Half price Circuit Studio

[EEVblog]

If you switch from Eagle:
http://www.altium.com/eagle-switch/circuitstudio/

[KoningTosti]

Wel played. It is a good tool. I used a trail to make a simple 2 sided board, and the workflow is easy once you understand the different functions. I will be getting Circuitstudio or Altium later this quarter.

However you must send them a Eagle license, but I currently don't have one. Would they accept it if I subscribe to eagle today for 1 month and feed that license to Circuitstudio?

[technotronix]

This is great. This may helpful in future to me.

[tszaboo]

A year ago, they set a price of 2000 EUR for the CS, with 430EUR/year subscription. Now it is down to 500.
I think it is actually worth that much. I hope for sure, that no professional company picked up CS as their main tool, now they go for the right market.

[Zbig]

I admit I haven't read the T&C's, but does it mean you get just the one version that is current at the time of purchasing and are not eligible for any updates? And if you are then for how long? And when it expires, can you just pay their standard "maintenance" fee for the next year worth of updates/fixes?

[tszaboo]

I admit I haven't read the T&C's, but does it mean you get just the one version that is current at the time of purchasing and are not eligible for any updates? And if you are then for how long? And when it expires, can you just pay their standard "maintenance" fee for the next year worth of updates/fixes?

People overestimate the value of upgrades. I was using Altium 2012 (or 11?) for years, because that is what the company had. It did the job, everything was set up and working, we had a nice workflow, and there were no new bugs introduced. Sure, now I have 17, and I see a lot of improvements, but  I dont  think the maintenance fee would have worth it.

[Deridex]

Damn, thats some good offer! 

[plazma]

How much is the annual subscription fee?

[trophosphere]

I admit I haven't read the T&C's, but does it mean you get just the one version that is current at the time of purchasing and are not eligible for any updates? And if you are then for how long? And when it expires, can you just pay their standard "maintenance" fee for the next year worth of updates/fixes?

You get a year's worth of subscription to any further updates upon purchase. When your subscription expires, you can still use the software forever*. If you want to upgrade after your original year has expired then you just need to purchase another year's subscription rather than a whole new license.

* forever meaning until they have changed their minds/pulled the product

How much is the annual subscription fee?

150USD from Newark.

[plazma]

Has anyone been contacted about the offer?
I registered yesterday.

I'm in the beginning of a new project and would like to change the SW now when the schematic sheet is almost empty.

[plazma]

The price is 464€ from element14. So it is the same as 499$ eagle discount price https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-73745/l/circuitstudio-altiums-professional-pcb-tool

[trevwhite]

Why does CS not support Allium binary files?

[tszaboo]

Why does CS not support Allium binary files?

Cause making a product pyramid (AKA stupid business decisions).
If you would like to know more, just mention it to Mr. Dave Jones...

[bill.coghill]

Export from Altium as Binary PCB5 files seems to work.
The default colours in CS are a little bit bonkers, but can be changed to the classic colours quite easily.

Waiting to hear back in the monthly Eagle sub can be used for a discount.

[EEVblog]

How much is the annual subscription fee?

USD$150
So initial $500 + $150 a year is cheaper than Eagle's monthly plan by far after the first year. Practically an no-brainer, provided you like CS of course.

[EEVblog]

Why does CS not support Allium binary files?

Cause making a product pyramid (AKA stupid business decisions).
If you would like to know more, just mention it to Mr. Dave Jones...

Altium are pyramid masters!







Bonus triangles!

[EEVblog]

The price is 464€ from element14. So it is the same as 499$ eagle discount price https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-73745/l/circuitstudio-altiums-professional-pcb-tool

Yep, seems like the Eagle deal is not special, it's just the current regular price (for now).

[hammy]

I bought it from Element14 today. Including VAT the price was 552.-€.
Registration and  standalone license download worked without problems.

3D Connexion SpaceMouse is supported! Yay!!! 

Cheers
hammy

[plazma]

3D Connexion SpaceMouse ist supported! Yay!!! 

Cheers
hammy

Is or isn't?
I also have a spacemouse. Only used for 3D CAD.

[Zbig]

Bonus triangles!

Oh boy, that's some expert level Bullshit Bingo action. Still tempted to take a dive, though. Does anyone have any information for how long they're going to keep it at this price?

[hammy]

Is or isn't?
I also have a spacemouse. Only used for 3D CAD.

Positiv. It is supported. Works like a charm. 

(Sorry, german typo. )

[tszaboo]

Bonus triangles!

Oh boy, that's some expert level Bullshit Bingo action. Still tempted to take a dive, though. Does anyone have any information for how long they're going to keep it at this price?

When I only see this upside down pyramid (scrolling from down), I was  that someone made such a perfect pun on their slides. But they actually make upside down pyramids...
I also read Pay-per PCB...

