Hello everyone, my name is Wurl van Bruin, I'm the founder and main developer of LibrePCB
and today I will give you a short update about the LibrePCB project.
So for those who do not know LibrePCB yet, it's an open source EDI software to draw
schematics and design PCB and the main goal is the same as KitKat but there are some differences
and of course it is a cross-platform, it runs on almost every computer, Windows, Linux, MacOS
and more and its main goal is actually to make creating hardware easy, efficient and more or
less foolproof with an intuitive user interface and powerful architectural concepts.
So while the intuitive UI is especially helpful for beginners to get started easily with PCB design,
it's also intended for professional users, for example who care about things like a same file
format or a command line interface to automate some tasks.
So let's take a look at what happened in the past one or two years because there are some great news.
Especially at the end of 2022, it was an exciting moment because I started to work full-time on LibrePCB,
now doing it for a bit more than a year and of course this leads to a lot more progress than in the many, many years before.
In addition, the LibrePCB project has been approved by the NLNet Foundation to receive funding through the Next Generation Internet Program,
which helps a lot to keep the full-time development ongoing.
Then our fabrication service got PCBWay as a new manufacturing partner, so if you order PCB through LibrePCB Fab,
you can now choose between ASLER and PCBWay.
Also, I'm very proud to have several new sponsors on board from last year,
Bitelé Electronics, NextPCB PartStack, PCBGogo and WinZorz.
Last but not least, there are many individuals supporting the LibrePCB project with donations or other kinds of contributions,
for example translations or creating libraries and so on.
So with these sponsorships and the donations, the LibrePCB project raised around $8,000 in 2023.
In my opinion, that's already quite amazing for this relatively still early state of the project.
So at this point, I want to thank all the supporters and contributors and for your trust in the LibrePCB project.
So this really makes me happy and thank you very much for this support.
I take this as a sign that the LibrePCB is on the right way, so I hope it's okay to continue this way.
Nevertheless, it's still a very long way to go until we have a stable funding for the full-time development,
so I hope this support continues many more years.
Other things which happen beside the application development are a completely new website with much more content,
a new documentation system with more documentation and also for a few months now, we also have official video tutorials on YouTube.
Not complete yet, but at least a few ones now.
But now let's take a look at the application.
In September last year, version 1.0 was released, which was a very exciting moment.
And beside many new capabilities in the board editor like thermal relief pads and so on,
this release also added a 3D board viewer with step model import and export,
which is not only fancy, but also a great way to review the design before ordering the PCBs.
But actually, I mean, this is known from the 3D viewer, it's known from many other EDA tools.
Probably every EDA tool is able to show your preview.
I'm actually especially proud of two features which make generating production data really a pleasure.
First of all, we have introduced comprehensive support for assembly variants and manufacturer part number management.
So, MPNs can now be stored in libraries, so you don't need to add them to every new schematic you need them.
In the schematic editor, you can even assign multiple MPNs to one component to export them as second source parts to the BOM.
I mean, who didn't experience any supply chain issues in the last few years?
So, it's nice to actually specify second source parts.
And you can even specify different parts for different assembly variants.
For example, assembly a 10K resistor in one assembly variant and zero-ohm resistor in another assembly variant.
And to actually make generating these BOMs and any other output data, a matter of seconds,
we introduced output jobs as a new unified way to export any data.
So, these output jobs can be configured very flexible and stored within the project.
So, the exactly same output files can be reproduced on a different computer.
You don't need to configure anything again.
So, yeah. And if they provide a command line interface, it's also very easy to fully automate the production data generation.
For example, if you like to use a continuous integration system.
So, now, a short demo is worth more than a thousand words.
So, I would like to quickly show you a few of the features.
I hope this works.
Okay. On my screen, it looks completely different.
But, okay. I think it's, you understand what should be there, I think.
Right?
So, the first is the 3D viewer.
Let's see if it actually, yeah. More or less.
Okay.
Strange.
So, I just want to show you actually that the 3D feature is very, very easy.
Actually, you don't need to care about it.
You just add a resistor or whatever to the schematic.
And our libraries have the 3D models built in.
So, you don't need to care about them.
The part to the board editor, let's say a THD variant.
And it immediately appears in the 3D view with a 3D model.
And, yeah, it's even possible to switch between different footprints, for example.
Different pitch.
And the 3D model is automatically updated to the new footprint.
Or, for example, vertical mounting variant.
So, you actually cannot even do anything which isn't compatible.
It's always assigned to the footprint you choose.
So, yeah. Now, let's take a quick look at MPN management.
I mean, the most simple use cases, you just want to add some component.
And you have now the option to actually choose a concrete MPN,
because they are now sorted in the library.
