News

HQ NextPCB Platinum Sponsorship

Published 2023-06-29

The KiCad project is excited to announce that HQ NextPCB has upgraded their sponsorship level from silver to platinum. HQ NextPCB has been generously providing user forum support for KiCad users in China. They have also greatly improved the Chinese translation of KiCad as well as our user documentation. They are also in the process of providing developer support for the KiCad project. The KiCad project would like to thank HQ NextPCB and their customers who use KiCad to design their boards for their support of the KiCad project.

KiCad Conference 2023 Announcement

Published 2023-03-28

The KiCad project is excited to announce the second annual KiCad Conference (KiCon) in A Coruña, Spain from Sept 9th through the 10th, 2023. The conference will be held at the Palexco Conference Center. This conference is geared towards KiCad users. There will be talks from users of all skill levels as well as members of the KiCad Lead Development Team. The conference keynote talk will be given by Wayne Stambaugh, the KiCad project leader.

2022 End of Year Fund Drive

Published 2022-11-22

It’s that time of year to prepare for our annual end of year funding drive. With the next stable release (7) just around the corner (January 31st, 2023), it’s time to start thinking about building version 8. Our supporters' contributions have done more to build the features of version 7 than any other source of funding. With your help, we can make version 8 better than ever! Our year end donation campaign with begin December 1st and run through January 15th.

KiCad Project Awarded NLnet Grant

Published 2022-09-06

The KiCad project is excited to announce that it has been awarded a 50K Euro grant by the NLnet Foundation. This grant will fund the development of the SPICE simulation improvements, design import/migration wizard, CADSTAR library importer, database symbol libraries, footprint and 3D model wizard, flat schematics, and more. Many of the features funded by this grant will be available in the version 7.0 release of KiCad. A detailed list of the features and their development status can be found on the KiCad Developer’s Wiki.

New Developer Mailing List

Published 2022-07-07

After 13 years, it is time to retire the Launchpad developer mailing list. The new developer mailing list will be hosted on the KiCad Google Workspace instance at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the new list by sending an e-mail to [email protected]

KiCad's 2021 End of Year Fund Drive

Published 2021-12-02

Looking back on 2021, we at the KiCad Project feel a deep sense of gratitude. What could have been a lost year to the global pandemic and its associated effects (hello, supply chain!) has instead been a year of great progress at KiCad. This is in large measure due to our supportive and engaged community of users. Community Building We were not able to gather in person again this year.

Avoid links to former kicad domain

Published 2021-10-19

The original KiCad domain name (kicad-pcb.org) was recently sold to an unnamed third party that is not affiliated with the KiCad Project or members of the KiCad Development Team. This sale was unexpected and may pose a risk to KiCad users. The new owners may simply post advertisements or (worst-case scenario) they may host malicious versions of the KiCad software for download. How did this happen? The domain name was originally registered in 2012 by the then project lead Dick Hollenbeck.

AISLER Becomes First Platinum Sponsor

Published 2021-08-20

The KiCad project is excited to announce that AISLER B.V. has become our first platinum sponsor. AISLER has been making monthly donations for many years by sharing a percentage of all orders designed with KiCad as well as allowing their customers to make direct donations to KiCad. Their last twelve monthly donations have exceeded the $15,000 minimum required to become a platinum donor. The KiCad project would like to thank AISLER and their customers who use KiCad to design their boards for their support of the KiCad project.

2020 Year End Funding Drive Results

Published 2021-01-16

On January 15th, 2021 the KiCad 2020 year end funding drive officially ended and it was a resounding success. A total of $14,275 was raised by individual donors which means the full $10,000 match was donated by the KiCad Services Corporation making the total donations for the funding drive $24,275. Thank you to everyone who donated. Your generosity is greatly appreciated and will help the project achieve it’s goals of getting the upcoming stable version 6 released as well as kicking off development of version 7 in the new year.

Project Lead Developer Interview on Fedevel Academy

Published 2020-12-17

The KiCad project lead developer was recently interviewed by Robert Feranec of Fedevel Academy about the viability of using KiCad in corporate environments. The discussion includes addressing the concerns of corporate users, feature comparison to proprietary products, the feature set of of the upcoming version 6 release, and the future of KiCad development. If you are considering or are already using KiCad in corporate environment or you are just interested in KiCad development in general, click on the link above to hear all about KiCad development.

Changes 2 Development Highlight 16 Events 2 Media 1 News 23 Release Notes 40 Status Update 2