Long post - sorry, lot of content here.
I sent the attached to the UK support address listed in CS. I'm copying it here to let others know about the bugs I've found and to see if we can:
1. Ensure that the vendor is aware of the bugs that people are encountering. I listed a couple of those in the rest of this thread for completeness.
2. Try and get some of the bugs fixed.
3. Get more information to allow people to make a decision as to what they next design tool will be.
4. Try and get some better engagement with Altium / Element14 / Farnell and the likely buyers of their product
I'm interested to get confirmation that others see the bugs too - just so I know its not "just me"
I am an Eagle user who is constantly hitting the board size limits and am looking to convert across to a more capable product as I won't use subscription based software products at all. I place myself at the higher end of the hobbyist market, so well away from the maker / shield / blinky-light space where most seem to be moving towards?. I am just an ordinary user, I have no links to any of the vendors, other than being a customer that also uses Element14 and other suppliers
Having researched the topic, I signed up for the 30 day trial of CS over the Christmas break and have watched the CircuitStudio getting started videos on YouTube
). As a result of this, I have a number of questions and I've found a number of bugs that need reporting back so that they can get investigated and fixed, thus improving the product. Currently it feels like an incomplete beta release of a product that has a lot of potential if the issues are fixed.
During my research, and evaluation, I reviewed the information at the EEVblog at
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/circuit-studio/circuit-studio-bugsissues/75/ which lists problems others have experienced. I have included some of these issue (that are relevant to me) within the attached to ensure that you are aware of the issues and to find out what is being done to resolve them. You may want to review the whole thread to ensure that you know of all the issues.
My machine is above average spec (It runs Windows 7 x64 on a quad core I7, 32GB RAM, SSD, 2 x 4K screens). I have a reliable Internet connection over FTTC. I do not experience problems in any of the other apps I use and the machine is patched up to date.
Due to the problems I have encountered, I have removed the application along with all of its settings, rebooted and reinstalled, then repeated the failing operation. No errors were reported during installation on either occasion and I rebooted after install and before using CS. The installed application was v1.4.1 (build 99)
It would be great to get a response since I need to make a decision on the successor to Eagle and who's going to get my money. KiCad doesn't look robust enough yet, but with NASA as a backer, this can only improve. I've not seen larger projects undertaken in KiCad which makes me cautious. Eagle is out unless they revert to sensible pricing without the subscription. I'm really surprised that one of the market leading products is so broken - with what I've found in just 3 days of testing with it. Hopefully this is just teething problems for the new user interface and Vault which will be quickly resolved.
To aid others in their reviews and decisions on CircuitStudio, I've posted a copy of this note to the above EEVblog forum and I'd like to get the response out there too. This will help others and allow them to test the issues I found and see if they are relevant to them.
I notice the time limited upgrade offer for £375, which is finally in the right ball-park for hobby usage. How long is this offer valid for?
BTW - I wouldn't expect any hobbyist sales at £1K, that's a good amount towards a family holiday or a newer car. Even if a hobbyist was doing loads of hobby projects in a year, I still can't see any of their wives being happy with that sort of cost. Put into perspective, the budget for many projects in the hobby markets are typically <£100 - £200 for the larger ones, so spending far more than this on a CAD tool is extremely hard to justify. The sales people need to understand their potential market. We need a decent quality, capable, reliable and productive tool that doesn't break the bank. Many of us are involved in other ways with the industry and influence the upcoming generation of potential new engineers.
As backgroundI started by importing an Eagle file that is a 160x100 6 layer board with 5 schematic sheets and three custom libraries, one of my components, one of externally supplied script based library objects and one for Xilinx FPGA's. The import was largely successful, with only the following issues being encountered.
1. The import did not keep the sheet names, it gives generic names instead, this means that you have to manually rename them to get back to a like-for-like on existing designs. In most applications, its as simple as right-click, rename, but in CS the only options I can find are to open the existing file, work out what it was supposed to be called, do a save-as to create a duplicate of it, then save the project, then remove the now duplicate file from the project. Surely there is a simpler way - what is it?. Can you also report the import bug please.