We need to introduce a name for the Floating Upside down Mubius Pyramid of Bullshit.

[EEVblog]

I bought it from Element14 today. Including VAT the price was 552.-€.

I wonder what cut Element 14 take?
Also, why do they continue with Element 14?
I know Element 14 originally approached Altium with the idea for Circuit Studio, so maybe they still have some exclusive deal? Perhaps (no pun intended) perpetual?

[voltsandjolts]

AFAIK you are free to sell your Altium Designer license should you no longer want/need it as long as you have an active subscription.

Is the same true of Circuit Studio? I can't find that info anywhere.

Found it:

Ah, for all Altium products they might let you transfer/sell the license if you ask them nicely and they give written permission.

http://www.altium.com/eula

16. ASSIGNMENT
Except as otherwise set forth herein, neither this EULA, nor any interest herein or part hereof, will be transferable or assignable
by  You  or,  by  operation  of  law  or  otherwise,  without  Altium’s  prior  written  consent,  and  including  whether  such  transfer  or 
assignment is by operation of law, agreement of merger, sale of assets or otherwise. Altium may assign, transfer or delegate
any of its rights or obligations hereunder to any affiliated or subsidiary company of Altium or any company acquiring all or
substantially all of the assets of Altium LLC, or its ultimate parent entity.

[plazma]

I bought a licence. I have a lot if schematics work next week. Let see how good it is compared to Eagle, Diptrace, Kicad and CircuitMaker (I have tested/used these).

[Dubbie]

I was helping a newb design their first PCB the other day. I set them up with circuitmaker and was pleasantly surprised at how easy they found it. I think the part that made it most simple was the fact that they didn't have to draw any library parts. They got lucky and all the parts they were using were there already.


Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

[slowertech]

Does anyone know if CircuitStudio has any trace length matching tools? In the reference design for the PCI card, it looks like they added meanders but I cannot find any of those features in the tool.

Thanks

[tszaboo]

Does anyone know if CircuitStudio has any trace length matching tools? In the reference design for the PCI card, it looks like they added meanders but I cannot find any of those features in the tool.

Thanks

No it does not have those features.
https://www.element14.com/community/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadBody/76216-102-1-315698/CS%20v%20AD%20Feature%20Comparison%20-%20Final.pdf

[plazma]

F*ck!!! They registered the SW to an old email account which have been closed for years. It is not even in my Farnell account details. Where did they dig it?
I needed to work today with Circuit Studio.

I hope the fix will not take a month as with an other forum member.

[gowithyourself]

I've been looking to move away from Eagle for awhile, even before the subscription only thing. But this is less of a no-brainer than I thought. It seem like Autodesk will put some effort into Eagle. At the same time Altium isn't known for having a stable offering either. I guess I will have to evaluate CircuitStudio and see if I like it enough to take the risk regardless of how Eagle develops.

[fcb]

Does anyone know how long this promotion is going to last?

[trevwhite]

I was wondering how long the promo is on for. That's if it is a promo or just a new price. Farnell does not show it as on sale. 

Maybe Altium see Eagle will be a threat later on and are striking early to gain some market traction.

Circuit Studio really does look like a no brainer. I use Easy PC at present and CS looks to be very polished in comparison. I get boards done fine with EasyPC and can use it with my eyes closed but I really am tempted to make the move to CS. I had a client last week ask for a Step file of a board design I did for them. I could not do it and I think EasyPC may never do it. CS seems to handle file import better. Certainly Eagle files I tested from a TI Webench design imported into CS perfectly. Easy PC struggled to import it properly.

It just feels if CS is Altium designer core then for £395 it really is very cheap. I am waiting for the gotcha.

Trev

[Agent86]

Does anyone know how long this promotion is going to last?

I don't know about the sale price, but it looks like the EAGLE promotion goes until March 30.

For me as an EAGLE user, the $150/year maintenance costs make CS considerably less expensive for the long term, even if I don't get the sale price.  I plan to contribute to KiCad development (1/2 day) and I'll still save $100/year...

[H.O]

I've downloaded the 30 day trial of CS and will spend a couple of nights probing around in it.

At €550 including VAT it's less than a years worth of EAGLE Premium. (I don't have the equivalent of EAGLE Premium today but that's the version CS matches).

[trevwhite]

I just spoke to Farnell regarding the price of CS. Currently its £395 in uk. They said that price is on until the end of March. It is related to the Eagle subscription but seems they have opened it up to everyone. The software is sold with a perpetual license and that includes 1 year subscription.

Least now I can spend a few weeks properly evaluating it without concern the price will go back up again at any time.

Trev

[plazma]

Have anybody here bought a licence?

Farnell registered the licence to a non-working email.

Does the email need to work during registration for the CircuitStudio account?

