Kicad Libraries Problems

Hi eveyone,

I added the KiCad ppa for ubuntu and installed it on Mint. Here are the bugs I faced:

Thank you in advance!

Hi,

What Kicad version have you installed?

-With P only power symbols are displayed. What “icon” do you mean?

-The current project only sees the libraries loaded into the project. You can have thousands of libraries in your hard disc and only those loaded are available in your project.

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I changed my project template to include every official main component library (there are 91 in 4.0.6), and haven’t noticed any loss of performance.

J P Charras suggested making this the default, but there were some concerns about “performance issues”, which don’t seem to actually exist.

Ok, the P problem is then solved - but the shortcut shift+a is not working for me. I will try to fix that later on…

On the adding more components, here is what I did:

  • downloaded from github the whole repo
  • added to the path the folder “library”
  • when I go to place component, the STM components do not exist

Is this a problem?

Version is

Application: kicad

Version: (2017-06-28 revision 2237de0)-master, release build
Libraries: wxWidgets 3.0.2
libcurl/7.47.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2g zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.32 librtmp/2.3
Platform: Linux 4.4.0-53-generic x86_64, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK

  • Build Info -
    wxWidgets: 3.0.2 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
    Boost: 1.58.0
    Curl: 7.47.0
    KiCad - Compiler: GCC 5.4.0 with C++ ABI 1009
    Settings: USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
    USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=OFF
    BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCE=OFF

Only adding the path is not enough. You also need to add the libraries. (there are two add buttons in the component lib dialog.)

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Okey that solved the Problem! But why doesnt just the path do it? Shouldn’t it go over the paths and search for libs?

It’s confusing but the shortcut is actually just the key “a”, not “shift-a”, which does not work (caps lock doesn’t matter).

Maybe… but it doesn’t.

Design decision.
In the current system it does make sense because the name of a symbol must be unique over all libraries that are active in a project. (In case of a conflict the symbol in the lib with the highest priority wins.)

With the current version you can simply put your own libs above the system libs. This way your personal symbols are chosen in case of a naming conflict.

In future kicad versions this might change.

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Hi - another Bob here and first time post. I joined this forum to ask essentially the same question after an hour of struggling to understand how the Github libraries are supposed to work. Evidently we must add each of them explicitly after downloading the entire 65+ MB zip file to a local hard drive. I’ve done this, but it sure isn’t the way I thought it would work.

I would like to have the largest selection of libraries (both schematic symbols and footprints) available for every project I create (without having to search and add). To that end, I would appreciate more detailed instructions or refernce to to a website or tutorial that shows how to modify the project template to include every main component library as you have done. It would be most helpful if this were done for a Windows-based system. I already have downloaded the kicad_library_master from github and am running KiCad version 4.0.5

Thanks in advance.

Bob

Sure, the project template is C:\Program Files\KiCad\share\kicad\template\kicad.pro. You will need admin rights to change it. so for example run notepad as admin (right click over notepad icon and choose “Run as administrator”)
Then you need to change the following lines.

[eeschema/libraries]
LibName1=power
LibName2=device
LibName3=transistors
LibName4=conn
LibName5=linear
LibName6=regul
LibName7=74xx
LibName8=cmos4000
LibName9=adc-dac
LibName10=memory
LibName11=xilinx
LibName12=microcontrollers
LibName13=dsp
LibName14=microchip
LibName15=analog_switches
LibName16=motorola
LibName17=texas
LibName18=intel
LibName19=audio
LibName20=interface
LibName21=digital-audio
LibName22=philips
LibName23=display
LibName24=cypress
LibName25=siliconi
LibName26=opto
LibName27=atmel
LibName28=contrib
LibName29=valves

to

[eeschema/libraries]
LibName1=74xgxx
LibName2=74xx
LibName3=ac-dc
LibName4=actel
LibName5=adc-dac
LibName6=allegro
LibName7=Altera
LibName8=analog_devices
LibName9=analog_switches
LibName10=atmel
LibName11=audio
LibName12=battery_management
LibName13=bbd
LibName14=bosch
LibName15=brooktre
LibName16=cmos4000
LibName17=cmos_ieee
LibName18=conn
LibName19=contrib
LibName20=cypress
LibName21=dc-dc
LibName22=device
LibName23=digital-audio
LibName24=diode
LibName25=display
LibName26=dsp
LibName27=elec-unifil
LibName28=ESD_Protection
LibName29=ftdi
LibName30=gennum
LibName31=graphic
LibName32=hc11
LibName33=intel
LibName34=interface
LibName35=ir
LibName36=Lattice
LibName37=leds
LibName38=linear
LibName39=logo
LibName40=maxim
LibName41=mechanical
LibName42=memory
LibName43=microchip
LibName44=microchip_dspic33dsc
LibName45=microchip_pic10mcu
LibName46=microchip_pic12mcu
LibName47=microchip_pic16mcu
LibName48=microchip_pic18mcu
LibName49=microchip_pic24mcu
LibName50=microchip_pic32mcu
LibName51=microcontrollers
LibName52=modules
LibName53=motorola
LibName54=motors
LibName55=motor_drivers
LibName56=msp430
LibName57=nordicsemi
LibName58=nxp
LibName59=nxp_armmcu
LibName60=onsemi
LibName61=opto
LibName62=Oscillators
LibName63=philips
LibName64=power
LibName65=powerint
LibName66=Power_Management
LibName67=pspice
LibName68=references
LibName69=regul
LibName70=relays
LibName71=rfcom
LibName72=sensors
LibName73=silabs
LibName74=siliconi
LibName75=stm32
LibName76=stm8
LibName77=supertex
LibName78=switches
LibName79=texas
LibName80=transf
LibName81=transistors
LibName82=triac_thyristor
LibName83=ttl_ieee
LibName84=valves
LibName85=video
LibName86=wiznet
LibName87=Worldsemi
LibName88=Xicor
LibName89=xilinx
LibName90=zetex
LibName91=Zilog

which works for 4.0.6, there might be some differences to 4.0.5.

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Perfect, thanks very much! I did the edits with Admin rights and the file does indeed show the changes, but when I closed and re-opened KiCad only the same limited original libraries (plus those I added or created) are listed. The path /Program FIles/KiCad/share/kicad/template does appear in the current search path list, so I have no clue why the whole list of libraries isn’t showing up. Any idea? Did I miss a step?

Bob

You have not missed anything.

The template is loaded only when creating the project. It will work for new projects.

Try to edit the .pro file and add manually the libraries.

1 Like

Ah, got it.

Thanks again.

Bob

Guys, Please, Give some love to the Library Manager!! IT desperately needs it!!

I would say give love to everyone who helps making kicad better.

  • The sponsors (money is always needed.)
  • Everyone working on the code (The developers)
  • Users who make good bug reports
  • Everyone who develops plugins and scripts
  • Guys and gals helping with documentations
  • Everyone who helps others on this forum or on any other community communication platform.
  • People who share components (symbols, footprints or 3d models)
  • Everyone who shares projects created with kicad
  • Teachers who help their students to learn kicad. (or people who organize workshops in their spare time.)
  • And of course my fellow librarians (as you already mentioned.)
  • … (Did i forget someone? Give me a hint.)

In short:
Everyone can do at least a small part to make kicad better for everyone.

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I absolutely agree with this! Keep up the good work! :smile: