[HN Gopher] Fritzing is an open-source electronic design tool
___________________________________________________________________
Fritzing is an open-source electronic design tool
Author : memorable
Score : 230 points
Date : 2022-05-02 13:51 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (fritzing.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (fritzing.org)
| janoc wrote:
| Friends don't let friends use Fritzing for electronic design. It
| is only good for making simple newbie-friendly connection
| diagrams, nothing else.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Are there any use cases where Fritzing is more suitable than
| KiCad?
| II2II wrote:
| Making illustrations of breadboard layouts. For actual PCB
| layouts though, I would put more trust into KiCAD.
| linker3000 wrote:
| When you want to document and get a picture representation of a
| breadboard lashup and that's as far as you are going to take
| things.
| halotrope wrote:
| If fritzing gets #1 spot on HN I would like to wholeheartedly
| recommend https://www.kicad.org/ as well. IMHO much saner
| workflow and good UX in the latest version.I did a simple PCB and
| got it manufactured on https://jlcpcb.com/ for a couple bucks.
| Quite a rewarding experience.
|
| I would also suggest that anyone who cares about computers gets
| to know basic electronics. How do transistors work, what is a bus
| (e.g I2C or SPI) and how is it all connected? (Drumroll ... a PCB
| of course). There is a ton of tutorials on youtube that do it end
| to end. E.g Phils Lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLDqQ2L_mUQ
| for a PCB design. Or Ben Eaters excellent beginner tutorial
| "Hello World from Scratch"
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnzuMJLZRdU
| throwmeariver1 wrote:
| ... for the reading folks "Electronics Explained" by Louis E.
| Frenzel, Jr. Is probably the best book for a general knowledge
| buff up.
| SwishyTaco4 wrote:
| While we're sharing our favourite open source EDA tools,
| HorizonEDA deserves a lot more love and attention.
| Hewitt87 wrote:
| While we're sharing our favourite open source EDA tools,
| HorizonEDA deserves a lot more love and attention.
|
| https://horizon-eda.org/
| ThrowawayIP wrote:
| The Pool concept of horizon is very interesting. Libraries &
| Library Management are absolutely the worst part of
| EDA/E-CAD. I wonder where the Return on Invested time happens
| for this concept.
| phkahler wrote:
| >> While we're sharing our favourite open source EDA tools,
| HorizonEDA deserves a lot more love and attention
|
| My impression is that Horizon-EDA is well worth following,
| but not as far along as KiCAD. It's a nice second option that
| some people prefer.
| IshKebab wrote:
| Unless you really need some really advanced KiCAD features
| then Horizon is _far_ _far_ more usable. Night and day.
| phkahler wrote:
| I'm just happy to say you can now use SolveSpace to
| create STEP models of components for either one:
| https://solvespace.com/index.pl
| memorable wrote:
| It does.
| rock_hard wrote:
| Also plugging https://flux.ai in this context
|
| It's a modern take on electronics design with slick UX
|
| Comes with a free tier as well as paid
|
| Software engineers here are gonna love that components in flux
| are fully programmable from schematic/PCB all the way down to
| simulator models
| scoutt wrote:
| It's truly interestering. We considered it, and we didn't
| like it. It seems something born to be "vendor lock-in" plus
| the fact that it looks super volatile (a bad combination). We
| are sure that our current EDA tools will at least stick
| around for a while.
|
| And it's browser based. Opening any of the examples on the
| main page with firefox lifted up my PC like a hovercraft by
| the way the fans started to spin, with several seconds delay
| for any interaction (on a PC that's capable of running Altium
| and Orcad).
|
| PS: I love the animation on the main page and how the
| mechanical engineer has no idea on what's going on!
| uuyi wrote:
| Good points there about longevity. If you're doing any EDA
| work you need to drag the EDA product through the lifecycle
| of the design. I have seen whole computers with OrCAD for
| MSDOS dragged along with a product just so the toolchain
| didn't get shafted.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Isn't that what Docker was made for? [0]
|
| Dev1: It works on my machine!
|
| Dev2: Great, we'll ship your machine!
