I’m eval’ing several cad packages and trying out Libre. I ran into a few things and searching on here or the net havent produced an answer. So if anyone wants to try to help me be great.
grid settings. My Windows package I use has grid settings for placement….tracks…ect. I only see one setting here. I was wondering how does that work for normal size SMT”s and very fine pitch as far as routing between pins? Or do you just pick a small grid size for the smallest pitch part?
(I did see an odd thing….I brought in a component after I started routing a pcb and even though the part looked on the grid…the trace was too….it would never connect to the parts pads)
Changing the units inside of pcb layout. I see how to change them once routing but if I change them from “mm” to mils…once I shut down and reopen it goes back to “mm”. I changed a setting to mil’s inside the Workplace but that didnt matter. How do I change it so its permenate?
Toggling nets on/off. I like to turn off all nets but power and gnd when I first start routing. I didnt see a way to do this.
Either just set the grid to the smallest grid interval you will need, or start with a larger grid and do the rough things first, then switch to a smaller grid and do the fine things.
But it is planned to improve grid settings some day. We also want to make it depending on zoom level because a tiny grid doesn’t make sense when zooming out.
May I ask which package it is? EDIT: Ah, I assume Allegro.
You can always connect traces to pads, no matter what is the grid setting. Are you sure the pad and the trace had the same net? Different nets would be the only reason why LibrePCB refuses to connect them. (EDIT: and different layers too, of course)
Did you save the project after changing the unit? During saving, the unit is stored in the file boards/<boardname>/board.lp, you could open it in a text editor to check if the correct unit was saved. Let me know if it is really not working for you.
It’s not supported indeed, but it would be a nice feature. Feel free to open a feature request.
Thats what I was trying and have done that in the past.
Ohhhh I wish I still had access to my Allegro. LOL! No this is a early 1990’s Orcad package…Unison which is still a very good package today….I’d gladly pay for it if they offered it cheap enough. It has huge libraries but this was a prof package in its day so you paid for that too. And of course I made tons of my own.
But while my Allegro package had many different grid settings including gridless this Unison package has 5 grid settings…..package…traces…vias….and a few other ones. So why dont I use it now? I can…but I’m setting up two Linux laptops and while I do have them as dual boots into W10 I kinda wanted to use a Linux pcb package. Hence me looking at Libre,KiCad….and a few other ones.
Yes….I double checked it….even deleted the part and loaded it back into the pcb aea. It shows the airlines(ratnest) to the part and the right nets. Yet no matter what I set the grid to I cannot get it to connect. Just wont connect to the traces to the pin. The other parts are fine but I did bring them in first….route them….then bring in the diode smt.
I did check the file and only thing I see in either mils or mm is this line….grid (interval)(unit mils)….thats the only place that shows either unit.
For any pcb I’m going to do for myself its okay. But when someone says to me its not needed I’ll show them one of my old 8 layer pcbs with half of the Digikey catalog on it and with all the nets on the screen is yellow! LOL!
I should be able to under Linux. How do I post it here? Or sending you the actual file? I’m sure I’m doing something wrong.
OTOH let me wait till I get Linux running on what will be my PC. I got it running fine on the old W7 laptop but on the W10 its having issue with the bootloader part. If I cant get it running then I’ll have to use that pc under W10 and if so I can use my Orcad 9.2 for my pcb’s. I’ll be back if I get the Linux running.
Yes. If I change it to “mils” from “mm” inside of the pcb editor…save it….shut the whole package down but then reopen it….its back to “mm”.
You can post the screenshot/screencast right here in the forum. The project (as a *.lppz export) also, if you’re fine to share it publicly. If not, you can send it to support aat librepcb doot org.
Regarding grid unit I just tested, everything works fine for me. Can you also show with screenshots/screencast what you’re doing exactly? Maybe somehow we’re misunderstanding each other.
Sorry UB for the delay…the email telling me I had a reply ended up in the spam box. But we had to hose the dual boot Linux and with it Libre. If nobody else is saying this is an issue then its something I’m doing wrong. Not sure when I’ll get back to it. But thanks for all of your help!
EDIT: Ah, I assume Allegro.