So, if you add a component by its MPN, and let's quickly also add it to the board
to actually make it appearing in the BOM.
And when you export the BOM then, I think it was LED3,
it immediately appears with the MPN, you're just assigned.
So, it's very easy to generate high-quality production data.
And another use case, for example, I mentioned before,
if you want to add a second source part, you can just choose a different part,
let's say, from a different manufacturer.
Add it to the same component.
It is listed as an alternative part now.
And if you export the BOM now, you have a new column with the second source MPN
and you can generate the BOM.
So, there is no need anymore to manually adjust the BOM
after generating it before sending it to the assembly house.
You can generate it completely finished.
No manual rework needed anymore.
So, then, to actually generate the BOM,
you can use the output jobs feature I just mentioned before.
So, you can also generate these jobs.
Every job means one or more files which are generated.
For example, the Garber files, there is one job to generate Garber files.
And if you, for example, like to send Garber files in a zip file to the manufacturer,
you can just add a zip output job, choose you want to have Garber files in the zip file,
maybe also the assembly PDF within the zip file.
And now the output jobs are stored in the project, so you have to do it only once.
And now you can generate production data, for example, for single jobs.
Just double-click the job, the files generated and opened.
Or you can generate all data at once.
And you get, for example, the zip file you just configured,
containing the Garber files and the assembly PDF,
just like you want to have it to send it to the manufacturer.
Also no manual file editing or archiving needed anymore.
So, if you make any change to the project, one click and you have all files updated.
But of course, not everyone likes to manually generate output files,
even if it's that easy, because there is even a more easy option available.
If you don't like to care about all these things, just start ordering your PCB right within the application.
It's uploaded to our fabrication service website.
You even get ERC warnings if you didn't resolve them in your project yet.
You can choose your manufacturer just forwarded to the manufacturer you like.
And without handling any files manually, you have your project...
Okay, I was too fast.
You have your project ready to be ordered.
Just enter your shipping address, payment information and so on.
That's it.
So, let's switch to the slides.
Okay, so now what's the overall state of the project?
Generally, liver PCBs are fully functional and can be used productively for projects which are not too complex.
Not too complex because hierarchical scheming is a very important factor.
So, what's the overall state of the project?
Generally, liver PCBs are fully functional and can be used productively for projects which are not too complex.
Because hierarchical schematics and bosses are not supported yet.
And also the trace routing tool and actually the board editor in general is still rather rudimentary.
So, from time to time it might be a little bit inefficient.
So, yeah.
And of course, part livers is always a problem.
It's not very comprehensive yet, but at least with liver PCBs, it's very, very easy.
And to create the missing parts by yourself.
So, a quick outlook now.
The upcoming release will contain an EGLE project importer.
So, it can import complete EGLE projects.
And there's also some work ongoing currently to integrate live part information into the application.
When you add a component to the schematic, you immediately should see then the part lifecycle status, stock availability and the price.
So, this will be very useful.
So, I hope we can make it happen.
And yeah, it's clear from time to time.
Some technology updates are needed.
For example, switching to Qt 6.
And yeah, for long term, as I mentioned, the trace routing tool needs some improvements and also hierarchical schematics and bosses.
I think these are a must have.
Yeah.
So, if you like to support my effort on creating an easy and powerful EDA software for everyone, I would be very, very thankful about the donation.
And to keep the full time development ongoing as long as possible.
So, yeah, and there are also many other ways to contribute.
Just check out the link here.
And if there is any Wikipedia article right here, please let me know.
We are looking for some help to publish a Wikipedia article.
And please let us know your feedback on the feedback survey.
So, yeah.
The slides are online.
Here are some links to get easily started with Libre PCB.
That's it.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you for the presentation.
I'm using Altium Designer and Qiget, and I work at a shop where Mentor was used.
How is the state of the import of Altium Qiget and Mentor?
It doesn't exist yet.
Do you have plans to implement either of those?
Any plans to implement these imports?
I think Qiget import would be quite obvious.
The other ones, I don't know yet how much effort is needed,
how these file formats are known or not known, how to read them.
So, yeah, yeah.
I think at some day we will look at the imports, but it's of course not a high priority.
So, did you encounter any problems with patents or something during your development?
Because I'm developing a clone of a commercial software where I'm dealing a little bit with some patents that I might violate during that.
Sorry, I didn't understand.
Patents.
Did you have any issues with those, like registered patents of companies of, I don't know?
So far, I didn't have any problems with patents, but yeah, I'm not an expert in this area.
So, I just tried to take care of licenses of things I use to hopefully not doing anything against the license terms.
Any other questions?
Okay, thank you, Urban.