I just want to know if I need to wait for Farnell to change the email or can I proceed with the non-working email.
The wrong email is in "Step 1 - Account Activation"

[hammy]

Have anybody here bought a licence?
Farnell registered the licence to a non-working email.
Does the email need to work during registration for the CircuitStudio account?

I only got a message from element14 with information how to proceed to this email-address I used for the shop order. This address is not neccessary during activation.

After the CircuitStudio activation you can find a tab called "My Account" where you can edit all your information. Including the email address. I would say you can change the address afterwards.

Good luck!
hammy

 

[Zbig]

While browsing the Circuit Studio documentation, I stumbled across this little gem on http://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/CircuitStudio+-+((FAQs)):

While there are no 'hard limits' per se, the software has been engineered to make it impractical for use with large designs. To this end, the PCB Editor will start to exibit performance degradation when editing designs containing 5000 pads, becoming virtually unusable with designs containing 50,000 pads. Degradation itself takes the form of progressive slow-down in PCB editing functions (such as routing, placing components, polygon pours, etc).

Now, I can't decide whether that's just a really awkward wording on their side or they have actually implemented some kind of "crippling algorithm" that kicks in after reaching 5000 pads and gradually inserts longer and longer delays, making your life harder and harder, trying to (not so subtly) nudge you towards Altium Designer? If so, wouldn't that be quite a weird thing to openly admit to just like that?

[tszaboo]

While browsing the Circuit Studio documentation, I stumbled across this little gem on http://documentation.circuitstudio.com/display/CSTU/CircuitStudio+-+((FAQs)):

While there are no 'hard limits' per se, the software has been engineered to make it impractical for use with large designs. To this end, the PCB Editor will start to exibit performance degradation when editing designs containing 5000 pads, becoming virtually unusable with designs containing 50,000 pads. Degradation itself takes the form of progressive slow-down in PCB editing functions (such as routing, placing components, polygon pours, etc).

Now, I can't decide whether that's just a really awkward wording on their side or they have actually implemented some kind of "crippling algorithm" that kicks in after reaching 5000 pads and gradually inserts longer and longer delays, making your life harder and harder, trying to (not so subtly) nudge you towards Altium Designer? If so, wouldn't that be quite a weird thing to openly admit to just like that?

Even Altium struggles, if you have multiple large designs open. First it starts with "please wait a moment" window popping up several times, and then "chatastrophic failure". This is the time to save your work re-start it and close what you dont need. I think it has to do something with the memory used, but I cannot pinpoint it.
What I've experienced, with CS, that this happens much faster. At around 500MB used it start having this issues. So a few complex 3D model can set you back a lot.

Also, layer re-pour is exponentially growing with complexity. And online DRC can be a few seconds, which does not sound a lot, but if you have to wait 100 times...

This being said, you get some discount for AD if you have CS. If you dont know the tool, it might be better to learn the basics on that.

[1lulu2]

Can you still purchase CS without having an Eagle license at the discount price?

1lulu2

[Zbig]

Even Altium struggles, if you have multiple large designs open. First it starts with "please wait a moment" window popping up several times, and then "chatastrophic failure". This is the time to save your work re-start it and close what you dont need. I think it has to do something with the memory used, but I cannot pinpoint it.
What I've experienced, with CS, that this happens much faster. At around 500MB used it start having this issues. So a few complex 3D model can set you back a lot.

Also, layer re-pour is exponentially growing with complexity. And online DRC can be a few seconds, which does not sound a lot, but if you have to wait 100 times...

This being said, you get some discount for AD if you have CS. If you dont know the tool, it might be better to learn the basics on that.

Hmm... yes, I do understand that it's by no means a walk in the park from the computational complexity perspective but their words are, quote: "has been engineered to make it impractical" Is that possible that a non-native English speaker wrote that? Or perhaps it only sounds so obviously evil to a non-native English reader, like me

[Agent86]

Can you still purchase CS without having an Eagle license at the discount price?

Go to the Newark web site and search for Circuit Studio.  It's listed there for $495.

[plazma]

Have anybody here bought a licence?
Farnell registered the licence to a non-working email.
Does the email need to work during registration for the CircuitStudio account?

I only got a message from element14 with information how to proceed to this email-address I used for the shop order. This address is not neccessary during activation.

After the CircuitStudio activation you can find a tab called "My Account" where you can edit all your information. Including the email address. I would say you can change the address afterwards.

Good luck!
hammy

Looks like you need the email only for password recovery. I did not get it changed in the account details. 

Well Farnell still have to fix it. No reply from them. Altium replied they can'thelp.

[voltsandjolts]

Try voucher code "ACS10" for another 10% off Circuit Studio at Farnell.
Are we being lured into CS for a price hike on subscription next year?

[Neganur]

Have anybody here bought a licence?
Farnell registered the licence to a non-working email.
Does the email need to work during registration for the CircuitStudio account?