|
| [0] https://lescinskas.lt/assets/img/posts/2019/docker-
| works-on-...
| built_with_flux wrote:
| Thanks for the love everyone!
|
| Yeah, performance is on our radar now that the core product
| is mature enough to manufacture boards. Our goal is to get
| 200 component projects to work well on a regular 2017
| generation machine and get to 1000 by end of year.
|
| About vendor lock-in: we def don't want to lock anyone
| in...so data portability is big focus and we have
| import/export support for kicad and other formats like STL
| or Collada already. Planning to add support for Netlists,
| Altium, Eagle, etc too as well as a REST API.
|
| You can also export your project as a json file today
| bmitc wrote:
| Any plans to make a standalone desktop app?
| built_with_flux wrote:
| Depends on your definition of "standalone"
|
| Ultimately the power of flux is connectedness the
| collaboration that enables but we do plan to ship a
| standalone app that's unbundled from your web browser in
| parallel to the web version.
|
| We also have plans to offer some amount of offline
| capabilities so solve for use cases such as being on a
| airplane.
| jbarrozo wrote:
| This is the future of hardware! Made couple of boards
| already.
| by_Seeing wrote:
| Was going to recommend the same
| cybrox wrote:
| I would actually urge anyone to check out KiCAD instead, not
| just as well.
|
| The only merit Fritzings has against a thriving open ecosystem
| such as KiCAD is its dumbed down interface that would make it
| more accessible to beginners. However, if you want to use it
| without paying EUR8, you have to compile it from source, which
| makes this whole point mute.
| cptskippy wrote:
| > its dumbed down interface that would make it more
| accessible to beginners.
|
| I guess it depends on who you are, but I tried it and noped
| away in under 30 minutes. I understand how this might be a
| valuable learning tool in a classroom environment, but the
| restrictions it has around components and design are too much
| for a hobbyist experimenting.
|
| > which makes this whole point mute.
|
| moot
| janoc wrote:
| The problem with Fritzing is that it is so much "dumbed down"
| that it is mostly useless. It doesn't even enforce basic
| design constraints such as having the PCB traces
| horizontal/vertical/45deg angle or clearances.
|
| And good luck with creating your own components!
| noasaservice wrote:
| Well, to be fair, the 0/45/90 deg traces are a byproduct
| from early days of EDA CAD products. Aside high frequency
| busses (which you're doing EM analysis on anyways), traces
| can be all sorts of shapes. That 3v3 or 5v line can have
| 135deg traces - they might be ugly, but they're very
| doable. This is a case where early electronic CAD turned
| into a cargo-cult.
|
| Prior to the early computing CAD days, the traces were
| really rounded and flowing, and had teardrop fills. They
| were also done freehand, with transparencies, markers, and
| tape.
|
| This is a good example of hand-designed boards:
| https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vtg-
| early-1970s-ampex...
| bsder wrote:
| > Well, to be fair, the 0/45/90 deg traces are a
| byproduct from early days of EDA CAD products. Aside high
| frequency busses (which you're doing EM analysis on
| anyways), traces can be all sorts of shapes.
|
| The constraint is still there. Curved traces make your
| GUI ridiculously unmanageable. Ever tried to manipulate
| font outlines? It's like that on a PCB, only an order of
| magnitude worse. You have to operate control points for
| every single segment rather than just dragging a trace.
| All for effectively no benefit on 99.9% of all PCB
| designs.
|
| In fact, the _only_ good argument for using non-Euclidean
| traces is in the ultra-high-speed arena (think DDR4 bus
| or multi-GHz RF). If traces are small enough that they
| fit between the PCB weave, different traces can have
| enough difference in electrical permittivity that it will
| screw up the matching (trace 1 has an FR-4 fiber directly
| underneath while trace 2 only has cross fibers underneath
| and so has about 50% air underneath instead of 100%
| fiberglass). Consequently, you have to swing the angles
| to weird things like multiples of 7 or 13 degrees to
| prevent that.
