With Eagle being having a sunset date from Autodesk and not wanting to use Autodesk Electronics (Eagle in Fusion). I looked for EDA tool alternatives. I spent a good portion of the beginning of 2024 learning and building a product in KiCad v8. See the launch video below.
After fighting KiCad for months, I gave up and will be trying out LibrePCB.
I have converted my Cyclone Pulse Wrangler circuit to LibrePCB. So far I am very happy with the tool. It needs a few QOL improvements but, overall, much more enjoyable experience then KiCad. I am not constantly looking up how to do simple actions.
LibrePCB has a REALLY good Eagle Part Library importer. One of the best I have ever used.
The tool also supports plated slots in the footprint editor natively. No “workarounds” that are required in Eagle and KiCad to pull them off.
I have only used the library and schematic editor. Both are missing more complex tools that Eagle and KiCad have but for 99% of PCB designers and users. They will never use those… and I rarely use them as well.
My take on the old fashion, developed after drinking many of them.
2oz Rye Whiskey
Bulleit 95 Rye (Green Label)
1/4oz Simple Syrup
Use a high quality syrup.
I use Barsmith brand.
Bitters
Peychaud’s Aromatic Cocktail Bitter
2 Cherries
Luxardo Maraschino Cherries
No substitutes allowed.
Orange for the peel
Big Ice Cube or like 3 normal sized…
Grab a lowball glass and put your ice cube in there. Coat the ice with the bitters. Pour in the simple syrup and then the whiskey. Take a fork, and pull 2 cherries out of the jar. Drop them into the glass and use the syrup coated fork to “whisk/stir” the drink. Take an orange peel and twist it while holding it inside the glass. Drop the peel into the drink. Enjoy
Notes for experimenting. Depending on the whiskey or bourbon you will have to adjust the simple syrup ratio. Bourbon typically requires less as its smoother and sweeter.
Fixed an old bug in some RESET VECTOR DMD display code for multiple lines and got the above demo working. I will have to port the prop code to python however to make my twitter wall thingy.
Built a mini Strandbeest kit this evening. Picked up the kit off ebay for $16. Was a nice break from building electronics. Will make a video for it when the camera is charged.
Both these chips are the Parallax P8X32A-Q44 purchased from the same vender (Mouser). The one on the left was purchased a month ago and the one on the right just arrived today. Anyone know if Parallax changed the etching?
