[HN Gopher] Thunderscope update: My take: Why open source is better
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       Thunderscope update: My take: Why open source is better
        
       Author : ChuckMcM
       Score  : 26 points
       Date   : 2025-05-01 00:16 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.crowdsupply.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.crowdsupply.com)
        
       | ChuckMcM wrote:
       | This is an update from the folks doing Thunderscope (a high
       | frequency "soft" oscilloscope) but this really stands out:
       | 
       |  _Teaching KiCad a New Trick - Matching Delays
       | 
       | At time of writing, KiCad only understands the length of traces
       | and pins. When length matching, it takes length as a single
       | number added up across every layer. This leads to delay
       | mismatches, as the signals on the inner layers are slower than
       | the signals on the outer layers. When assigning pin lengths, you
       | need to arbitrarily choose a layer to convert a delay value
       | (given by the manufacturer), to a length. This also results in
       | delay mismatches._
       | 
       |  _I wanted to do this right, just like Altium does, but I didn't
       | want to have to calculate and add up all the delay values by hand
       | in a spreadsheet. So I made a script to rewrite custom design
       | rules to try to get KiCad's length matching to be delay matching
       | (including pad delays)._
       | 
       | Closed source design tools leave you stuck, and often when a need
       | like this surfaces you end up paying a lot of money for an
       | "option pack" that adds the capability. If you have ever wondered
       | if KiCad was up to doing _any_ kind of design, this should assure
       | you that no it works just fine and you can kick that $10,000
       | Altium license to the curb.
        
       | LeonM wrote:
       | > Test Rev. 5: This should take no longer than two weeks.
       | 
       | Ah yes, the famous last words of expecting testing to take less
       | than two weeks, and that all tests will pass...
        
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       (page generated 2025-05-04 23:00 UTC)