| naraic0o wrote:
| mitxela did a great video on this topic recently and
| wrote a plugin for kicad to make the regular geometric
| layouts more organic.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euJgtLcWWyo
| jeroenhd wrote:
| I can't say much about its usability, but you don't need to
| pay to download Fritzing if you're on Linux (or Windows with
| WSL) because it's available for free in the usual places
| (https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.fritzing.Fritzing,
| https://packages.ubuntu.com/jammy/fritzing,
| https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/fritzing). You only have
| to pay if you download the official distribution version.
| em3rgent0rdr wrote:
| Another merit of Fritzing is the integrated breadboard
| layout, linked with the schematic. Often I want to try the
| design out with a breadboard with DIP chips to see how things
| work, and also to provide a breadboard layout for people that
| don't want to order a PCB.
| crispyambulance wrote:
| Yes, KiCAD is the best if you're a beginner, want something
| free, and actually intend to go through the (considerable)
| effort of designing a PCB and have it fabricated for real.
| You can do complex designs and take advantage of really nice
| features and rule-checks. It's very much an 80% solution to a
| hard problem and more than enough for hobbyists.
|
| For paid/non-free, some of Altium's offerings would be the
| next step up, along with Fusion-360. I haven't tried
| Fusion-360 ECAD. I do know that Autodesk bought Eagle, but
| it's not clear to me if Fusion-360 is using Eagle for
| schematic capture and PCB?
|
| After that, it's big-boy tools like mentor or cadence. These
| are overkill for hobbyists unless the man is paying for your
| seat.
| dymk wrote:
| Fusion 360 can import the 3D model of a populated PCB from
| Eagle, but has no EDA capabilities on its own.
| larsrc wrote:
| As a rank beginner, I was able to use Fritzing to design
| and get printed a simple board (~10 elements) with little
| effort. Yes, for anything more complex I would want to
| invest the time in learning a more powerful tool, but KICAD
| is more the next step than "the best if you're a beginner".
| caslon wrote:
| Compilation is easy, and there's really not that much common
| ground between CAD and knowing the rote actions to compile
| something. I wouldn't even say there's a lot of common ground
| between programming and CAD.
| cwillu wrote:
| FWIW, the point is moot, not mute.
| vpribish wrote:
| if you tell them then it stops being a useful indicator
| brk wrote:
| I think you mean a moo point?
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLwYpSCrlHU
| cwillu wrote:
| Mu.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Tau you very much
| sschueller wrote:
| Even better is that with kicad you can fully automate fab
| outputs via CI pipeline for example in gitlab. I have my
| projects run ERC and DRC then if they pass, gerbers for JLCPCB,
| BOM (with parts #s for LCSC) and placement for assembly as well
| as an interactive BOM are generated.
| mch82 wrote:
| Is there a good tutorial for setting up a pipeline like
| you've described using? Really cool!
| sschueller wrote:
| I gathered my setup from a few sources but the main one is
| https://github.com/INTI-CMNB/kicad_auto and
| https://github.com/INTI-CMNB/KiBot . Here is my current
| setup for gitlab:
|
| When adding components, add "LCSC" to overall schematic
| (BOM export will fail if added to each part separately
| (join issue)) and the part number in each part in order to
| use the JLCPCB assembly service. Only parts with LCSC
| column are exported in the JLCPCB BOMs.
|
| .gitlab-ci.yml ... tests:
| image: setsoft/kicad_auto:dev_k6 stage: testing
| script: - "[ -f *.kicad_pcb ] && kibot -c
| test.kibot.yaml" tags: - docker
| pcb_outputs: image: setsoft/kicad_auto:dev_k6
| stage: gen_fab script: - "[ -f
| *.kicad_pcb ] && kibot -c output.kibot.yaml" only:
| refs: - master artifacts: when:
| always paths: - Fabrication/
| tags: - docker ...
