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   ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 07:19:56 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

   i really don't like actually using kicad

   - try converting an old library file into the new format
   - the new format file is just empty for no reason
   - why can the symbol editor not Just Open A File, again?

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 07:33:24 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     it looks like some parts of kicad require ${KIPRJMOD}/ at the beginning of a path and some silently assume it's there and read an empty file if it's not

   • Embed this notice
     poleguy looking for lost tools (poleguy@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 07:33:24 JST poleguy looking for lost tools

     in reply to

     @whitequark I haven't played with it in several versions. It sounds like it is as it was. This tracks. Unfortunately.

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 07:39:51 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     did eeschema's UI get any better in version 9? no, still awful

     at this rate i will start using fucking altium

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 07:49:35 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     - there is a Correct grid for schematic work
     - will eeschema lock you onto the Correct grid?
     - no, it will have a shortcut to fat-finger and mess up everything you place from that point on
     - because eeschema doesn't want you to succeed

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 07:50:26 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     how do you go 9 major versions and not fix such basic UI shit

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 07:56:57 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg

     @jaseg it would probably make me less angry to figure out how to use altium in wine than to work around every eeschema UI bug i encounter

   • Embed this notice
     dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg (jaseg@chaos.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 07:56:59 JST dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg

     in reply to

     @whitequark it has been a while, but I was actually pretty happy with altium. My main annoyance with it was that it’s windows only.

     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Ted Mielczarek (tedmielczarek@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 08:08:30 JST Ted Mielczarek

     in reply to

     • dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg

     @whitequark @jaseg reading this last post out of context had me trying to figure out why you would want to put onions in wine.

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 08:08:36 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Ted Mielczarek
     • dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg

     @tedmielczarek @jaseg aren't onions Allium?

   • Embed this notice
     Ted Mielczarek (tedmielczarek@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 08:10:03 JST Ted Mielczarek

     in reply to

     • dr.-ing. ⁡jaseg

     @whitequark @jaseg oh that's a T, I'm also not wearing my glasses, as it turns out.

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:32:04 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     i put down an array of fifteen SMT testpoints. every time i grab one in pcbnew, it seemingly decides to use a different anchor for dragging it, breaking the grid completely

     how do people tolerate this

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:39:23 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Snaketember King Naga Calyo

     @dragonarchitect I started paying people to use KiCAD on my behalf because it makes me so profoundly miserable to interact with it

   • Embed this notice
     Snaketember King Naga Calyo (dragonarchitect@rubber.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:39:24 JST Snaketember King Naga Calyo

     in reply to

     @whitequark I force myself to keep using it out of pure spite because I now hate AutoDesk with every fiber of my being and I don't want to subject myself to the enshittification of software I depend upon for my main hobby because the profiteering corporation behind it wants to make more money at my expense.

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:42:58 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Daniel O'Connor

     @Darius not sure this helps given the combination of "snap mouse to grid" and whatever step the component placement algorithm is using (not the grid, as far as i can tell)

   • Embed this notice
     Daniel O'Connor (darius@mastodon.cloud)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:42:59 JST Daniel O'Connor

     in reply to

     @whitequark IME it uses the nearest point based on where you had the mouse when you pick it up - I find it useful but you do need to be aware of it otherwise it is maddening

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:50:23 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Snaketember King Naga Calyo

     @dragonarchitect it's a much less compelling offering when in practical terms I'm gonna be giving someone like fifty a hour of my own pocket or thereabouts

   • Embed this notice
     Snaketember King Naga Calyo (dragonarchitect@rubber.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:50:23 JST Snaketember King Naga Calyo

     in reply to

     @whitequark EE is my main jam so like... I kinda have to use *some* kind of EDA.

     KiCAD is the only option that's not going to potentially try to screw me at any point in the future and it Just Works™ in Linux which is where I plan to go when I eventually get around to it. 🤷♀️

     And looking at https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=2799 I REALLY do not want to rip my rubber dreads out trying to get Altium to work in Wine if so many versions of it are rated Garbage. My ADHD executive function cringes in pain at that.

   • Embed this notice
     Snaketember King Naga Calyo (dragonarchitect@rubber.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:50:24 JST Snaketember King Naga Calyo

     in reply to

     @whitequark tbh I don't blame you

     It's jank as shit but at least it works and it gives me a full feature set without attempting to extract money I can't afford to pay out of me.

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:51:09 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Snaketember King Naga Calyo

     @dragonarchitect I'm _so_ much happier hacking on Wine internals than dealing with whatever stupid behavior the KiCAD people think is Actually Good

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:54:49 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Snaketember King Naga Calyo

     @dragonarchitect I actually try to avoid working on software and have been for like a decade. I'm _good_ at it, sure, but I'm primarily interested in hardware (I spent several years maintaining an mCAD for example, and would've worked on an eCAD in a different life)

   • Embed this notice
     Snaketember King Naga Calyo (dragonarchitect@rubber.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 10:54:50 JST Snaketember King Naga Calyo

     in reply to

     @whitequark Tbh I've gotten a strong impression that you're very much a software hacker, so that path is undoubtedly the more satisfying and productive one for you to take. x3

     Enduring and acclimating myself to the jank of KiCAD is, regrettably, the more productive path for me to take, but I get satisfying results out of it. 💙

   • Embed this notice
     Michael Kohne (mhkohne@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 11:06:48 JST Michael Kohne

     in reply to

     @whitequark Probably by never having worked with anything better. If you're a complete newbie to PCBs, you don't know what's normal, and so some really bad software can seem like 'well, it gets me PCBs, this just must be hard'.

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 11:10:37 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Michael Kohne

     @mhkohne I started with EAGLE (which is also not good software) and it was just so much better

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 11:29:27 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • 🔪 Joel May-Kill 🔪

     @jpm yes

   • Embed this notice
     🔪 Joel May-Kill 🔪 (jpm@aus.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 11:29:28 JST 🔪 Joel May-Kill 🔪

     in reply to

     @whitequark nuclear take: the grid in electronic schematic CAD applications should be indivisible, because the physical size of the grid is irrelevant to capturing the schematic.

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 11:29:37 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • 🔪 Joel May-Kill 🔪

     @jpm infuriating

   • Embed this notice
     🔪 Joel May-Kill 🔪 (jpm@aus.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Dec-2025 11:29:38 JST 🔪 Joel May-Kill 🔪

     in reply to

     @whitequark lol yeah - do you want to move from the middle of the footprint? Maybe the middle of that pad? Oh I get it, you actually wanted to move that reference and not the footprint! Oh wait your grid is too big to hit the middle of the footprint so I’ll grab the pad that’s closest to the grid point that’s closest to your mouse cursor (which may not be the closest pad to your mouse cursor, and certainly not the middle of the footprint)