Old version of kicad with autorouter

Software
1

can i still get and older version of Kicad with autorrouter in it?
if so where?

2

If you mean the “FreeRouter” router, then no because it was never bundled with KiCad. If you want the primitive internal router, then I guess you can dig out an old version of KiCad from somewhere.

Are you sure you can’t use a recent version of KiCad and FreeRouter?

Unfortunately, this will probably turn into another one of those tedious “why autorouters are bad” threads.

3

What is your experience level with PCB design?

Beginners often seem to think that an “autorouter” is a magic wand that generates perfect PCB’s in no time, but that is far from true.

Autorouters tend to route trivially simple PCB’s quickly, but those PCB’s are also easy to route manually. Complex autorouters that work well on complicated and dense PCB’s need a lot of knowledge and setup time to use them properly, and then still need manual intervention.

Instead of an “autorouter”, KiCad uses an “interactive router”, where you still lay the tracks manually, but which has extra capabilities such as shoving multiple tracks and via’s aside to make room for more tracks.

1 Like
4

THANKS FOR THE REPLY
I’m 70 years old and just getting started, and would for now just autoroute thing.
i tried to get freerouter to install but can only find how to for linux,
i do remember some years back using Kicad that had autorouter in it

5

It isn’t advisable to go back to an ancient version of KiCad for that. You will run into bugs and people will not have incentive to help you with that, they’ll just say upgrade.

freeRouting is just a Java application that you install and run. If you can figure that out for your environment (Windows?) you’ve solved it.

Don’t expect freeRouting to magically turn out a board for you. 90% of the work is in adjusting the placement of components.

6

THANK YOU i’ll keep trying

7

I use a different version, but if I was you I would probably try this version

there is a download for a windows installer on that page.

8

I’m 68 and learned that it was more trouble to get and use the auto router than it was to just route the board.

1 Like
9

I’m 49 and learned to dislike autorouters when I was around 16.

3 Likes
10

I have to confess that I use KiCAD in conjunction with DipTrace (the latter solely for its autorouter), but each time I crank a board through DipTrace’s autorouter, I like it less and less.
I still use the autorouter anyway, but ONLY as a GUIDE to show where the traces should go, and if I need to tweak the parts layout for better routing.
Every time, I end up ripping out sections of traces (sometimes entire traces) and re-lay them to resolve the numerous resulting DRC errors.

11

I’m proof that a retired cat can keep an open mind, learn new techniques and judge when they are appropriate. :rofl:

1 Like
12

QED.

What I’ve learned;

  1. Ignore trolls
  2. People’s opinions are worth exactly what you pay for them
  3. Engineers who have fixed ideas are usually bad engineers
13

I actually ENJOY the job of manually routing a PCB. (ok, they are always smaller than 100mm x 100mm, and not overly complex).
I am a technical person, so for me, creating a PCB is like an “arty” person creating a drawing or paining!

3 Likes
14

Lots of people enjoy this sort of challenge.

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15

Someone says that autorouter is “for ladies” I honestly disagree because, especially for simpler circuits, where it hopefully works good it saves time, especially for people like me because I’m not a professional PCB designer but an electronic designer who needs (sometimes) to make prototypes. For this I think that an integrated autorouter would be useful for many people who perhaps (like me) hate Java and for this reason will never install Freerouting. Besides you can also not use it, no one forces you to do it, it’s just one more chance!

16

As would I, because I’m not the type of prat to use that kind of derogatory and misogynistic language.

4 Likes
17

You want autorouter? I give you autorouter XD https://github.com/pointhi/kicad-source-mirror/tree/autorouter_c-pcb

18

This says a lot about those who don’t appreciate autoroute :smirk:

19

OK, forgive me my outmodedness, but what are the features of an autorouter you’d like to have? Are you looking for a ‘make me a PCB’ button, guided routing, bus routing, automatic fanout? Autorouter is a very general term…

T.

20

You don’t have to like a language to run a program written in it. 3 steps is all it takes for a run: export, run freeRouting from wrapper script, import. What’s the big deal? Otherwise you’ll be waiting forever since KiCad isn’t going that direction.