|
| test.kibot.yaml kibot: version: 1
| preflight: run_erc: false update_xml: false
| run_drc: true check_zone_fills: true
| ignore_unconnected: false
|
| output.kibot.yaml # Gerber and drill files
| for JLCPCB, without stencil # URL:
| https://jlcpcb.com/ kibot: version: 1
| filters: - name: only_jlc_parts comment:
| 'Only parts with JLC (LCSC) code' type: generic
| include_only: - column: 'LCSC'
| regex: '^C\d+' variants: - name: rotated
| comment: 'Just a place holder for the rotation filter'
| type: kibom variant: rotated
| pre_transform: _rot_footprint outputs: -
| name: JLCPCB_gerbers comment: Gerbers compatible
| with JLCPCB type: gerber dir: JLCPCB
| options: &gerber_options exclude_edge_layer:
| true exclude_pads_from_silkscreen: true
| plot_sheet_reference: false
| plot_footprint_refs: true
| plot_footprint_values: false
| force_plot_invisible_refs_vals: false
| tent_vias: true use_protel_extensions: true
| create_gerber_job_file: false
| disable_aperture_macros: true gerber_precision:
| 4.6 use_gerber_x2_attributes: false
| use_gerber_net_attributes: false line_width:
| 0.1 subtract_mask_from_silk: true
| layers: # Note: a more generic approach is to
| use 'copper' but then the filenames # are
| slightly different. - F.Cu - B.Cu
| - F.Paste - B.Paste - F.SilkS
| - B.SilkS - F.Mask - B.Mask
| - Edge.Cuts - name: JLCPCB_drill
| comment: Drill files compatible with JLCPCB type:
| excellon dir: JLCPCB options:
| pth_and_npth_single_file: false pth_id: '-PTH'
| npth_id: '-NPTH' metric_units: false
| output: "%f%i.%x" - name: JLCPCB
| comment: ZIP file for JLCPCB type: compress
| dir: Fabrication/JLCPCB options:
| files: - from_output: JLCPCB_gerbers
| dest: / - from_output: JLCPCB_drill
| dest: / - name: ibom comment:
| Interactive BOM type: ibom dir:
| Fabrication/ibom options: dark_mode:
| true - name: 'JLCPCB_position'
| comment: "Pick and place file, JLCPCB style"
| type: position dir: Fabrication/JLCPCB-BOM
| options: variant: rotated output:
| '%f_cpl_jlc.%x' format: CSV units:
| millimeters separate_files_for_front_and_back:
| false only_smd: true columns:
| - id: Ref name: Designator -
| Val - Package - id: PosX
| name: "Mid X" - id: PosY
| name: "Mid Y" - id: Rot name:
| Rotation - id: Side name:
| Layer - name: 'JLCPCB_bom' comment:
| "BoM for JLCPCB" type: bom dir:
| Fabrication/JLCPCB-BOM options:
| output: '%f_%i_jlc.%x' exclude_filter:
| 'only_jlc_parts' ref_separator: ','
| columns: - field: Value name:
| Comment - field: References
| name: Designator - Footprint -
| field: 'LCSC' name: 'LCSC part number'
| csv: hide_pcb_info: true
| hide_stats_info: true quote_all: true*
| ComradeUlyanov wrote:
| is librepcb any good?
| goodpoint wrote:
| It's very good!
|
| https://hackaday.com/2020/01/22/review-testdriving-
| librepcb-...
| de6u99er wrote:
| KICAD reminds me a lot of PICAD which I used when doing my
| electronics engineering degree.
| drekipus wrote:
| I loathe fritzing. I don't understand why they can't just
| capitalise on their strengths and leave the rest behind, which is
| their breadboard view for making connection diagrams.
|
| Their breadboard view needs more work but it's by far the only
| reason to consider using it. Unfortunately the parts editor is a
| pain to use.
|
| I was considering trying to fork it to remove everything that
| wasn't related to the breadboard view, and make the wire
| interface a little easier to manage, but that didn't get
| anywhere. (Yaks)
|
| People are actually trying to use this as a proper EDA? Are you
| kidding?
| testmasterflex wrote:
| I've tried most tools out there.
|
| As a hardware founder (https://Loodio.com) I actually stuck with
| EasyEDA.com because it's so damn quick and they have lots of
| ready made foot prints.
