As some of you have suggested, Debian might be the best matching platform to run KiCAD under linux.
Therefor I prepared a tiny howto for setting up a complete Debian/KiCAD environment inside virtual box.
1) Create a VM (8-XXGB depending on your needs)
2) Install debian normally (netinstall-image, deselect all extra package groups)
3) Add sudo rights to your user:
$ su -
# apt-get install sudo
# usermod -a -G sudo YOURUSERNAME
log out and back in! Now you should have sudo rights ...
3) Install X-Windows, xfce4 (or whatever you prefer) and some tools:
$ sudo apt-get install x-window-system xfce4 evince gv xterm iceweasel cups
3) Install the guest-additions to get better performance and resolution etc, etc...
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential module-assistant
$ sudo m-a prepare
Insert virtual media by clicking "Devices -> Insert Guest Additions CD image”
$ mount /media/cdrom
$ sudo sh VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
4) Start your X-Server
$ startx
You should by now have a fully working XFCE with dynamic window resizing etc etc.
5) install KiCad
Download kicad-install.sh from the kicad homepage
Open a terminal
$ cd
$ cd Downloads
$ chmod u+x kicad-install.sh
$ ./kicad-install.sh --install-or-update
Lean back for the next 1-2 hours ...
6) Install the kicad-repo-tools from the forum to workaround the stupid online footprint repository:
Download kicad-repo-tools.zip from
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/open-source-kicad-geda/kicad-new-footprint-libraries-(-pretty)-packet/msg384444/#msg384444$ unzip kicad-repo-tools.zip
$ sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/kicad/github-repo
$ sudo python clone-kicad-repo.py
I had to tun the script several times as github seemed to be unreliable at the time, giving me random connection errors …
As we ran the python script as root, we have to manually copy the fl-lib-table into our homedir
$ cd
$ cp /usr/local/share/kicad/template/fp-lib-table.for-pretty fp-lib-table
7) Set the KISYSMOD environment variable to point to the correct repository:
echo "export KISYSMOD=/usr/local/share/kicad/github-repo" >> .bashrc
Close the terminal and open a new one.
![Cool 8)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/cool.gif)
Finally start kicad
$ kicad &
That should be all …
Printing still does not work directly in eeschema (in pcbnew it however does ...), however the following workaround actually produces reasonable PDFs: Instead of using the Print command from the menu just use the Plot command and select PDF as output type. Credits to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1051109Happy engineering!