I am new to KiCAD. this is THE most newbie question possible. After the install, schematic PCBNew.sch is opened and the component libraries are not found. I followed the instructions and put ftp-lib-table in the location described (~/Library/Preferences/kicad). This did not work. It looked like someone posted to remove that, so I did. That does not work either.
At least for the time being, I would be happy to use online libraries. I don’t see how that is happening either.
Can someone kindly help me get my library action working?
Thank you!
I am on a MacBook Pro and I just installed:
Application: eeschema
Version: 4.0.4-stable release build
wxWidgets: Version 3.0.2 (debug,UTF-8,compiler with C++ ABI 1002,GCC 4.2.1,STL containers,compatible with 2.8)
Platform: Mac OS X (Darwin 16.1.0 x86_64), 64 bit, Little endian, wxMac
Boost version: 1.57.0
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=ON
USE_WX_OVERLAY=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
USE_FP_LIB_TABLE=HARD_CODED_ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
The operation in KiCd Extras (dmg) where I move the modules folder over to kicad –
does not succeed. It shows a vague circle image in the modules folder as it is being attempted to be moved to kicad (instead of performing the transfer)
Thank you Andy_P.
I am sure I am closer to success.
I am the admin on my Mackbook, so I created the directory /Library/Application/kicad and the modules folder then DID transfer in from kicad-extras.4.0.4.dmg successfully.
I believe the developers did that so multiple users could share the library.
Yes, I’ll start by being happy to get the eeschema to find components.
This has not yet happened. I do believe the fp-lib-table and modules directory are no in the right place. I opened up a PCBNew.pro project and went to eeschema. If could not find the components. So, I added the path explicitly to the eeschema search path (using absolute addressing). It looks correct - but eeschema still finds no components.
I must still be missing something for this to work.
Thanks again.
-Pat Quinn
Portland, OR
btw, I am a newbie with Kicad (but not to EE or CAD in general or computers (though the computer thing is my weakest aspect). I have designed circuits using Orcad, PADs, etc and created many designs.)
OK, I finally got it working. The directory structure for the install is not at all where one thinks - but, once enough paths are added by hand, it eventually gets it together. It would be nice if that just magically installed without a disconnect. Thanks you
Almost there -
I have been able to get the eeschema symbols to come in; I have a schematic.
I have been unable to set up the libraries and paths to locate the footprints to assign to the components. Where/how do I locate these footprints? Thank You. -Pat
I see this problem these days on OSX (10.13.6) for both 4.x and 5.0. It looks like the installer that offers the User the option to drag kicad into Application Support is pointing to some-folder-somewhere-you-dont-expect-and-kicad-doesnt-expect (LOL). So just open /Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/ in Finder and drag from the installer across to the real deal.