|
| I even make the enclosure for Loodio with PCBs that I screw
| together with screw terminals. So every unit is 2 electrical PCBs
| + 6 "wall" PCBs.
|
| You can do so much with circuit boards.
|
| I even made my business card of a 0.6mm thick PCB with an NFC
| chip: https://youtu.be/_BSfO9LAIqg
| IshKebab wrote:
| Yeah, a terrible open source EDA tool. I would strongly recommend
| Horizon EDA instead.
| tomfanning wrote:
| Someone once told me "Friends don't let friends use Fritzing".
| helsinkiandrew wrote:
| There was an interesting discussion on their "download" button a
| few years ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21530891
|
| Original article has disappeared but is on archive.org:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20210615211240/https://bowero.nl...
| hongseleco wrote:
| Why is this trending again for the 10+ time?
| zafka wrote:
| First time I have seen it. I was wondering if anyone had used
| it.
| EEBio wrote:
| A lot of people do, but it has some limitations when it comes
| to PCB design.
|
| I recommend reading this write-up on Fritzing:
| https://hackaday.com/2016/10/11/creating-a-pcb-in-
| everything...
| CodeWriter23 wrote:
| I'm working on a machine. I successfully implemented a 5
| channel optoisolated 3.3v control 24v output solenoid driver.
| But I had to do all the routing manually because Fritzing's
| auto-router could not figure out how route on a single layer.
| It painted itself into a corner every time. Manually, I was
| able to route a common signal the long way around and avoid
| trapping the traces. Also, Fritzing's router pissed me off
| that it did not adhere to a grid or angle system...I
| recognize this is a limitation of my
|
| I'm thankful for the recommendation for KiCAD I got out here
| today. It seems promising to help me take it to the next
| level.
| bsza wrote:
| Kicad doesn't have autorouting though, so you'll still end
| up either doing it manually or using a 3rd party tool.
| CodeWriter23 wrote:
| Thanks for the info. Have you checked this out?
|
| https://freerouting.org/
|
| (Not being snarky, looking for some clues to get me
| going)
|
| My intent is to produce single and perhaps double layer
| prototype boards using a CNC Router and hand soldered
| vias.
| noasaservice wrote:
| Autorouting almost always creates garbage routes, with
| tons of vias. You're so much better off doing the routing
| yourself.
|
| (And yes, I tried the autorouting java package. Ive also
| used other routing packages. Its so much MISS and very
| little HIT.)
| memorable wrote:
| Submissioner here. I don't even know why it got in #1 position.
| I just found it in Flathub and thought "This looks
| interesting", so I submitted it.
| dang wrote:
| I found two threads in 13 years:
|
| _How Fritzing is killing itself_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21530891 - Nov 2019 (53
| comments)
|
| _Fritzing - opensource circuit sketching tool for Arduino_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=606567 - May 2009 (12
| comments)
|
| Where are the others?
| fsflover wrote:
| Care to provide links to other discussions?
| mdaniel wrote:
| Clicking on the domain name next to the title always searches
| for submissions related to that domain; dang often posts the
| Related threads out of convenience, but it's always available
| to everyone:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=fritzing.org
| ahepp wrote:
| I was tricked into donating to download it. Guess what, it sucks
| and isn't worth paying for. What a cheap trick.
| hda111 wrote:
| It's very obvious that you need to pay to download. Open source
| doesn't meant it's free.
| severino wrote:
| I've never used Fritzing for PCB design, but I think there is a
| use case where it's not bad: when you want to make breadboard
| pictures.
| nfriedly wrote:
| Yeah, it's very handy for making a graphic showing how to wire
| up an Arduino or similar.
| SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
| That's the one thing it's actually good at. But it is very good
| at that. If you're still at the level where you're using
| breadboards & through-hole parts for everything (i.e. before
| you learn to solder) it's a nice tool.
|
| Once you learn to solder you can make PCBs and work with
| higher-speed components than breadboards can support, then
| you'll want something that's actually slightly decent for PCB
| design. Fritzing is about the same level of help as manually
| cutting out mylar tape, you want something with actual design
| rule checking.
