I have searched the forums for Eagle related posts and read a lot, but I have some specific questions if I may?
I have a few small but fairly comprehensive libraries. All my parts have custom attributes to allow me to do things like export a proper BOM with part numbers (as the Eagle BOM tool is horrendous). Is there a way to import my libraries into KiCad? They are just simple local libraries, no fancy 3D files or anything.
Mentioning BOMs, how does KiCad do that?
How good are imported projects from Eagle into KiCad? I donāt mind a bit of clean-up work, but is it actually viable to import an existing design and use it for the next revision of a board? My boards vary from very simple all the way to 8 layers with many controlled impedance tracks.
Does the latest version of KiCad have an autorouter? Iām wondering if that would be useful for the initial connections of a BGA processor and DDR3 memory? I find it takes hours and hours as you canāt ācopyā the evaluation board as they tend to not follow the DDR3 routing rulesā¦
If I could use an autorouter to just get say 15 traces connected on a single layer, then Iād be more than happy to do the cleanup and matching afterwards.
I might have a few more questions when I think a bit more, but thatās a decent start.
I have imported Eagle projects into KiCad without too many cleanups needed. I havenāt tried to import libraries, but Upload Symbol and Footprints | SnapMagic Search claims to be able to import and convert Eagle libraries. Youād have to do some experiments to see how it works for you. I donāt think there is a native importer, but I could be wrong.
KiCad does a pretty good job with BOMs, but again youād have to try it to see if it meets your needs. It is fine for my purposes.
There is no autorouter in KiCad, but it has several very convenient routing modes, like push-and-shove that I find very helpful. Also, there is FreeRouting which is an external tool, but I donāt use it. Iāve only done small hobby projects up to 4 layers, where manual routing is all I need.
The good news is that KiCad is free, so trying it out wonāt cost you anything except for your time.
I moved to KiCad when it was V4. I generate BOM by getting from KiCad svg file and importing it into LibreOffice spreadsheet (containing all elements I use) where the rest is done 90% automatic.
Since V4 many improvements were done in KiCad regarding BOM (specially in V7) but I canāt say anything as didnāt tried it (my way works for me soā¦).
No, but partially yes . When routing tracks in most cases you can click the start point and the end point and track will be routed. When routing new track manually all other tracks can be pushed to make room for your track.
I design only simple (2 layer) boards so I canāt say anything about problems with initial BGA connections.
You can actually directly add Eagle libraries to the footprint library table. I believe they are read-only but if you need to edit them you can save them as KiCad native format. I donāt think you can import Eagle symbols (I donāt remember exactly how Eagle libraries work, itās been 10+ years since Iāve used it).
In the current version 7.0, the BOM formatting is controlled by a python BOM export script that gets run as described in the documentation above. There are a few scripts available but generally the bom_csv_grouped_extra script is probably what you want unless you have specific requirements. The options are described in the docs.
In the upcoming version 8.0, thereās a GUI BOM export manager thatās pretty nice (although the script method described above will still be around).
Iād also recommend running through the Getting Started in KiCad guide. Itāll be an extremely basic project for you but maybe itāll help you get an idea of how things are different/the same compared to Eagle.
@gkeeth only provided links to two sections of the documents.
The whole lot can be found here: https://docs.kicad.org/ or the āKicadā link at the top of any forum page.
FAQ, also at the top of any forum page, has some information you may find useful on occasion.
The first is similar to your Eagle approach, by managing additional part information in the schematic symbol value fields. With this you can generate BOMs either with the default bom scripts provided by KiCad, custom ones which fly around the internet for different special purposes or also your own one. The big advantage of KiCad BOM scripts is in my opinion that they are python based so you can add as much interactions with other things like databases, distributors etc as you want.