Actually, I was trying to buy it but I can't register an account with Farnell because I don't have a tax number (the registration page asks asks for ALV-numero as requirement).

So what's the point of using Farnell/ Element14 EXCLUSIVELY to sell the software when mere mortals can't use the website?

[plazma]

Actually, I was trying to buy it but I can't register an account with Farnell because I don't have a tax number (the registration page asks asks for ALV-numero as requirement).

So what's the point of using Farnell/ Element14 EXCLUSIVELY to sell the software when mere mortals can't use the website?

Good point. At this price it is also good for private individuals.

[voltsandjolts]

I've been using Farnell for years with a private/personal account paying with credit card.
Maybe their registration process has changed, give them a call and they should sort out an account for you 

[gowithyourself]

I think it has always been like this for the Nordic countries. It basically says "we only sell to corporate customers" on the registration page. In Sweden there's a distributor to use as a broker, but I think they add 10% and might not accept the discount code either (at least not by default).

I guess one could try to register on the UK site, since it's a download.

[2N3055]

I pulled the trigger today and bought the license..

And good news is voucher code "ACS10" still works...

[bill.coghill]

"ACS10" doesn't work on the Australian Element14 site.  Its $650 at the moment with the special pricing.
Still playing with the demo. 3d part placement is a bit of a pig, but it seems to tick the rest of the boxes without the AD price tag.

bill

[trevwhite]

Well ACS10 was the last straw. Had to pull the trigger!

[trevwhite]

Wow that was quick. The license already came through. All activated!

[plazma]

Wow that was quick. The license already came through. All activated!

How did the download go?
Amazon servers have been down and I just got the CS installed on my desktop.
I had to wait hours to get the installation working.

This SW relies on a downloader  and a licence server. It would be more future proof with a full downloadable package and a licence file.

[trevwhite]

I already had the trial version running. I just had to activate the license as per the instructions sent via email.

[2N3055]

I also had trial running.. Since I used same e-mail for both trial and when buying license, license waited for me next time I started CircuitStudio.  I just pressed Activate... So far, nice experience... Amazon cloud seems to work OK now, Altium Content Vault now works normally...
Now I need to spend lots of time to learn how to use it properly... It's intuitive enough... I did use Protel 99 looong ago....So some stuff is familiar...

[Neganur]

Interesting, if they'd actually mention that it speeds up the process when you use the same email as the altium account...then I would have registered with the same email as my existing trial account.

Anyway, registered on the UK farnell website, the purchase is pending though and I won't hold my breath.

Reminds me of how ridiculously difficult it was to buy Labview as private individual some 10 years ago, they didn't have a process for that in place :S

[GlowingGhoul]

Couldn't resist at this price. A very nice deal indeed!

Everything came through more or less instantly, on the US Newark site.

[JPortici]

I fucking hate this kind of websites. not everything is a fucking smartphone

can't even see the damn chart because one bit of scroll means half page scroll for that stupid thing

Anyway, somebody mentioned the half price perpetual license is valid also for non eagle users? We need to either upgrade the diptrace licence or find another solution and this one is similarly priced
where's the catch?
(I looked at the altium/cs comparison on elemnt14 and frankly it doesn't seem to be a hint of more advanced than diptrace. I may try the trial though)

[H.O]

This SW relies on a downloader  and a licence server. It would be more future proof with a full downloadable package and a licence file.

The CS FAQ says:

CircuitStudio includes a streamlined licensing system, enabling you to get licensed and up-and-running with your CircuitStudio Software in a timely and efficient manner. Client-side license acquisition is managed by the user through use of a standalone licensing file (*.alf). This file can be saved, copied and backed-up as required. The .alf file is reusable on a home computer (in accordance with the EULA) simply by copying the file to a specific folder on that computer and then adding the file as part of Standalone License Configuration.

To me, that sounds as once you've actually activated the license (for which you must have access to 'net) you can save that license file for future reinstalls. It will most likely be node locked to that machine and you'd need to deactivate using the CS account before installing and reactivating on new hardware. But, I don't know for sure of course.

[onesixright]

Anyway, somebody mentioned the half price perpetual license is valid also for non eagle users?

If you got to element14.com and search for circuitstudio, you see the discounted price.

[Neganur]

Interesting, if they'd actually mention that it speeds up the process when you use the same email as the altium account...then I would have registered with the same email as my existing trial account.

Anyway, registered on the UK farnell website, the purchase is pending though and I won't hold my breath.

Reminds me of how ridiculously difficult it was to buy Labview as private individual some 10 years ago, they didn't have a process for that in place :S

Nope, no go. The order was cancelled today.

Dear Customer
 
We have been unable to process your order on reference XXX as you have mistakenly placed it on the Farnell element14 UK/Republic of Ireland site. To successfully purchase from the Farnell group can you please check that you are using the correct country (there is a drop down menu top right of home page).