| gallerdude wrote:
| Adjacent topic: how does someone with strong computer science
| algorithm start designing pcb's? Like if I wanted to, say, create
| a computer which randomly added together integers and displayed
| them on an LCD, where would I even start to learn how to do that?
| r2_pilot wrote:
| It depends on what you mean by a few things, but a basic
| approach I'd take if you wanted this specific scenario would be
| to pick a microcontroller like arduino or raspberry pi(zero),
| pick a compatible screen, then design the board so that they're
| connected electrically. You may want to start with through-hole
| and breadboards first, as it's easier to get into than SMT.
| mch82 wrote:
| https://sparkfun.com tutorials. The key is to think of
| electronics components like functions. Each component has
| inputs and produces outputs.
|
| PCBs aren't a necessary step unless you want to make many
| copies of your work. They basically reduce the wiring you need
| to do & allow for a more compact circuit than a breadboard.
| samtho wrote:
| First, pretty much everything in the lite-hobby space is done
| with microcontrollers, Arduino being the most mature ecosystem.
| Arduino is a really fancy wrapper/standard around the AVR
| ATMegas, I would start here. Arduino is an Open Source project
| so many manufactures create an Arduino-compatible board, but i
| do recommend supporting them and buying your first Arduino UNO
| from them directly if you are able to. Arduino provides
| software and an easy way to interface with pinouts. Start by
| doing some of the sample projects and tutorials, you'll pickup
| some basic electrical theory along the way.
|
| Next, you will eventually ask the question of how to make a
| production board, where you may go down the rabbit hole of
| programming the AVR directly (the microcontroller), which I
| recommend as a jumping off point into raw microcontrollers and
| using an ICSP which an Arduino UNO can also do for you.
|
| Somewhere along this path, you will want to gather some more
| advanced knowledge of circuits and DC fundamentals. Pick up a
| set of 7400 logic chips and learn how logic gates work from the
| lowest level possible as well as op-amps, comparators, etc.
|
| You'll find every chip (IC or integrated circuit) speaks in
| either a protocol/bus or just logic levels (pins going high or
| low). When more than a bit or so of data is required to be
| transferred, ICs will implement a general-purpose digital
| interface like I2C (most common), SPI, or UART. There are some
| additional ones like I2S (for audio), 1wire (for one wire
| communication), CAN bus (what your car likely uses), and there
| are some more advanced ones like PCI (the same kind bus your
| PCI slots in your computer uses), MII (media independent
| interface), etc. Most of the time, you are just connecting
| together devices on a bus (for example I2C can support multiple
| devices because it's addressed) or finding ways to convert one
| to another (for example, you might want to communicate in RS232
| via your UART bus).
|
| There is also analog which is a whole different beast.
|
| This is all a big simplification, but honestly it's not that
| unapproachable these days, just start small and build from
| there.
| dylan604 wrote:
| This pretty much how I started. Lots of prototypes built on
| stock Uno and available shields to do different things. At
| some point, the sandwiching of shields and the form factor
| alone requires ugly enclosures that scream PROTOTYPE!!! I was
| then shown how to draw up a custom PCB that puts everything
| you need onto a board specific to your needs.
|
| Had it not been for the stock shields in the Arduino world, I
| probably never would have gone down the rabbit hole as far as
| I did. That's meant as a compliment.
| II2II wrote:
| Start with breadboards. If you are interested in approaching it
| from an algorithmic level, the easiest route would be to use
| 7400 series logic and start with the very basic stuff first:
| how to make an adder using switches as the input and LEDs as
| the output; then step it up to use shift registers as
| rudimentary memory to store the input and output; then figure
| out how to decode the output shift register to display the
| result in hex on 7-segment displays. Along the way you will
| learn about things like Karnaugh Maps and timing circuits.