2. I was unable to import the Xilinx FPGA library, which was 40Mb in size, CircuitStudio started importing, gave a "please wait" message then crashed out. I was unsuccessful in importing the library, but found the equivalent components in the Altium Vault and will just switch to them if I go ahead. This will be a bit time consuming given the 324 pins involved. I might be able to extract the single device I'm using and just import that as a workaround. 40Mb isn't a large file in the days of GB's of RAM and TB's of disk capacity, this file should import without error.
General questionsHow do you download the install files to allow a re-install in the future?
I can only find the initial downloader tool, not the main installations files.
There is not much point having an off-line licence file, if I can't download the application for backup purposes.
Where can I find the help files in PDF form so that I can read off-line, for example when sitting on the train, or if I'm working off-line. All the application help seems to go direct to the Internet.
Both of the above along with the need to use the Vault for any form of productive use implies that you need to be on-line all the time.
What is the support model for CircuitStudio?
There appears to be a bit of a black hole between Altium and Element 14, so exactly what does the annual subscription buy?
Is it just Vault access or is there any support capability / upgrade capability in there too? If so, what does it cover and who provides that support?
I have made some test diagrams by following the demo videos on YouTube, but I placed the wrong footprint devices - I work in Metric but searched for 0603 components, I ended up placing 0201 components as the Imperial equivalent of metric 0603. How do I replace the package but keep all other device attributes such as component name, value, PCB placement, etc. Eagle has a right-click, "package" option to alter just the package, where a component has multiple package styles. How do I do this for a group of objects?
I am unable to find an option to replace a component with something different - e.g. if I want to replace a connector with a different form of connector (say a different footprint or a 90 degree version, etc.). How do I achieve this?
The above are important to help Eagle users move to parts that are in the Altium Vault - to help with maximising value from CS and simplifying things like parts lists etc.
Given that many hobbyists produce PCB's at home, how do we print locally the image files that we need at 1:1 scale, with different options for black/white only printing, reversed video, 180 mirror, etc? The Output, printing option does not offer any of these options and the Gerber files are no good for home use !
I note that the CS application is only 32 bit and does not use all the resources of my computer - e.g. when auto-routing. I note that a 64 bit version of the Altium Designer was announced in late 2017 (
http://www.altium.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/preview-altium-designer-18-altiumlive-2017-annual-pcb-design-summit). What are the plans to release a current generation 64 bit version of CS and is the application properly multi-threaded?
I note that the file formats used by the application are binary format and not open documents like many other applications use in 201x - e.g. MS Office and its variants, web pages, competing PCB design tools, etc. What are the plans for open format documents, so that I am not tied in to one application vendor and can easily move to a successor platform at the appropriate time. Are the binary formats documented and openly available for others to write importers from?
Why do I need a pie chart tool on the Schematic editor? Can you explain what this might be used for? I've never seen a pie chart on any schematic before.
Farnell / Element14 provide a number of library definitions for either Eagle or generic scripts that can create the objects, how will this be used with CircuitStudio? I can find no interface to import the scripts with within CS, other than applying them into Eagle, then importing the resulting library to CS, which is not really a productive way to do that. Alternately, will you ensure that all components are present in the Altium Vault? If so, can we have a link from the component to the Vault equivalent, since its far more likely that people will research parts, their features / costs, then move to the schematic to draw it.
Searching for Farnell product codes or manufacturer part codes within Altium Vault does not return matches in many cases. I thought Element 14 was behind the circuit Studio edition of Altium? How are you expecting people to easily link components from the web site back?
At the CS web site (
http://documentation.circuitstudio.com/) it says "we value you feedback", yet there appears to be no way to provide feedback, since the survey closed over 6 months ago. It was also based on closed questions, rather than allowing potential customers and existing customers to provide real feedback to help improve the product. Can you provide the current feedback address details please?
Fixes to bugs reported by othersCan't rotate a component in the PCB editor with the spacebar - This can be done, but you can't just select the component and hit space or Shift-Space for counter-clockwise, you also have to have the left hand mouse button down in most cases. This is shown in the training video sequences.
BugsAltium Content Vault - this just isn't finished. I spend more time recovering from application errors and trying to get visible data within it than selecting usable components to place. As examples:
Search for the generic 2n2222, Initially, it says "All Folders, 0 occurrences", leading you to believe that there are no matches, yet when you click on the "All folders", you get 4 occurrences that are not completely non-readable as everything is x.. t.. 3.. n.. 8.. Even the column headings are the same. Stretching the window across a 4K screen still gives no readable information, stretching across TWO 4K screens gives some readable information. A list of desired columns would be useful - like you do on the Farnell web site, it is after all the same components and parameters that we are interested in !
