The Kicad devs have packaged precompiled binaries for OS X, and they are available here.
They are nightly builds, generally considered “bleeding edge,” but they will typically run well.
The main .dmg contains the application and schematic libraries, and assumes you will use github to pull footprints. The -extras .dmg contains the footprint libraries so you can install them locally. You should probably install them locally.
At some point they will decide that something is a stable release.
I am an electronics engineer, employed by a local company, designing very cool stuff. But on occasion I have an itch that has to be scratched, and the only way to scratch that itch is to design some little bit of electronics.
This occasionally-updated blog will have information about these little designs. Right now, I don’t know whether the designs will be fully open source or what. I may decide to make the designs available as kits, or perhaps just make PCBs available for purchase. It all depends on the time I have available.
What you might find interesting is that I do as much of the design work on Mac OS X, not Windows or Linux. (There are exceptions, which will be noted when I get to them.)
For the physical designs (schematics and PCB layout), I have been successfully using the open-source Kicad suite. I have been building the tools from the main Kicad bazaar “product” branch, but there are a couple of developers working on the creation of OS X binaries. I will post links to those binaries as they become available (which should be any day now).
For 8051 microcontroller design and development, I greatly prefer the Silicon Labs devices. They are inexpensive, they can be programmed in-circuit with a $39 dongle, and they work as advertised. SiLabs also offers excellent support, and they provide free software tools. Their Eclipse-based Simplicity Studio runs on OS X, Linux and Windows and it’s pretty good.
That’s all for now. More to come …
