apluscw wrote: > > If you want to specify real world parts in the schematic and > generate a BOM from the schematics, then the current parts libraries > really do not fulfill that role. For our commercial project, we have > spent a great deal of time working with our own libraries. I believe > we could have purchased commercial software for the amount of > engineering time spent working on the libraries. >
I would just like to say that before finding Kicad I used commercial EDA software of one kind or another for over 25 years (from apps running on a VAX to Racal Redac, Orcad and other PC based ones). This was in a professional company environment developing products for high and low volume manufacture. Without exception, they all required a lot of engineering time setting up libraries. The range of components available is simply so huge that it is not possible for a single library to be sufficient. Also, different manufacturing process have their own special requirements in terms of pad sizes and shapes. None of the EDA manufacturers was able to supply a library we could use. We always ended up building our own over an extended period. Yes, the amount of engineering time was probably equal to the cost of the software, but in my experience that is true of every EDA program. Ian