I've found the "printer icon" to the right of the search button that filters parameters (most apps use a funnel), but selecting a couple of those results in your search "2n2222" gives no results and all entries in the filter tab just disappear, so I can't change the list to refine things. Re-submitting the search forgets all the filters and starts over. This is useless.
At 4K screen width, I notice that the un-readable headings have down arrow options (that don't appear until you hover over them) and you can manage to get your mouse pointer between the left hand side of the column and the down-arrow marker, you can read the heading. On a standard HD screen, this is not possible on most of the columns as the drop-down takes the available space.
If I set a filter on say the HFE column of >100 and < 900, then we get two icons in the column heading that prevents viewing the column in the above manner again, unless you remove the filter first.
I try to get back to the folder view by pressing the green left arrow in the top right and get a "Please wait" (which seems to translate to get ready for a crash in a couple of seconds time), followed by Access violation at address 1FD0B6B4 in module 'ADVPCB.DLL'. Read of address 00000000 at 1FD0B6B4
If you are successful in extracting a component from the Vault and press right-click, the place option is greyed out unless you are already on a schematic sheet. If you want to move to one, it can be difficult to move the Vaults window out with it attempting to dock with the main window all the time. Why doesn't the place option let me choose the sheet to place it on if there isn't one it can use.
For fun, I opted to dock the Vaults window to the left menu, Its completely un-usable since you just get the folder view, none of the search or output data is visible - what's the point of allowing it to dock here??
If you use the Search tab for the "generic search", things get worse. I've had search results for 2n3904's return 144 pin and 100pin QFP packages, female sockets, chip inductors, etc. I currently don't trust the search tool.
Some attempts to drag column widths out so you can read the t.. 3.. type text results in refusal of the UI to do this request, other times it works fine.
The data on the search tab does not refresh correctly. I've had situations where a search on the search tab for 2n3904 followed by a search on the structure tab for 2n2222 shows 2n2222 data in both tabs, not 2n3904 per the search box contents above it. I've also had problems getting the search tab to refresh any data, it just refuses to search a second time, but can sometimes be coaxed by clicking around the form on other fields, then pressing search again, other times it just flat refuses. Closing and re-opening the Vault page makes no difference.
The generic search does not always do a new search after the initial search completed - even if you hit the search button or press return.
The search box has hung completely for 30-40 seconds before coming back. This hangs all of CS, not just the Vault Explorer, then it just jumps back into life.
If you try and search using the generic search and type text "2n3904*", the search window will open a drop-down automatically, pressing return (to do a search) results in nothing happening. In all other all other apps when you hit return in a search box, you would expect them to execute a search. Within this app, you have to press tab, to close the drop-down that the app automatically opened for me, then press return. This is wasted keystrokes and not intuitive.
A number of other bugs and error messages were received randomly during testing.
In Altium Vault, "Refresh All" resulted in "Invalid Pointer Operation". Sometimes this is followed by "DXP.EXE has stopped working" and the whole application closes.
When in system preferences, set to defaults "Privileged instruction at 000204B2., Base Address: 00020000."
Searching for 2n2222 in the search tab resulted in "retrieving items" .... and we wait, and we wait ... about 30 seconds, "Please wait a moment", a second "please wait a moment" (showing different progress), followed by
Access violation at address 51EC4F53 in module 'FolderAspect_FlexibleBrowseItems.dll'. Read of address 00000010 at 51EC4F53.
This repeated 8 times along with further "Please Wait" messages before I was able to get back to a working UI. Sometimes multiple concurrent "please Wait" messages with different progress bars were on screen.
On another occasion, it went round an endless loop of error / please wait and I had to terminate the application after more than 12 errors.
The user interface is very inconsistent and very frustrating to use, why can't I use the same commands / approach throughout CircuitStudio, rather than having to learn a new command for each component. Microsoft defines the Common User Actions (CUA) for Windows, CS doesn't use them, for example Ctrl-F = Find.
