EEVblog #255 - DIPtrace PCB CAD - First Impressions

[Kibi]

More or less it works on Mac. The only main problem that I am finding is that the mouse pointer is way of center. So you have to click with th bottom of the mouse point, as opposed to the mouse pointer!

Anyway, I'll give it a shot see how it turns out.

I got it go when I installed XQuartz. Annoyingly, it made me restart my computer before it would work, something I haven't done in about 6 months. The application ran up and then froze rock solid after a minute with the CPU pegged at 100%.
I might have to run it under vmware, bootcamp or get a Raspberry PI to run it on. Either way, I'll have to purchase a copy of "Windows", which is also annoying.

[baljemmett]

I might have [....] get a Raspberry PI to run it on. Either way, I'll have to purchase a copy of "Windows", which is also annoying.

Err -- you might want to rethink that particular plan of action! 

[MadScientist]

I'm running DipTrace on my iMac i5 8gb. Under VMware fusion 4. Works great and is faster then my windows machine. Yes you need a copy of Windiw, but you need windows anyway on a mac if you're doing electronics  design, too much stuff out there needs it. I use unity mode and it's just like a Mac app.

The mac version of dip trace uses Wine, forget that wine is sloooow.

pS Dave needs to look a bit more closely at the menus , I can't beleive the number of times he passed " place board outline". I was shouting at the video by the fourth or fifth time. Calm down a little Dave ! , you're like the Duracell bunny . 

[EEVblog]

pS Dave needs to look a bit more closely at the menus , I can't beleive the number of times he passed " place board outline". I was shouting at the video by the fourth or fifth time. Calm down a little Dave ! , you're like the Duracell bunny .

Try recording a continuous commentary video at the same time as you try a program for the first time and you might understand there are several distractions!

Dave.

[novarm44]

Dave needs to look a bit more closely at the menus , I can't beleive the number of times he passed " place board outline". I was shouting at the video by the fourth or fifth time. Calm down a little Dave ! , you're like the Duracell bunny.

I made some DipTrace tutorials and had similar problem, then of course I edited videos. Notice I know all program features very well as I'm actually developing it and working with "closed eyes" (providing phone support when don't have computer with me). Dave's videos are not edited. Try to make any video tutorial yourself, don't stop recording when you make mistake, and continue within one hour - and you will see where is the catch.

BTW tutorials are here:

[Bored@Work]

Dave needs to look a bit more closely at the menus , I can't beleive the number of times he passed " place board outline". I was shouting at the video by the fourth or fifth time. Calm down a little Dave ! , you're like the Duracell bunny.

I made some DipTrace tutorials and had similar problem, then of course I edited videos. Notice I know all program features very well as I'm actually developing it and working with "closed eyes" (providing phone support when don't have computer with me). Dave's videos are not edited.

Most are. However, I don't know if he edited that particular one.

Nevertheless it was entertaining watching him to move over the board outline menu item again and again while looking for a way to set the board outline. It is like watching some football game on TV. You see exactly that a player should pass the ball, but doesn't, so you shout at the TV and spill your beer.

[harnon]

Dave can probably answer better but I don't think the "first impressions" ones were edited.  He also did say "this is not a tutorial" about 1 minute in

I've also had a crack at a few tutorials (see the diptrace category) and its quite fun although I've it sometimes takes a few goes to get them "right" in one take (mostly technology issues )! 

[FreeThinker]

Hi Dave
Re printing to pdf
Just install any virtual PDF printer and print out your schematic to PDF file.
I used doPDF which is free from http://www.dopdf.com/quick-download.php
I've attached a sample of schematic 6 from diptrace
<EDIT I've Just noticed some corruption in the template area, but as the schematic overflows the template this may be the cause. I've reloaded it on to a bigger template (A1) and it renders ok. END EDIT>

[Nimos]

I really like these "off the cuff" videos!
Have been looking for an affordable
PCB design tool and imho DipTrace is the best
i have used so far. So yay Dave and DipTrace!

[JTR]

Just doing my first PCB with DIPTRACE and will 299 pins used and needing to add one more LED (seriously!) I sent a "nice message" asking for the 500-pin limit and received a positive reply in 1/2 hour. Well done DIPTRACE, with 199 pins limit left this weeks quota of feature creep is taken care of and I will happily purchase a full license as soon as this project starts to earn. 

[BravoV]

Just doing my first PCB with DIPTRACE and will 299 pins used and needing to add one more LED (seriously!) I sent a "nice message" asking for the 500-pin limit and received a positive reply in 1/2 hour. Well done DIPTRACE, with 199 pins limit left this weeks quota of feature creep is taken care of and I will happily purchase a full license as soon as this project starts to earn. 

Just fyi, I asked nicely if its allowed to use that free 500 pins license at 2 machines which are my desktop with big screen and laptop for mobility, and got a generous answer thats its legal. 

[John Coloccia]

FWIW, I just bought the starter edition of DipTrace.  That actually lead me to Dave's blog, actually.  Funny...years ago I linked to one of Dave's multimeter shootout's because I got sick and tired of having to explain why cheap multimeters are...well....cheap and how important it is to have a fast, latching continuity check.  I didn't know how much great information there was here at the time.

Anyhow, I'm really liking DipTrace.  I really don't like the default through hole patterns.  Most of them seem to have pads that are really marginally sized.  I basically made my own library for the components I use.  Someone really put a lot of thought into real people doing real work with this thing.  It takes me about 5 minutes to update my library with a new component with the pattern I want.  From the schematic editor:

1) place component from the included library
2) switch to my own library
3) right click on the component and add it to the active library.
4) Open the pattern editor and open my pattern library
5) Suck in the pattern from the component I just added to my own library
6) Click on the pads and choose one of my standard pad templates
7) Open the component editor and attach the newly made pattern to the new component.

I doubt all of this even takes 5 minutes, and maybe 10 minutes if I need to make the component from scratch.

I love being able to export a 3d model via VRML.  I use Rhino for a CAD program for my guitar building work, but I've been using it for enclosure design too.  It's so convenient to be able to model parts placement based on the actual PCB instead of relying on measurements that I transfer between programs.  All my holes will line up perfectly, the silkscreen on the enclosure is perfect, etc etc.  As a reformed engineer, I really appreciate how much easier it is to line things up and detect mistakes when you're looking at a picture instead of a page of dimensions.  It's also obvious when I do something stupid, like building a board upside down...woops.  The VRML also includes the silkscreen, so it was pretty obvious as soon as I tried to stick the board in the enclosure.

I know it's kind of a low-end, budget option, but it's just really usable.  I was up and running doing real work in a day.  Considering that for most people here it's free, and for me it just cost $75 to get my feet wet, I'm pretty happy.