Somerville, MA, USA
Abram Connelly is a free and open source enthusiast and is passionate about open data. He is interested in DIY biology, Maker culture, electronics, art and how they all collide.
Abram Connelly
Authored Content
Abram Connelly is a free and open source enthusiast and is passionate about open data. He is interested in DIY biology, Maker culture, electronics, art and how they all collide.
Authored Comments
KiCAD is great! One of the reasons why I was able to develop MeowCAD mostly on my own was because of KiCADs extensive schematic and footprint library which MeowCAD uses. MeowCAD has import capability that allows you to import KiCAD schematic libraries and footprints. You can also run MeowCAD locally by running it through Docker.
MeowCAD can be thought of as a complement to KiCAD. KiCAD might be much more heavy weight but is hard to get started with for some. The hope is that MeowCAD simplifies the process of getting started. Through MeowCAD, it's also a lot easier to share projects or pictures of your schematic and boards.
KiCAD is wonderful and people should use it! I don't think it's useful getting too much into the "MeowCAD vs. KiCAD" debate. MeowCAD focuses on an area that KiCAD doesn't: online electronics design. In that space, KiCAD wasn't competing and the only alternatives were closed source solutions. MeowCAD provides an alternative.
For people that want to invest in a heavier weight electronics design tool, KiCAD is a great option. For people that want to invest in a free and open source online electronics design tool, MeowCAD is now an option for them.