[plazma]

Interesting, if they'd actually mention that it speeds up the process when you use the same email as the altium account...then I would have registered with the same email as my existing trial account.

Anyway, registered on the UK farnell website, the purchase is pending though and I won't hold my breath.

Reminds me of how ridiculously difficult it was to buy Labview as private individual some 10 years ago, they didn't have a process for that in place :S

Nope, no go. The order was cancelled today.

Dear Customer
 
We have been unable to process your order on reference XXX as you have mistakenly placed it on the Farnell element14 UK/Republic of Ireland site. To successfully purchase from the Farnell group can you please check that you are using the correct country (there is a drop down menu top right of home page).

I could buy the licence to anyone private IF the licence name and email change would be easy. 6 days have gone and no reply from Farnell.

[H.O]

Same situation in Sweden as in Finland, only companies with valid VAT-registration are allowed to order from Farnell.
We have an account at work so I reached out to our contact at Farnell without luck. He just pointed me to the "proxy company" (Microkit) where A) the ACS10 voucher doesn't work and B) they add 10% on top of Farnells price. I could order it using my employers account and he (the Farnell guy) said that it IS possible to change the email address to which the license is "coupled" but apparently that isn't really as straight forward as it sounds. Besides bureaucracy at my workplace doesn't allow me to order thru them anyway.

So I tried what Neganur did, registred on the UK site, placed the order without problems only to recieve a similar email :-(

I responded to that email explaining the situation. They came back saying they'd spoken to the Swedish branch who confirmed, only registred companies (did they think I lied?). They then went on and said they'd forwarded my request to Farnells UK export departement. If I hear something from the I'll make sure to report.

It's really hard to be an honest guy here. Maby I should just download a cracked version of Altium Designer and be done with it. Aargh.

[trevwhite]

I have a UK Farnell account. I am not sure what happens with rights of ownership or exports, etc. I could potentially buy a license for someone and then sell it to them with zero markup? I would have to double check its not a problem from my end. I am not sure if it would get really complicated.

If someone wants to talk to Farnell or Altium and ask them the procedure for me buying then transferring ownership to someone else maybe we can sort something out for people.

[voltsandjolts]

Good on you for offering to do that but there may be trouble ahead, Altium EULA doesn't allow transfer of licence without explicit written permission from Altium....

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/circuit-studio/half-price-circuit-studio/msg1144463/#msg1144463

[GlowingGhoul]

When you purchase Circuit Studio, at checkout, you're asked for the email address you want to register the software to. It doesn't have to be your own. You enter the rest of the registration information for the license AFTER you purchase it and set up an Altium account using the email address you specified. So technically, there's no transfer, anyone can register it as long as their email address is specified at checkout.

[plazma]

But in my case Farnell used a very old email (closed six years ago) which is not even visible in my account details. They did not use the email they asked while ordering.

They replied to my email today right after I received the pdf bill by email and I made a reclamation. Maybe it gets fixed tomorrow

[negativ3]

Best of luck with that!

[pwenzel]

Apologies that you're dealing with this.  In some countries in Europe Farnell has historically been a B2B distributor only; we're looking into how to address this for those of you who will use CircuitStudio for personal use. 

In the interim we've worked with Altium to set the price of the in app purchasing functionality to $495.  Simply click "Buy New License" while on the license page under "My Account" within CircuitStudio.    If you run into any problems via this method of purchasing or have any other questions don't hesitate to reach out to us via any of the channels at http://www.circuitstudio.com/contact-us (or just reply to this thread).   

Thanks for the patience and @H.O. for working hard to be an honest guy .

Pete Wenzel
element14 SW Manager

[H.O]

Thanks for doing that Pete, targeting the EAGLE users you really should have that covered from the get-go but never the less, it should make it easier for those in countries where Farnell isn't interested in actually selling what they're offereing.

I guess all the supplier data in the Vault is coupled to Farnell order codes? Not being able to order from Farnell makes that part not as streamlined as I guess it's supposed to be....

As far as my own experience goes, the Farnell UK export department got back to me yesterday and said that since it's a download only Product they'd accept my order. So order placed, confirmation recieved and credit card charged - which is one step further than before - but no license yet.

I'm not in a hurry though so I'll sit tight for a couple of days.

[onesixright]

Its of-course ludicrous that its all that difficult.

There are a few discussion on the subject. If you buy a ebook can you resell it?  If you buy a online game (eg. PS4) can you resell it?  They can put what ever they want in the license agreement, but that doesn't make it legal.

Especially within Europe its getting sick. If i want to buy a Sky package outside of the UK, you can't since they need a UK address. Its all the same, and utter BS. For the people that like to play by the rules, utter BS.

