I downloaded 5.1.8 and installed it both on my work PC and home Mac, and am a bit annoyed with some behavior and want to roll back to 5.1.6.
I luckily still have the 5.1.6 installer for Mac, but where would I grab same for Windows?
What would I need to do to cleanly roll back to 5.1.6? Just delete both the app itself and the Application Support folder and install fresh?
Here’s why I am unhappy with 5.1.8.
I primarily use EESchema at this time, but may be using the other modules to produce two circuit boards.
When I move part of the schematic diagram around, when I set it down, the parts and lines still retain their ‘ghosted’ appearance until the next time I add anything new, then everything becomes solid. When I have a lot of ‘fake ghosted’ lines etc. then the Mac becomes a bit laggy.
I can confirm the behavior mentioned by OP in my Win10_64 5.1.8
After I drag select block which starts floating, mouseclick should “place” it and deselect (change “ghosted” appearance to normal) but it doesn’t. The part of diagram is placed, but remain ghosted. @Meterman2026 check if empty click “deghosts” your block (works for me in Win)
Another issue I find in the Mac version of 5.1.8, and which forces me to roll back for sure, is that the drawing screen on PCBNew does not display - it’s just a big gray space. Everything else in the GUI is present, just not the drawing screen.
Mac is the least used and tested plaftorm for KiCad (because of lack of developer manpower). It’s easily possible that if you don’t report a problem it won’t get fixed. The same goes of course for Windows although there’s a bigger chance of somebody else noticing and reporting a problem.
While I can confirm that with 5.1.8.6 nightly in Windows 10, when selecting a block with the mouse and then dragging that block and then clicking to anchor it, it remains ghosted until the background is clicked. Note however that if a single component is moved with the M command the remaining ghosting does not happen so it only affects the block move.
Version: (5.1.8-8-g6223e7475c)-1, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.5
libcurl/7.71.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1g (Schannel) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.3.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.3.0) libssh2/1.9.0 nghttp2/1.41.0
Platform: Windows 8 (build 9200), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.5 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Boost: 1.73.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.71.0
Compiler: GCC 10.2.0 with C++ ABI 1014
Ghosting in 5.1.8 is a regression introduced in 5.1.7.
For some reason, the developers are not currently willing to fix it for 5.1.x as it’s fixed for the “5.99” (but it’s completely different software engine).
Regarding 5.1.8 on Mac - just checked (Catalina) and PCBNew works fine.
The install on MAcOS is as simple as replacing the application ( applications folder) and the support files in the users/you/library.
BUT - i know they mess around with the libraries occasionally and I have no idea what they might have changed. Plus you need to make sure you keep any footprints or schematic elements that you created yourself. If hose are special library locations, you’ll need to edit the table that points kicad to its resources. I don’t have it handy buyt i think its under “tools” - one of the right hand menu bar menus (and is illogically named of course).
