EEVblog® Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: Flump on September 29, 2013, 11:11:26 pm
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Hi All
I would like either an On line or downloadable schematic creation program,
seeing as i only dabble in electronics now and then I don't at this stage want
to invest money in one so I am looking for a free one.
I have found several which on the surface look free but when you register
quickly find out its's time restricted or you have to buy stuff from them etc.
At the moment I just want to create Schematics of circuits in my head so not
looking for anything snazzy.
can anyone suggest some Software please ?
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KiCad. LTspice is easier but schematic only.
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Maybe upverter.com or circuits.io
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What about free version of Cadsoft's Eagle?
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You might try Digi-key's Scheme-It. (http://www.digikey.com/us/en/mkt/scheme-it.html) It doesn't seem too bad for an online schematic capture tool.
There's Tina-TI (http://www.ti.com/tool/tina-ti) too. This is primarily a simulator but you can do schematic capture too, obviously.
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I'll throw Fritzing (http://www.fritzing.org/) into the ring.
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Thanks for the sugestions so far :)
I tried Digi-key's Scheme-It a while back and really liked it but you have to register to save
and when i tried it wanted either credit card or company details so i couldnt complete it.
Going to try them all out but at the moment
playing with fritzing.
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There is also DipTrace.
They have a Free version that supports 300 pin limitation but you get the full product. I like how they go by pins instead of board size. Personally I purchased the standard version with the 300 pin limit because I liked the product a lot and if I ever wanted to do something commercial or whatever I can + it helps support the development of the product.
It is super easy to learn to use. Everything I learned was just by using it unlike Eagle where you need to scour the internet for tutorials everything in DipTrace is intuitive even making your own parts for it.
Dave has a video on his YouTube channel somewhere and he demonstrates the product without even knowing how to use it. PS turns out he loved the software because it was easy to just pick up and figure out.
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Try Express Schematic. Free and easy to learn and use.
ExpressPCB.com
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I started with ExpressPCB/ExpressSCH, but I'm moving over to DipTrace; it's a more full-featured product, and can output Gerber files if you ever want to produce the boards you design.
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+1 for diptrace, for a free program it is really good. I like that in schematic mode it highlights a whole net if you float above it, making it easy to see if you missed something.
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Hi Flump,
Try Splan, Yes its kost you some mony but its good!!!
http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/splan.html (http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/html/splan.html)
This is a schematic made in Splan
(http://www.bramcam.nl/NA/OA-Test/OpAmp-Tester-PSU-V1.2-Power-Reference.gif)
Kind regarts,
Blackdog
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+ 1 for diptrace
you can ask for the 500 pins free version, just ask for it on the website
it's free for hobby purpose, you pay only for commercial use (i.e. you earn money with it)
a 500 pins schematic is somewhat really complicated.
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thanks guys :)
still trying some of these out
but diptrace seems one of the popular ones
so going to try that next
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There's gschem (http://wiki.geda-project.org/geda:gaf) from the gEDA project.
If you mostly want to capture circuits for simulation, then qucs (http://qucs.sourceforge.net/) is nice with a pretty usable UI.
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I will suggest Eagle because if you are bothering to make a schematic, maybe it's a good idea to consider that you might want to design a circuit board and manufacture it at some point.
In all honesty, I am not really happy with Eagle's rendition of schematics, but it did pretty well compared to the other free tools I tried a few years ago. If you are sure you want only a schematic figure, then maybe there is a better tool. At least try it and see what you think.
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Try Express Schematic. Free and easy to learn and use.
ExpressPCB.com
I just got this yesterday due to your post, and I really like it. It's very easy to learn. I wanted to document a circuit I was making to interface a radio control output to a relay circuit to disconnect an ant. from a SDR aux. receiver.