Who, in the right set of mind, fall for this BS, you want to pay and yet you can't     

[voltsandjolts]

They can put what ever they want in the license agreement, but that doesn't make it legal.

That's a very good point.
IANAL but it seems that selling used software in the EU at least is legal regardless of what the software EULA says, according to a European Court judgement in the UsedSoft v Oracle case in 2012.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120703/11345519566/eu-court-says-yes-you-can-resell-your-software-even-if-software-company-says-you-cant.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UsedSoft

[H.O]

Aaargh 
Friday one person says they'll accept my order, now another says the order is cancelled and are AGAIN pointing me to the Swedish branch who are not interested. 

Seriously?

[GlowingGhoul]

Aaargh 
Friday one person says they'll accept my order, now another says the order is cancelled and are AGAIN pointing me to the Swedish branch who are not interested. 

Seriously?

Download the demo version from circuitstudio.com. Go to "My account" on the home screen. Under "billing" enter your credit card information.

Then, also under "My account", click "licenses". You will see a buy button to purchase a license for $495 from within CircuitStudio.

[rsivan]

Is the subscription price at 150usd regular or will rise?
Because in sw I can click renew and extend me till 2019,
Also Farnell/Newark show red stamp with special price only on CS

[GlowingGhoul]

Is the subscription price at 150usd regular or will rise?
Because in sw I can click renew and extend me till 2019,
Also Farnell/Newark show red stamp with special price only on CS

$150 is the regular annual maintenance charge. Of course it may go up in the future, but if you buy now you won't be charged extra if it goes up later.

[voltsandjolts]

I reckon the price will only go up, renewing now is probably a wise move.

[H.O]

I finally got the order thru at Farnell without them screwing me over on exchange rates and what not, man that was frustrating 

I had the in-app buy option as the next resort but going that route would've added a 15% premium compared to Farnell. Now I got the ACS10 discount and payed 20% VAT (in the UK) instead of 25% as I would've if I had "imported" the license from Australia (at least I suspect that's what would have happened). Had I bought it thru the Swedish Farnell "proxy" as they wanted me to I would've payed a 26% premium.

I hope using the thing doesn't prove to be as hard as buying it.

[kaz911]

I finally got the order thru at Farnell without them screwing me over on exchange rates and what not, man that was frustrating 

I had the in-app buy option as the next resort but going that route would've added a 15% premium compared to Farnell. Now I got the ACS10 discount and payed 20% VAT (in the UK) instead of 25% as I would've if I had "imported" the license from Australia (at least I suspect that's what would have happened). Had I bought it thru the Swedish Farnell "proxy" as they wanted me to I would've payed a 26% premium.

I hope using the thing doesn't prove to be as hard as buying it.

There IS a learning curve!! But well spent as it is pretty much the same as Altium - after 2 months now I'm slowly getting to where I was with DipTrace before. All my old Protel and Orcad knowledge from '80s seem to have gone down the drain somewhere with age...

[trevwhite]

As said there is a learning curve but it really is a very nice package. I am moving from EasyPC and everything is different but I am appreciating its features and things seem to make a lot of sense. I really like it.

The 3D integration is on another level. There are also so many libraries out there and once you have spent time creating a few library components it all starts to feel very nice.

I think it is a package where the more work you put into learning it and taking your time to learn it properly the more you will get out of it.

[H.O]

I think it is a package where the more work you put into learning it and taking your time to learn it properly the more you will get out of it.

No doubt about that. I've had no problems with EAGLE, it's been SUPER reliable and I don't find it weird or complicated as so many seem to do but it has obviously taken considerable time getting to that point and I don't expect to be CS to be any difference. I'm looking forward to dig into CS properly.

I'm still trying to figure out the library differences. "Everyone" says that the "correct" way is to have libraries with SPECIFIC part numbers but I can not wrap my head around the idea of having a library with 6000 resistors in it (for ONE series from ONE manufacturer). When capturing the schematic I don't really want to worry about manufacturer, series or not even value. I totally get the benefit of being able to generate an accurate BOM at the end but I'm not doing manufacturing and a 1k 0805 resistor is just that - ANY 1k 0805 resistor.

And, it's not clear to me if I have a library with 500 resistor "parts" in a 0805 footprint and I find myself in need of having to tweak that 0805 footprint. Is their ONE 0805 footprint which ALL the 500 parts are using or does all the 500 parts have their own "copy" of footprint meaning I have to update 500 parts?

Drifting off topic, sorry...

[voltsandjolts]

If you don't need a BOM then don't worry about having a library of specific part numbers.
But if you need a BOM you gotta do that work anyway, so you may as well well do it up front (in the libraries) so its useful in other projects going forward.
There is another thread hereabouts that discusses libraries for CS that might have some useful links for you.

