KiCad Retro Library

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• How to use this library
  • Prepare KiCad
  • Add symbols to a project
  • Add footprints to a project
• License

Introduction

A set of KiCad libraries for creating old computers schematics and PCBs.

The criteria for adding symbols and footprints to this library are the following:

• The component should not be already available in the official KiCad Libraries.
• The component is interesting for recreating the schematic and PCB of an old computer. This criteria is not strict, send a PR and we'll figure it out.

The library is designed to work on KiCad v5.1.

How to use this library

The best approach is having a single copy of this library somewhere on your HD and add it as a Project Specific Library to each project.

To make the designs more portable it is highly recommended to follow these steps:

Prepare KiCad

1. Open the main KiCad application and select the "Preferences -> Configure Paths..." menu entry. The current project is not important.
2. Click on the + button in the bottom left corner to add a new environment variable.
3. Define the KICAD_RETRO_LIBRARY environment variable pointing to the absolute path where this repository has been cloned. E.g. /home/user/dev/github/kicad-retro-library.
4. Click OK to confirm.
5. Exit the KiCad application.

Example for KiCad 5.1.x:

Add symbols to a project

1. Open the main KiCad application and select a project or create a new one.
2. Select the "Preferences -> Manage Symbol Libraries..." menu entry.
3. Select the "Project Specific Libraries" tab.
4. Click on the folder-shaped button ("Add existing library to table") in the bottom left side of the dialog and navigate to the krl-symbols directory inside this repository.
5. In the file selection dialog use the shift key to select all the displayed .lib files.
6. Confirm the selection.
7. Note how KiCad has replaced the part of the path that matches the KICAD_RETRO_LIBRARY variable with the actual variable. This is what makes the project independent from the location of the library.

Add footprints to a project

1. Open the main KiCad application and select a project or create a new one.
2. Select the "Preferences -> Manage Footprint Libraries..." menu entry.
3. Select the "Project Specific Libraries" tab.
4. Click on the folder-shaped button ("Add existing library to table") in the bottom left side of the dialog and navigate to the krl-footprints directory inside this repository.
5. In the directory tree dialog use the shift key to select all the displayed .pretty directories.
6. Confirm the selection.
7. Note how KiCad has replaced the part of the path that matches the KICAD_RETRO_LIBRARY variable with the actual variable. This is what makes the project independent from the location of the library.

Contributing

All contributions are welcome! Please take a moment to review the guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

This library is released under the CERN Open Hardware Licence v2 license.