems. Just install the latest nightly build with default settings and it should work.

Development is continuous (daily) and there are no changelogs. You have to peek into the git log to see the changes between two versions.

If you are interested in differences between the stable and the development version you have to read for example Post-v5 new features and development news and KiCad 6: Just published my BIG *preview* review.

See the kicad.org download page -> Windows -> Nightly builds.

1 Like

Hi and thanks Peter for the details!
I started reading your review on version 6, awesome!
Indeed the Nightly versions change every day, I took the last of the day:

I will test, thanks for all the information.
Vincent.

So, I downloaded and installed version 5.99.
At the first start I am asked if I want to import the current configuration of my current version?
What should I do ? Will this disturb my current version?
Thank you.
Vincent.

Nope. It will just import the settings you’re using and make it a starting point for nightly. It wouldn’t effect your stable installation.

Hi & thanks MuratUrsavas, I understood well !
Vincent.

Personally I would start from scratch to get the new 5.99 experience. I’m not sure if it affects much, but because you are experimenting anyway, why not try like a new user.

1 Like

I also recommend people start from scratch in general if you want to get the full “V6 experience”, you get the new default hotkeys, new color theme, and other minor things that you would have to set up manually if you migrate from 5.1

Thank you for your suggestions and answers, I will start from scratch to find out …

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