[VEGETA]

CS is now 395 GBP for a fresh license: http://export.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?sf=&catalogId=15001&showResults=true&mf=103081&categoryId=700000005130&langId=71&storeId=10152

But the website is still showing 995$.

[voltsandjolts]

Just read through this short thread, you'll find the answer you are looking for and might even save some money 

[ehughes]

Keep in mind that if you want to have a library of generic passives, That will work as well.    I have large database libraries for specific passives but i also have a generic library as well.

[jmarkwolf]

If you don't need a BOM then don't worry about having a library of specific part numbers.
But if you need a BOM you gotta do that work anyway, so you may as well well do it up front (in the libraries) so its useful in other projects going forward.

Volts is correct.

Capturing all the pertinent data in the BOM specific parameter fields in the library symbols is the best way to do it.

It's labor intensive at first, but eventually you'll need new parts added only occasionally.

[H.O]

Thanks guys,

What's pertinent for a resistor in my case is the value, tolerance, power rating and size - I don't have a need to "lock into" a specific manufacturer and series for parts like that.

Don't get me wrong. I want/need a BOM but for generic stuff like resistors and capacitors it's enough that it (the BOM) says something like 1k 0805 or 22nF, 50V 0603 because in 99% of the cases ANY 1k 0805 resistor and/or ANY 22nF, 50V, 0603 capacitor from ANY manufacturer will do, there's no need (in my case) to specify or "lock in" a specific manufacturer and series and having a number like CRCW08051K00FKEA or CL10B223KB8NNNC in the BOM. If I publish or give that BOM to someone (including myself sometime down the road) they might think it HAS to be that specific part for whatever reason when in fact just about anything will do. In those rare cases a SPECIFIC part is selected/needed I would obviously specify that.

[tycz]

I'm still trying to figure out the library differences. "Everyone" says that the "correct" way is to have libraries with SPECIFIC part numbers but I can not wrap my head around the idea of having a library with 6000 resistors in it (for ONE series from ONE manufacturer). When capturing the schematic I don't really want to worry about manufacturer, series or not even value. I totally get the benefit of being able to generate an accurate BOM at the end but I'm not doing manufacturing and a 1k 0805 resistor is just that - ANY 1k 0805 resistor.

I don't think it's useful, or even normal to specify part numbers for generic components. When submitting a BOM to a contract manufacturer for purchasing, the part numbers from the Farnell catalogue are of little use to them. They will have their own supply chain for common passive components so it's better (easier, faster, cheaper) to let them sort it out.

[voltsandjolts]

That's crazy talk.
You still have to give the contract manufacturer a BOM of manufacturers PNs at least, and the Farnell/Digikey/Mouser/whatever PNs are useful for in-house proto builds.
But, whatever, at least CS gives you the option to make life hard for yourself if you like it that way.

[iainwhite]

I decided to buy a license after trying the product for a couple weeks and getting used to it.  I am getting to grips with the library management and I think I just need to study the training videos online and practice a lot.   Similar comment applies to the Vault.

So another member of the CS 'club'.

 

[VEGETA]

What I understood is that this license grants you CS forever with any usage. While yearly maintenance fee is for upgrades and using Altuim Vault right?

[hammy]

Yes, it is a perpetual license. You can export the license into a file.

[GlowingGhoul]

What I understood is that this license grants you CS forever with any usage. While yearly maintenance fee is for upgrades and using Altuim Vault right?

Yes, that's correct. The terms allow you to install on up to 3 machines, but as was said earlier, the license is a text file that can just be copied to whatever machine you want to install CS onto.
T

[voltsandjolts]

I think you are allowed to install on two machines as long as CS is not used simultaneously on both. You may also make a third backup copy, although that must mean a hard-drive image because there is no offline installer to backup.

From license agreement:

2.4.2.
In the event that You have licensed the Licensed Materials for use in connection with a single computer, You may install and use only a single copy thereof at any given time, and said copy may be used only by You; provided, however, that if You have licensed the Licensed Materials for use on a single computer: a) you may install a second copy of the Licensed Materials on a home computer solely for use in connection with, and governed by, the License granted herein, so long as such copy is never used simultaneously with the original copy; and b) You may make a back-up, archival copy thereof that You shall install and use only in the event the original copy of the Licensed Materials is lost, corrupted or in some other way made unavailable other than through use or possession by another person.

http://www.altium.com/eula

[GlowingGhoul]

I think you are allowed to install on two machines as long as CS is not used simultaneously on both. You may also make a third backup copy, although that must mean a hard-drive image because there is no offline installer to backup.

