Awesome
Keyboard Layouter Plugin
Keyboard Layouter is a plugin for KiCad(pcbnew). This plugin places switch footprints in the location specified by JSON of Keyboard Layout Editor.
I have confirmed that it works with following pcbnew versions
- (7.0.10) release build on Windows
Install
Download keyboard_layouter.py and put it to the following directory:
Tools
> External Plugins
> Reveal Plugin Folder in Finder
(or Open Plugin Directory
in Windows)
Usage
Preparation
Make keyboard layout at Keyboard Layout Editor. Top left legend should be the reference number of the switch footprint. And download JSON file.
I have created keyboard-layouter-playground so that you can quickly try the Keyboard Layouter plugin. This repository has sample-json and sample netlist.
Execution
Open Pcbnew and choose "Tools" -> "External plugins" -> "Keyboard Layouter".
Select your JSON file and push "Run" button.
Limitation
Supported switch footprints are Cherry MX in kicad-footprints/Button_Switch_Keyboard.pretty only. Therefore, the size of switch that can be used is limited to the following.
- 1.00u (1 x 1)
- 1.25u (1.25 x 1)
- 1.50u (1.5 x 1)
- 1.75u (1.75 x 1)
- 2.00u (2 x 1, 1 x 2)
- 2.25u (2.25 x 1)
- 2.75u (2.75 x 1)
- 6.25u (6.25 x 1)
- ISO Enter
For installation on older KiCad (v5, v6)
Please use Release 0.2.0 · yskoht/keyboard-layouter.
I have confirmed that it works with following pcbnew versions
- (5.1.0-1) release build on Windows
- (6.0.5) release build on Windows
- (6.0.5-0) release build on macOS
In KiCad v5, put the script in the following path
- Windows:
%APPDATA%/Roaming/kicad/scripting/plugins
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/kicad/scripting/plugins
or~/Library/Preferences/kicad/scripting/plugins
- Linux:
~/.kicad/scripting/plugins
or~/.kicad_plugins
License
This software is released under the MIT License, see LICENSE.