exxos blog - random goings on

[exxos]

@derkom yeah I saw the keyboard shortcuts.. I've only used it for like 5mins so not done much of anything yet. But can you just get it to stay in the same mode without having to press D on the tracks you want to move ? If you have to do it every track then its actually creating a lot of work

[derkom]

@derkom yeah I saw the keyboard shortcuts.. I've only used it for like 5mins so not done much of anything yet. But can you just get it to stay in the same mode without having to press D on the tracks you want to move ? If you have to do it every track then its actually creating a lot of work

No you can't, but I don't see it as any more work, because hitting 'D' activates drag on the track that's under the mouse pointer, so you save yourself the click that way. Seems like basically the same work to me. When I'm tidying up my routing, I basically just keep my left index finger the on the D key and my right hand on the mouse, only using the mouse button to "complete" the drag, and I find it to be a pretty quick process.

Oh, and in response to your comments about the way zooming works in KiCad, I think that's probably just a matter of getting used to the way KiCad does it. I find KiCad's "zoom to the pointer" really effective for moving around a board quickly, since I can zoom out to the whole board, move my mouse pointer to the part I want to centre on, and zoom back in (using the mouse wheel for the zooms of course), and it's a really quick process for moving around the board.

[exxos]

No you can't, but I don't see it as any more work, because hitting 'D' activates drag on the track that's under the mouse pointer, so you save yourself the click that way. Seems like basically the same work to me. When I'm tidying up my routing, I basically just keep my left index finger the on the D key and my right hand on the mouse, only using the mouse button to "complete" the drag, and I find it to be a pretty quick process.

When I do such things In eagle, I just select the tool I want, then I can just click and drag the tracks all day long. So pressing a key seems like a extra step to me.. I don't think I have ever use keyboard shortcuts In eagle, I can never remember what keys do what anyway

Oh, and in response to your comments about the way zooming works in KiCad, I think that's probably just a matter of getting used to the way KiCad does it. I find KiCad's "zoom to the pointer" really effective for moving around a board quickly, since I can zoom out to the whole board, move my mouse pointer to the part I want to centre on, and zoom back in (using the mouse wheel for the zooms of course), and it's a really quick process for moving around the board.

Indeed. It is annoying in eagle when it does not centre what you are moving to.. But also eagle runs like 100x slower... So with the option turned on to centre on zooming, it happens that fast I am just sitting here thinking WTF just happened It literally takes several seconds for each screen update while zooming in Eagle its that bad , so zooming in and out on various places of the board can actually take a really long time

Don't get me wrong I am really liking what I am seeing in kicad... If it has a smooth tool like an Eagle 9 then it really has me sold!

But I generally do in V7 is just connect the tracks almost any old how just to get the basic route, then either use the routing tool in eagle 7 To redo them and straighten them up, or load into V9 and use the smooth tool which is a lot quicker... Only the constant opening and closing of programs and PCBs is not really beneficial to my fingers either

Eagle 9 routing tools are that broken it is just unusable now.. I am mostly doing the bulk of the work in 7 and using 9 two basically tidy it all up. The automatic DRC checking in 9 is really good, version 7 does not have that.. But as said previously, if you drag tracks manually because it did not tidy them up properly or at all, you can easily end up with the RC violations, which keeps catching me out, KiCad automatically walks round on moving tracks. So to me alone that feature is worth its weight in gold already.

I have noticed it did not import the H5 schematic entirely correct, has some power lines floating at the bottom of the schematics which I need to figure out why it has done that.. As currently there could be a few chips on the board which do not have power connected because they are "broken off" the schematic. But again I have only literally used it for five minutes last night..

Obviously it is just becoming ridiculous to keep swapping between versions to do one thing or another. Eagle 9 is becoming integrated with fusion which to me is just turning into broken bloatware. There is not going to be any future for me using eagle anymore. The bulk of my designs are actually in Eagle 4. In those days you own the software and that was it, but paying a subscription all the time.. no thanks.. It is just too expensive and too broken..

Plus like a lot of companies, they just don't listen to the bug reports of their users. Eagles engine itself has had stuff broken in it since version 4 which is still broken in version 9 The routing tool is only just usable in version 7.. Previous versions and later versions have even more bugs At least I know in version 7 I can only change the routing layers once, As otherwise it crashes for no reason But at least I know exactly where the crash happens and can work around it.. But it creates more work than having to save the PCB before changing layers, sometimes I forget.. And it creates more work, but mostly I have to keep restarting the program because I cannot change routing layers otherwise..And don't even get me started on how broken all the libraries are..

Overall I have just simply had enough of Eagle. Back in the day where I was only doing simple two layer boards in version 4, I don't think I ever really saw that many bugs.. But when you get to the size of the H5.. geese.. It is just a big pile of doggy dodo..

[exxos]

Opening up the second box of virgin capacitors today..

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[exxos]

Onto the second batch of the day..

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[Icky]

You need to come up with a capacitor bagging machine @exxos.

[exxos]

You need to come up with a capacitor bagging machine @exxos.

I got one, but she is 40 miles away

[exxos]

100x SR98 recap kits.. by my calculations I should not have to do any more of these again like ever

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[stephen_usher]

You need to come up with a capacitor bagging machine @exxos.

I got one, but she is 40 miles away

Are you calling your girlfriend a bag lady now?

[exxos]

Are you calling your girlfriend a bag lady now?

She is a bag lady, you should see her bag collection!