> I couldn't really tell what all those little crosses were, after > finding no info on it I simply assumed they were some graphical > glitches. Ah, ignorance, thy name is bliss... :-)
One possibly related, and similarly annoying, feature is that when moving text modules around, it seems possible to pick up annotations that have been made invisible. So, for example, I can right-click on a refdes such as 'R26' and choose 'move text module', only to find that the text I thought I'd selected never moves at all. This drives me crazy; when I create a module, I only ever want the component reference visible. Pcbnew won't let me actually delete the 'VAL**' item, but I can set it to be invisible. Sadly, though, just because it's invisible doesn't mean it's not there, so I find myself picking up lots of little blue +'s and dumping them out of the way before being able to select the component reference that I want. Same behaviour on both Windows and Ubuntu Linux. Incidentally, does anyone know if an update is due any time soon? I've done a couple of boards with eeschema / pcbnew lately and would really appreciate: - working PADS netlist output. In the Windows version, I get all the parts listed OK, but the connectivity has lots of superfluous #PWR entries. Under Linux the connectivity is fine, but parts I've created myself don't appear in the parts list unless they're on the top page of the hierarchy. So, to export a correct PADS netlist, I have to dual boot, export from both versions, then copy & paste the good bits from the two net lists into one file, which is clumsy and error-prone. - improved handling of power & ground planes, with no need to route tracks between pins that all end up on a plane anyway - the ability to choose colours by net, and to disable ratsnests for power & ground nets - the ability to edit graphical shapes (eg. board outline, fill zones) without having to rip up & re-draw - a fix for this odd behaviour: if I route part of a board, then make a change to the net list, it becomes impossible to re-use existing tracks as part of the new layout without getting DRC errors - it's as though the existing tracks have a net name associated with them that can't change. So, I have to completely rip up any nets that have changed, and route them again. (Example: suppose I have 3 pins, called A, B and C. The original net list shows A connected to B, and I route that part of the board. Now change the net list so that A connects to C - I have to rip up the whole track and start again, because the track itself is still treated as though connected to B. I can highlight pin B to prove this). - easier track editing - some sort of push & shove that will make obstructions move out of the way to allow a track through. (If you ever get to play with PADS, check out the dynamic routing tool - click a pin & press F3. It's great!) Don't get me wrong - Kicad seems to be a pretty capable suite, but I've only done a couple of simple double sided boards with it so far and wouldn't like to have to use it for a multi-layer of any complexity. Making changes during routing would just take too long.