|
| Beyond that is outside of my experience, but building CPUs
| seems to be a bit of a hobby these days. I have found Ben
| Eater's videos to be enlightening. I think he built a CPU at
| one point, but even the tutorials using a 6502 are useful since
| he reasons through the construction of supporting circuitry. I
| haven't watched much of James Sharman's work, but he is
| building a CPU and carrying it through to the PCB stage. The
| videos I've watched (related to producing video signals)
| included reasoning through the design process.
|
| EDIT: I'm not suggesting the microcontroller route since it
| sounds like you want to explore how to build a CPU. A
| microcontroller _is_ a CPU with integrated memories and
| peripherals, which is too high level. (Granted, if you aren 't
| interested in a particular aspect of CPU design you can use a
| microcontroller to fudge it.)
| bsilvereagle wrote:
| The MOOC nand2tetris was designed exactly for this purpose.
|
| https://www.nand2tetris.org/
| lnsru wrote:
| It might be open source, but it's not free. Tried to download
| once for doing documentation of other printed circuit boards.
| Compiled from GitHub, but the user interface wasn't convincing.
| Ended using 3D model from KiCad in documentation and it was
| great!
| sircastor wrote:
| I thought Fritzing was dead as a project. I don't recall where I
| got that impression though.
|
| I thought it was kind of cool, especially for prototyping how I'd
| put together a prototyping breadboard circuit, but by the time I
| got to it, I was already familiar with EAGLE and have since moved
| on to KiCad. To me, it's a tool that is useful for beginners but
| complicates transitioning into another EDA tool. That actually
| makes me wonder if Altium users feel the same way about KiCad.
| progre wrote:
| What a coincidence! I'm looking to replace Fritzing as it somehow
| corrupted my project file (the project file is readable but the
| netlist part is missing)
|
| I have gotten LibrePCB (had to build it, as there is no package
| available for Kubuntu) but I haven't really had a chance to try
| it out. Lots of other interesting suggestions here though!
| kumarsw wrote:
| It's good to see that Fritzing is still alive. I recall that
| there were plans to move it to a web platform that fizzled out,
| and the original application was unmaintained for a while. I'm a
| little surprised to see that the pay-to-download button is still
| there. While I understand that the maintainers would like to be
| compensated for their time, it's not a good way to grow (or
| maintain) a userbase. Fritzing gets hated on a lot, but it has
| its niche. A salty forum commenter described that it's not
| actually intended for noobs, but actually for more experienced
| electronics hobbyists who are writing tutorials for noobs and
| want to draw a breadboard layout. And for drawing breadboard
| layouts, it's not bad. The PCB layout portion is that bad - it's
| probably the worst PCB layout tool I've ever tried using, and I
| can't come up with any reason for its continued existence other
| than to get referral money from a board house. And yes, KiCAD is
| great, but this doesn't and shouldn't compete with it.
| dvh wrote:
| I always wanted to get more into electronics but I knew tools
| were crap so I was putting it aside but last year I finally
| started tinkering with electronics and so naturally I tried all
| the electronics simulators and design tools in Ubuntu repository.
| I've tried maybe 20 different apps. They all equally garbage.
| This was supposed to be a relaxing hobby, and instead I was just
| getting angry with ridiculous design decisions and obnoxious
| bugs. Let me tell you something, if software has autosave feature
| you can be almost certain it it steaming pile of shit.
|
| After several keyboard bashing episodes, for my own sanity, I
| decided either I make my own schematic design tool and simulator
| or I'll give up on this hobby. In a day I had proof of concept,
| in 2 weeks I had working prototype, in a month I had decent tool
| I could actually use for real stuff.
|
| For comparison, the easiest and most stable for me was Caneda.
| But to change resistor value and see change in output you need 7
| clicks ffs! It would take ages to design anything, my tool simply
| uses mouse wheel over component to change its value by 1% or 10%
| (shift). What takes me 30s would take me hours in other tools.
| And my tool doesn't even have autosave. It doesn't need it, it
| never crashes, ever! There are 3 unbound loops in my schematic
| editor, I know where they are and I added code that prevents it
| from freezing. It is literally impossible to crash it. Even
| during the development it rarely broke, I guess the "pro" tools
| are built differently. Then few weeks later as I was making more
| and more complex circuits I designed perfboard design tool and
| now I have everything I need. I've been really happy with it, no
| bugs, no crappy UI. I should have done it years ago. Designing
| circuits is now my happy place.
