VeroRoute – an open source Veroboard, Perfboard and PCB layout design software | Hacker News Reader

VeroRoute – an open source Veroboard, Perfboard and PCB layout design software

sourceforge.net

59 pointsapp4soft19 comments

It looks friendly.

But honestly, I can't imagine anything other than recommending KiCAD right now.

Not least of all because for a hobbiest and a professional, it's a massive time saver to go to someplace like SnapEDA or UltraLibrarian and get working schematic component, footprint and 3D model right away.

I disliked KiCAD up until v6 which went with a more logical less-classic-linux UI (see InkScape) and v7 has been nice except for occasional crashes.

I'm glad to see more options, but almost would prefer these people worked on KiCAD instead.

KICAD is incredible, can't believe its free.

this is coming from an altium daily driver. Kicad definitely won't hold up during high speed memory routing or something but its still great.

Totally, but for how long? KiCad keeps getting significantly better, and there are no insane licensing requirements.

KiCads open format is much better for small business, freelancers and startups and while Altium is industry standard, I can’t imagine it will be for much longer

KiCAD has been steadily catching up with Altium for a long time, while Altium has functionally stagnated as they pursue various business strategies. For a huge proportion of designs Altium is no longer worth their license cost, and I hope KiCAD will be able to close the gap for 99% of cases and at the very least give Altium a kick up the arse to compete if not replace it.

> Totally, but for how long?

Since it's published with the GPL-3 license, I don't expect that to change. Even if there were interest to change the license and all copyright holder agree (which is generally not feasible in a long running FOSS project), there surely would be a fork, if the software is then still popular.

I think the GP meant "for how long will Altium be better than KiCAD".

Yeah, having had my coffee, I see that so as well now.

Why would the license need to change? It doesn't apply to the things you make with the program, only to your modifications of the program itself. And even then, the license doesn't matter if you don't publish a modified copy of kicad.

Out of interest, why exactly wouldn't KiCAD suffice for high speed memory routing?

Here are VeroRoute's discussion[0] on FreeStompboxes forum, custom components library[1] and few projects examples.[2,3]

[0] https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=28434

[1] https://github.com/rohit-kumar-j/VeroRoute-Custom-Components

[2] https://github.com/rohit-kumar-j/DIY-TP4560-Charging-Station...

[3] https://github.com/arcadien/simpleRgbLamp

Thanks for the submit and for the links above.

Looks interesting for small prototyping, tempted to try.

Wow, Windows / Linux / Mac / Android !

Here is also an example of VeroRoute for Stripboard design.[0]

There is VeeCAD[1] mentioned, another similar app that is opensource now (but it is Win/WINE).[2]

VeroRoute looks more advanced than VeeCAD.

Two other similar apps in Java: BlackBoard[3] and DIYLC[4]

N.B. Many other apps listed on EEVblog's forum.[5]

[0] https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/show-us-your-vero...

[1] https://veecad.com

[2] https://veecad.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1569498190

[3] https://github.com/mpue/blackboard

[4] https://github.com/bancika/diy-layout-creator

[5] https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eda/pcbeda-software-list/msg14...

I love veroboard. It is so accessible. It was a bit of a shock to get into amateur radio and to learn its limitations at higher frequencies, but for everything else it is a great way to build projects.

Sort of related question:

Is there a neat way of turning a scan/1-bit bitmap of a PCB design (from e.g. an old magazine or book) into a set of Gerber files that you can have manufactured cheaply?

If the images of the PCBs are accompanied by schematics, you could rebuild the circuit using these and use the image of the existing circuit as reference for how to lay out the components on the PCB while routing all traces yourself (e.g. if the scans are not good enough to work with them directly).

You might be able to end up with nicer or more compact PCBs just because you can use smaller vias and traces or even inner layers today.

There are some interesting discussions on the topic: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eda/image-to-gerber-converter/

You can also bring an image into Kicad and redraw a circuit. All this of course assumes no inner layers on the board.

Thanks! Looks like this very specific area needs some open source love though. I'll look into if I think I can contribute here.

Actually kicad has a bitmap importer. You could pull a bitmap in to the copper layer. It’s often used for silkscreen logos but it’s not limited to that.

It's fittingly called the "Bitmap to Component Converter":

https://forum.kicad.info/t/reproducing-a-pcb-from-scanned-im...

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