Hi, I am using 5.0.0 on a Mac. I am trying to use a template as a starting point for my project (specifically the raspberry pi hat template).
Everything initially works OK if I create from template, open eeschema, generate netlist, and then open pcbnew and read netlist. The problem starts if I change the refdes of some parts.
For example, the template initially has a 2x20 pin header named J3. If I change that redes to J1 in eeschema, and regenerate the PCB, I end up with J1 floating in space and J3 is still there!
I found out that it’s possible to “Lock” things on the PCB, and it appears that if something is “locked” the intent is to keep it from being changed (presumably even by refdes).
So, I started from the beginning, but before reading the netlist, I right-clicked on the J3 part and selected “unlock”, saved the PCB, and then read netlist again. But I STILL GET and “extra” header. BTW, when I read the netlist, I do select “Change” for Exchange Footprint and “Delete” for Extra Footprints.
At this point, I am totally lost. How can I use a template if I can’t even change the refdes without ending up with an extra part? How do I avoid this problem?
I would rather not start with an empty project, it is too much work to recreate what is in the template.