|
| I think the authors of other design tools try to hide their bad
| core design by adding million features and thousands of
| components, but if the core products is crap, it will be crap
| even if you add 20'000 to92 transistors, it will just take you
| longer find component you need.
|
| I was considering releasing it but it would take too much time to
| get it to the state others can use it and I don't have that kind
| of time (it runs in browser but needs locally running ngspice
| running in the background via php server). But if you are like me
| and you find all other tools garbage, make your own, seriously,
| is not that hard and it is very rewarding, my first POC was
| literally screenshot of scheme with wheel changing netlist
| values, running ngspice, showing transient analysis in chart.
|
| Schematic design tool and simulator:
| https://de.catbox.moe/hcoapj.png
|
| Perfboard tool: https://de.catbox.moe/uq8si4.png
| dylan604 wrote:
| > if software has autosave feature you can be almost certain it
| it steaming pile of shit.
|
| I once had to use a program that had no save feature at all. I
| don't know if each change was made immediately, or if it dumped
| at close. Of all my years using the software, I never even
| inquired about it. I just remember learning to use it and the
| lack of save was pointed out then thinking about how strange
| that was. After using the program, I never even thought about
| the no save again.
| whartung wrote:
| I'm in the same boat. All of my stabs into the ECAD tools have
| just felt like trips into dark rooms with lots of pointy
| shelves at different heights to bonk my head into. None of them
| have been satisfactory experiences.
|
| I, too, have made progress on my own tool. Mostly focusing on
| just laying out Gerber files. I haven't made the progress you
| have made, but the idea that the tools trouble me enough to
| abandon them and just start from scratch, is interesting.
|
| What's worse, is that having dabbled with both KiCad and Eagle
| (and probably others) and neither rises up above to a level
| that I was having any real success. They both look like they
| were cut from the same cloth, no doubt designed in the 80's and
| just working on "workflow momentum" of the industry, because
| they don't want to retrain anyone that's been doing this for 30
| years.
| SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
| > But to change resistor value and see change in output you
| need 7 clicks ffs!
|
| KiCAD at least is heavily oriented around keyboard shortcuts.
| To change a resistor value, you mouse over the resistor, press
| `v`, type the value, and press enter. 0 clicks, 2 keys +
| however many digits in the value. And it doesn't autosave.
| marcodiego wrote:
| I simply love its simplicity.
| IshKebab wrote:
| It's so simple it doesn't even let you design components! Good
| luck making a PCB without using any components that aren't
| already in its library.
| ISL wrote:
| It is a great teaching tool (and very usable if you need to get
| something simple done quickly).
| uuyi wrote:
| It's not a good teaching tool if it tells people to do stuff
| entirely the wrong way against every bit of engineering
| experience out there, which is exactly what it does.
| nrdgrrrl wrote:
| uuyi wrote:
| mdp2021 wrote:
| T#;DR : also try KiCad (or Eagle).
| uuyi wrote:
| Actually no. Just go KiCad first and skip the mistake of
| using Fritzing.
| helsinkiandrew wrote:
| I'd second that unless you really just want to make a PCB from
| a simple breadboard design with simple parts once and never do
| it again. But the few hours learning Kicad will be much more
| rewarding.
|
| Here's one of many tutorials:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaCVh2SAZY4&list=PL3bNyZYHcR...
| [deleted]
| noasaservice wrote:
| uuyi wrote:
| noasaservice wrote:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
|
| Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't
| cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer,
| including at the rest of the community.
|
| -------------
|
| It's not "social justice". It's called decency. There's no
| reason to throw "retard" around.
| uuyi wrote:
| Did you read the rules before you posted your original
| snarky fulmination?
| buescher wrote:
| I can see the value of it for people who are going to say,
| build some electronic doodad once in their life as a sort of
| summer camp or survey course or adult enrichment activity.
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