Yeah, KiCad is a fucking hurdle. ExpressPCB was so much easier. With KiCad you really have to do things in s specific order (beginning with the schematic). Trying to "wing it" in KiCad is a doomed path.
I forced myself though to use/learn KiCad for a keyboard project. Worked. I've done another 3 or 4 new PCBs since and each one gets easier (no surprise).
The new one (ExpressPCB Plus) is much nicer. At my workplace, being tied to their service is not a problem for me. I'm doing R&D, and need to spin up simple boards quickly, sometimes for no reason other than wanting to "break out" an IC with good enough layout so I can test its performance in a tame environment. Anything I make that threatens to go into a product gets handed over to the real engineers, who have full blown commercial tools.
And it's like the difference between programming and software development -- the latter involves a lot more moving parts and needs more sophisticated tools to manage all of them.
At home, I like to order simple boards from lower cost suppliers, so I've been using FreePCB, and that's what I'm mainly interested in upgrading.
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Yeah, KiCad is a fucking hurdle. ExpressPCB was so much easier. With KiCad you really have to do things in s specific order (beginning with the schematic). Trying to "wing it" in KiCad is a doomed path.
I forced myself though to use/learn KiCad for a keyboard project. Worked. I've done another 3 or 4 new PCBs since and each one gets easier (no surprise).
Express is quite easy to grow out of. Well, the old one, I think the new one is based on something they bought.
The old one made it quite difficult to use anyone but their mfg service (obviously their business model).
The new one (ExpressPCB Plus) is much nicer. At my workplace, being tied to their service is not a problem for me. I'm doing R&D, and need to spin up simple boards quickly, sometimes for no reason other than wanting to "break out" an IC with good enough layout so I can test its performance in a tame environment. Anything I make that threatens to go into a product gets handed over to the real engineers, who have full blown commercial tools.
And it's like the difference between programming and software development -- the latter involves a lot more moving parts and needs more sophisticated tools to manage all of them.
At home, I like to order simple boards from lower cost suppliers, so I've been using FreePCB, and that's what I'm mainly interested in upgrading.