[ChrisGammell]

I made a video course for getting up and running with KiCad, the open source electronics CAD program: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy2022BX6EspFAKBCgRuE...

If you're looking at broader focus on building hardware, Contextual Electronics helps to fill out some of the other elements you're looking to do. As luck would have it, I just started a new course today (no joke) where I'm showing how I'm designing a Raspberry Pi HAT with cellular and Bluetooth capabilities, which I'll be selling and using as a reference design for my hardware design consulting business.

[OJFord]

How does KiCAD compare to Eagle? I find it being built in to Fusion 360 now (since Autodesk bought it) pretty compelling, but I haven't actually used any schematic/PCB CAD software since that I don't think.

[ChrisGammell]

I think they have been keeping apace for the most part, but the integration of F360 is a really nice feature if you do a lot of mechanical/electrical integration. I think it might be a bit overplayed, since my designs are usually, "Here's the mechanical space you're allotted, it's probably not going to change", but that's not the case for everyone.

As for KiCad, the most recent release (5.1.x) have been really stable and introduced a ton of features over the series 4 release. Like anything, once you're used to the methods, it's hard to get an objective look on how things work but I can tell you that I use KiCad for all of my professional design work and it has served me very well.

One thing I continue to be excited for is the extensibility of KiCad, since Python scripting is a main feature of KiCad (though the program is written in C++). This has developed a wide range of user plugins and scripts that have opened up some awesome new features.

One of my favorites is the Interactive BOM plugin, it's really quite amazing. Here's a user showcasing it on twitter: https://twitter.com/arturo182/status/1254376168322670593

[scottlawson]

Chris, I love your work and the AmpHour podcast! Thanks for working to share your knowledge with others, I especially enjoy the episodes where you spend the entire episode interviewing someone in the industry

[ChrisGammell]

Glad to hear it! I love making The Amp Hour and am flattered the people listen on a regular basis. Thanks for being part of the community!