After a year of development, Kicad has published the release of version 9.0.0, the free system for automated design of printed circuit boards. This marks the third major release since the project transitioned under the Linux Foundation’s umbrella. The software is available for various distributions of Linux, Windows, and MacOS. The code is written in C++ and utilizes the wxWidgets library, distributed under the GPLv3 license.
Kicad offers tools for editing electrical circuits and printed circuit boards, 3D visualization, working with circuit element libraries, handling Gerber templates, simulating electronic circuit operations, editing PCBs, and project management. The project also includes electronic component libraries, footprints, and 3D models. Approximately 15% of orders received by printed circuit board manufacturers involve schemes prepared in Kicad.
Changes in the new version of Kicad include:
- Added support for “Lists of Tasks” (Jobsets) to create files with predefined operations on schematics and PCBs, reproducible by different users through GUI or command line.
- Support for embedding elements in the circuit, like rollers and seats, eliminating dependency on external files for self-sufficient project files.
- Implementation of the “Bezier Curve” tool in scheme and PCB editors, allowing creation of Bezier curves from scratch.
- Support for multi-channel design to create new channels with similar element placement and wiring based on existing PCB layouts.
- Added support for component classes to group characters and footprints with specific design rules applicable to each class.
- Support for editing tables in scheme editors, character libraries, and footprints.