As examples:
1. Want to search for something - use the "type here to search" box in the top right - but it will only ever search the PCB, not the schematic., but from the schematic, use right-click, find text (or Ctrl-F) and it will indeed find the text, plus it changes the screen zoom, then pops up a pointless messages box that I have to close before continuing on - why did one action turn into 3?? There is no right-click, find component on the PCB layout tool and the Ctrl-F standard shortcut for find in all apps does not work.
2. The application does not stop when it loses the focus. All other Windows applications and Linux applications stop if you not on their window - for example if you alt-tab to another window etc. If you are in CircuitStudio and doing something like routing a wire and you alt-tab to get to another application CS keeps panning around trying to route the wire, you can even move around the CS window whilst dragging the new app window, or just move the cursor and it follows the cursor location. This is not what's supposed to happen if an app no longer has the focus. eg Word does not keep scrolling, Chrome doesn't keep scrolling etc.
3. Some keyboard shortcuts do not work as expected, for example whilst routing wires, right-click and escape are supposed to stop the action. Escape does not work reliably to stop routing a wire, Having the context menu and cancel on the same button is weird.
4. The undo function is very selective on what it will undo, it only seems to work on about 50% of actions, change the grid or layer settings, etc - no undo, move a component, will undo.
5. Keyboard shortcuts - Design Rules Check (DRC), if you double-click on the offending DRC failures, the screen moves to show the issue in the PCB, which is what you would expect. If however you try and use the arrow keys, nothing changes - other than the mouse pointer walking up and down the screen unexpectedly (as a function of the zoom level). See the "what has the focus" bug again. However if you press return, then it does move to the next/previous issue, why can't I just use up and down arrows to speed up looking at the issues. Take out all the superflurious keystrokes.
6. Keyboard shortcuts - Compile Document. I'd expect this to work similarly to how the DRC works as its doing the same job, but its only consistent till you double-click onto an error line in the messages window, you can't go up and down with the arrow keys, it either just moves the Schematic up and down instead or sometimes, just moves the cursor up and down in the messages window but doesn't affect the blue bar showing which error is selected. Why is it so inconsistent and un-usable? You can however move up and down by keyboard until you click on a line. Given where the bounds of where the mouse pointer will move, it looks like the focus bug again showing through from the underlying schematic.
7. The menus are all jumbled up - why are all the Save options in 3 different parts of the File menu? Save Project, Save Project As at the top, Save, Save-as in the middle, then save-all at the bottom, or Open Project at the top and "Close All" (which presumably is the project), yet it's at the bottom? Open Recent doesn't show recent projects, which is probably the only thing you will want to do, since other files are shown in the project view.
8. The message window isn't a separate window in the Z-order for all OS windows, so you can't click on the Schematic view to put it behind and hide it (or say put Chrome / Notepad between it and the main app), thus allowing you to switch between the views, you also can't move it easily around as it wants to constantly dock with the main window, so you have to either put up with it taking space at the top or bottom of the window or keep closing and opening it as needed. Apps like Notepad++ uses the approach of making it transparrent so you can see the main window whilst still being able to move the cursor back of the search window to see its contents / move to the next match.
9. The main application is a tabbed interface, with lots of tabbed docs for the schematics, which makes sense. Why can't things like the message window work in the same manner, then we can put it where we want it and without it taking up screen real-estate.
10. The mouse wheel does not scroll up and down long lists like it does in every other Windows application.
It looks like some of the developers would benefit from additional training on productive user interface design as currently, the net result for people who try and use the application and who come equipped with a knowledge of standard Windows ways of working and the way that Eagle works. This results in an unnecessarily steep learning curve and a need to un-necessarily learn the differences within each component of the application. Reducing this step by following existing standards, using consistent approaches across application components and performing better testing of the application to remove bugs can only accelerate user transition to CS.
Based on the release date of Sept 2016 for the initial release of CS 1.2 (
http://www.premierfarnell.com/content/altium-circuitstudio-v12-now-available-exclusively-element14-edelivery) and the initially high price of the application, I'm guessing that real-user use of CS has been fairly limited to date. I expect that the community would be more than willing to provide constructive feedback in return for resolution of the issues encountered.
When is the next release expected to come out - I note that 1.4.1 came out in July 2017.
Updated ? -> KiCad in 2 places.
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