Digi-Key Announces Common Parts Library Update for KiCad EDA Tool

THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn., Feb. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of their ongoing effort to offer engineers the best electronic design automation (EDA) tools and design aids, Digi-Key Electronics, a global electronic components distributor, announces the beta release of a library consisting of nearly 1,000 common parts for use by the open source, KiCad schematic capture and printed circuit board tool on their website.

Digi-Key analyzed which parts are the top 1,000 that users of KiCad would likely need and created a library that binds the schematic symbols and printed circuit board footprints together into atomic elements, while adding several fields including part numbers and links to datasheets.  The library is distributed under the same license as KiCad's main library, thereby making it available for anyone to use for their own designs.

"With more restrictive licensing or licenses that don't align with some of our customers' needs, some users are looking to find a replacement EDA tool and are flocking to KiCad which is the most popular, open source option available," said Randall Restle, VP, Applications Engineering. "Now, electrical engineers and students have a choice they can stick with forever without fear of restrictive licenses."

The recent update comes as a precursor to the final release coming in early 2018.

For more information about KiCad as well as the company's full portfolio of EDA and design tools, visit the Digi-Key website.

About Digi-Key Electronics

Digi-Key Electronics, headquartered in Thief River Falls, Minn., USA, is an authorized global, full-service distributor of electronic components, offering more than 6.8 million products, with over 1.4 million in stock and available for immediate shipment, from over 750 quality name-brand manufacturers. Digi-Key also offers a wide variety of online resources such as EDA and design tools, datasheets, reference designs, instructional articles and videos, multimedia libraries, and much more. Technical support is available 24/7 via email, phone and webchat. Additional information and access to Digi-Key's broad product offering can be found by visiting www.digikey.com.

Editorial Contact for Digi-Key Electronics

Kayla Krosschell
PR & Marketing Communications Specialist
1.800.338.4105 x1098
[email protected] 
[email protected]

SOURCE Digi-Key Electronics