After the successful pre-COVID LTCK day in 2020, we are back at FOSDEM this coming Februrary with a Learn to Code KiCad day on Friday, Feb 2 2024 in Brussels, Belgium. This is the day prior to FOSDEM weekend where we will be hosting an Open Hardware devroom.
At the Learn to Code KiCad day, you will work directly with members of the KiCad development team to get up to speed on developing in the KiCad codebase.
We’ll start with structural presentations in the morning. Even if you generally know about KiCad, these can help fill in any gaps or give more ideas.
Afterward, we’ll break into small working groups based on your interests. Lead devs will work with you on building/structuring your idea. If you bring a couple of GitLab issues that you’d like to work on, we’ll help you get from idea to Merge Request.
We will provide break snacks, a light lunch and coffee/tea/water throughout the day.
There is no cost to join the meeting.
We will also be adjacent to the FreeCAD developer day as well and will share some space with them. So if you are interested in the interface between FreeCAD and KiCad or any of the 3D aspects, you are twice in luck.
KiCad wasn’t rejected, it was the Open Hardware devroom that was rejected. Apparently, this was because I didn’t title the devroom “Open Hardware” (it was in the subtitle) and no one on the deciding committee cared about “CAD/CAM” enough to give us a room. This year, I titled the room “Open Hardware and CAD/CAM”.
And those will likely get recorded & released again.
There are also some mentions of KiCad in other Fosdem events, those are mostly limited to things like: “The PCB is designed in KiCad”.
Whenever I need a piece of software I use for it C++ and Builder. I spend programming may be two weeks per year and never worked in any software team and also never used any version control system.
I dream of learning how to take part in creating programs like KiCad but I will probably never find the time for it.
What should I read?
I recommend “High-Speed Digital Design: A Handbook of Black Magic” by Johnson and Graham for anyone doing digital design work at any level. I’ve read this book cover-to-cover more than once and learned more than I ever expected to.
There is a follow-on book called “High-Speed Signal Propagation: Advanced Black Magic” that I haven’t gotten to read yet:
Hi, I didn’t receive any confirmation and I can’t find the location of the event. Can someone please share an address?
Edit: FreeCAD seems to be at Atelier des Tanneurs, which is at Rue des Tanneurs 58 and thus not next to the ULB where FOSDEM. Unfortunately I won’t take the risk to just go without the proper address, sad I missed it but I’ll learn online for now, easier for a newbie like me.
