There is a web based lib system for kicad see http://www.kicadlib.org/
This subject has been discussed; some might say done to death :-) several times. The main problem with any system that uses 1000's of different items is keeping things organised, and that is generally a user problem more than anything else. The next problem is that the way kicad uses libs and modules does not currently lend itself to easy management. One the flip side, doing things as kicad does is quite fast. This next point is the killer... it is a VERY VERY VERY BAD idea to have part libraries (or ANY critical documentation for that matter) based on web storage, UNLESS it is IMPOSSIBLE for a part that you used in a design not to be held locally without user interaction. (I say that coz users will happily use anything they find on the web and will not think about keeping a copy). I have been put is some very awkward situations because some twerp decided that it would be a good idea to host "important" documentation on a central server. When network links failed and the "important" documentation became unavailable my staff were unable to reconfigure systems because the docs were unavailable. (good job we had a few paper based records lurking about) Very bad for my blood pressure and worse for the culprit concerned. Especially as said culprit deleted the local copies because the files were now "safe" on the central system. :-(( Different people prefer different symbol types, that needs catering for. Some devices need different modules and libs for the same device and package. Microcontrollers have been discussed several times, where you can define pins to be different functions at will. So one lib will never fit in such cases. That needs to be catered for. You are correct in that kicad already separates the part and the footprint. The part about updating is a problem, one that we have to watch out for already. If you install kicad from new, it will overwrite any changes to the libs and mods that you have made, which is why you should create your own libraries and put your modified parts there. Users are going to be very unhappy if they spend time modifying a part for their own use, only to find that it gets overwritten due to some update. Next you have the legal aspects, say someone took the eagle libs, converted them to kicad format and uploaded them? You then run into copyright issues for a start. Now I know that some companies will not mind, but others will, so that has to be catered for. Please NOT WIKI I end up going around in circles trying to find things, click link, click next link, click another link end up where you started.... :-) Use the KISS system. version the part and ensure that documentation is linked to the item as part of the system. There are so many variables involved that you are not going to have an easy time catering for all of them. I've only touched on a few. I have no objection to a web based repository for parts and modules, and kicadlib is such, and is a useful place to keep things. However I think that there would be a lot of admin needed for such a system to work as you describe. Not impossible, but it would become a project in it's own right. I also think that some rather fundamental changes would be needed in how kicad manages it's libs and modules before you could contemplate doing something like this. Currently the way that things are done is a bit clumsy and it does not have a good management system that takes the pain out of doing things. The biggest issue is that of user parts and adding libs to projects and such like. It works, and once you get used to it, it's not a big problem, but it does need thinking about. I think you really need to have a system that can work with individual parts and modules, but manage the inclusion of such things into the combined libraries that kicad uses automatically. It also needs to sort out the user/supplied lib situation in some sane manner. If you had that then you could set things up in the way that you describe with individual parts, then again someone will want to grab ALL the parts from a particular range, so you had better cater for that as well :-) Have fun... Andy On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:46:09 -0700 Mike Payson <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm curious about something. I'm an Eagle user, but I recently > subscribed to this list out of curiosity. I've played with KiCAD for a > few minutes, but not yet tackled any real projects with it. One of the > main roadblocks has been the lack of libraries, though I recently > found out you can convert Eagle Libraries which makes things easier. > > Anyway, I have an idea for what I think would be a much better way to > support part libraries, so I thought I'd throw it out and see what > people think. In my experience, part libraries are a huge pain. You > have to search for the correct part, which may or may not be listed as > being present in a particular library. If you find it, you can't count > on it having been done correctly, so you have to compare the part to > the datasheet to double check. Even if you find a good part, there is > a good chance that the schematic symbol is badly designed, etc. And if > you manage to fix any of these problems in your local copies, you need > to start over when a new version is released. Libraries are great if > they are coming from a definitive source who does a good job > assembling them (such as if Atmel released and maintained their own > AVR library), but when they are OS, their are a ton of potential > issues. > > Instead of having traditional monolithic libraries, it seems to me > this is the ideal place for a web-based system. In this system, the > part footprint would be separated from the part itself, so all TQFP32, > .8mm pitch parts would use the same footprint (I think KiCAD already > does this). Right there you eliminate a lot of potential issues. For > the parts themselves, instead of having an AVR library (for example), > each individual part would be available via a web-based service. > Instead of downloading the AVR library, you would download the > ATMega32 part. This makes it much easier to find your exact part, and > also means that only one person ever needs to create a particular > part. > > If that part is not already available, you create and submit it as > normal, and it's available for the next guy, however it is marked as > an untested part. Each part will have a 'trustworthy' rating, and > until a certain number of people vote that the part is correct, it > will remain flagged as suspect so people will know to double check the > datasheet. If there are problems with a part, anyone can update the > part to fix them, and their changes would automatically be shared. The > parts are versioned Wiki-style, so the old version always remains > available if changes are made. The user would be prompted that the new > version is available and allowed to change or not, so this would not > break existing designs due to minor corrections. > > Some other thoughts: > * Though the footprint is standardized, the individual part does have > the ability to override each layer of the standard part if necessary, > so if a particular part has a specific solder mask requirement, for > example, you can modify that layer while still using the standard > footprint. > > * This allows people to easily share part documentation and tips, > reference schematics, etc, since they can be easily attached to the > part itself. > > * This would be web-based, but there would be a browser integrated > into the library browser, so you could add any part directly from > within the program. > > * This would not replace the existing library system, at least not at > first. You can easily export the web-library for off-line usage. > > * The parts would still be organized into library-like categories, to > make things easy to find. Parts could also be tagged to make things > even easier. > > So any thoughts or comments? > > > ------------------------------------ > > Please read the Kicad FAQ in the group files section before posting your > question. > Please post your bug reports here. They will be picked up by the creator of > Kicad. > Please visit http://www.kicadlib.org for details of how to contribute your > symbols/modules to the kicad library. > For building Kicad from source and other development questions visit the > kicad-devel group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-develYahoo! Groups > Links > > >
