[Joel_Mckay]

For any benefit the auto-router adds, it usually ends up costing a project later...

In general, impedance controlled UHF design work with domain specific simulation tools is the modern workflow. Thus, one manually does the critical tracks first, island-pours, and finally power interconnects.

KiCad is slightly better than nothing for layout, and trying to make it into yet another half-baked simulation tool seemed silly. =3

[cushychicken]

I wish the Kicad team had sunk all the time they put into simulation support (which I rarely use, in or out of kicad) into a proper constraint system instead.

If I need to sim, I’ll just use LTspice or TI TINA - I.e. the simulation ecosystem that includes the part model I need, with no wrangling to get that spice model to play nicely in some other spice toolchain.

[Joel_Mckay]

Micro-cap 12 is still available, was made free, and runs in Wine64 just fine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230214034946/http://www.spectr...

For learning, the current LTSpice models and QUCS VNA profiled device imported simulation data are reasonable tools as well.

I used KiCad all the time for personal projects, and it has recently already addressed the major issues people found annoying:

1. unstable library version dependency management

2. complex design collaboration over traditional versioning tools like git (still an upstream feature last I checked, but should be available soon.)

3. freezing the specific KiCad and library path structure versions across a project, as assuming every design has a single workstation workflow is a contradictory goal

KiCad is better than most current EDA software, but that is mostly a sad reflection on the traditional tools available. =3

[cushychicken]

Where can I learn more about this Kicad git workflow? I’ve heard a lot about it but I’d like to see it for myself.

[Joel_Mckay]

Did you mean this page?

https://forum.kicad.info/t/tutorial-how-to-enable-git-in-kic...

Or the plugin and content manager under the tools menu for the git-gui module...

YMMV =3

[_fizz_buzz_]

I love the ngspice integration in kicad it has gotten really good since kicad 7 or 8.