Samacsys component library - Experiences

Hello,

Anybody out there who has experience With Samacsys Component Libraries? They seem to be supporting the major EDA Tools, and now recently KiCAD too. Its for free and they have 7 mill Components available for download. Both schematic and PCB footprint. I have had a look and it seems to be working fine With Kicad. I don’t know how they make an Income of this, but probably the large Component manufacturer are ginving some funding.

Regards Stian

Hi Everyone,

I am quite new to KiCAD but have used other tool like Eagle and PADS.

I have use the Samacsys component search engine also and it is very good. off all the parts i ever downloaded there was only one part that not already in the website an they made it for me in about 1 hour! I did never enjoy building my library and now I never do it again and just go to heir website and can start my design really fast. It makes KiCAD even better.

i do not know how to make their money either sorry but I like it so much.

Ste

Samacsys seem to be another one of those companies that perceive there is a need for quality data, spend a lot of time creating it, then discover there is actually very few people willing to pay for it.

However, the people who are willing to pay are suppliers who get referrals, so that provides one avenue. Then it is just a question of getting as many users as possible by offering at least one level of “free” service. Octopart, Snapeda are in similar game.

Other ways to monetize are adverts, collecting data about users, customers paying for “express” part creation service, tiered subscription fees, deals with EDA companies (Zuken in this case). I always wonder about the revenue source, often they either end up charging subscription fees, or go bust, so I find it best not to rely on them too much.

I haven’t used their service but the problem with all these “free” services for me is that they retain rights to the data, and as I often publish open source projects I don’t want to get proprietary stuff accidentally mixed in. For purely private or commercial use that would not be a problem.

I’ll have to check it out. I’m hoping they plan to get into Ultra Librarian’s act but provide an open and royalty-free data specification.