From license agreement:

2.4.2.
In the event that You have licensed the Licensed Materials for use in connection with a single computer, You may install and use only a single copy thereof at any given time, and said copy may be used only by You; provided, however, that if You have licensed the Licensed Materials for use on a single computer: a) you may install a second copy of the Licensed Materials on a home computer solely for use in connection with, and governed by, the License granted herein, so long as such copy is never used simultaneously with the original copy; and b) You may make a back-up, archival copy thereof that You shall install and use only in the event the original copy of the Licensed Materials is lost, corrupted or in some other way made unavailable other than through use or possession by another person.

http://www.altium.com/eula

You have to request the offline installer from customer service to get the FTP credentials to download it. Similar to Altium Designer.

[plazma]

Farnell & Altium tried to fix the wrong username/email.
Now nothing works and I can't sign in. What a mess.

[kqr2]

Is the half price circuitstudio deal over?

If you go to : https://www.element14.com/community/community/manufacturers/altium

The purchase price is now $995.

[GlowingGhoul]

Is the half price circuitstudio deal over?

If you go to : https://www.element14.com/community/community/manufacturers/altium

The purchase price is now $995.

To get the $500 discount you must now buy through: http://www.altium.com/eagle-switch/circuitstudio/

Also, discount code REACY1 takes another $25 off for a final price of $470.

[H.O]

The price is still SEK4400 (~$495) on the Swedish Farnell site (where individuals are not allowed to order) and the UK site still shows £395.

[iainwhite]

The price is still SEK4400 (~$495) on the Swedish Farnell site (where individuals are not allowed to order) and the UK site still shows £395.

I used the UK export site  http://export.farnell.com  to buy my copy, as the US site (Newark) has gone back to $995 with no voucher. 
Although the price says £395 in the UK they actually charged my US credit card $501.61 after the ACS10 discount, which I reckon is about $50 too much.
However I don't think i'm going to rock the boat and argue with Farnell - could well end up being a painful exercise.
Another interesting thing is they invoiced me and billed my CC directly in US dollars, not pounds. 

[H.O]

Yeah, it's a total mess.
My initial order on via the export site was charged to my credit card with one amount £495-10%+20%VAT. In GPB. This order was cancelled and refunded.
Then, after asking them why they cancelled an order they earlier said they'd accept they asked me to place a new order and I did. This time they tried to make some seriously unfavorable exchange from GBP to EUR (which my credit card company would then make another unfavorable exchange into SEK).

I told them I'd accept the price of the first order and they adjusted the final price to match. Had it happened on the INITIAL order I probably would just let it slip but when they tried to pull that stunt on the second order I called then out.

[knotlogic]

Is the half price circuitstudio deal over?

If you go to : https://www.element14.com/community/community/manufacturers/altium

The purchase price is now $995.

To get the $500 discount you must now buy through: http://www.altium.com/eagle-switch/circuitstudio/

Also, discount code REACY1 takes another $25 off for a final price of $470.

Seems to work different in Singapore.  Using that link from GlowingGhoul and clicking on buy redirects me to the local Farnell/Element14 website, and the discount code isn't valid there. (It helpfully places me straight to the shopping basket page with a copy already added.)

[GlowingGhoul]

Is the half price circuitstudio deal over?

If you go to : https://www.element14.com/community/community/manufacturers/altium

The purchase price is now $995.

To get the $500 discount you must now buy through: http://www.altium.com/eagle-switch/circuitstudio/

Also, discount code REACY1 takes another $25 off for a final price of $470.

Seems to work different in Singapore.  Using that link from GlowingGhoul and clicking on buy redirects me to the local Farnell/Element14 website, and the discount code isn't valid there. (It helpfully places me straight to the shopping basket page with a copy already added.)

Maybe this direct link will work:

https://www.element14.com/community/view-product.jspa?fsku=2726528&nsku=13AC6066&action=cart&excluding=HK%2CTW%2CCN

[knotlogic]

Maybe this direct link will work:

https://www.element14.com/community/view-product.jspa?fsku=2726528&nsku=13AC6066&action=cart&excluding=HK%2CTW%2CCN

Nope, that redirects back to the Singapore site as well.  Not too surprising I guess, a lot of websites for the bigger companies automatically redirect to country specific pages.

This is what appears at the top of the page when I try to use the coupon:

REACY1 The voucher code entered cannot be used against this order.

I'll probably just have to pay "full price".  Tomorrow I think.  It's late over here.

[kqr2]

@GlowingGhoul  : thanks for the link and code.  It worked for me!

Does the circuitstudio activation code arrive in a separate email?  I didn't see any download / activation link after I placed the order.

[H.O]

Yes, separate email with instructions. If you already have created a CS account (like when you downloaded the trial) and you used the same email address when you ordered the license then it's just a matter of logging in and activating the license but I suspect the process isn't fully automatic so it may take a little while for the data to sync up.

[plazma]

Yes you get an activation email.
Don't worry. If you get an activation error you can always contact support by email

BTW my licence does still not work. Can't sign in or use the vault.

[GlowingGhoul]

Try this: support.na@altium.com

[JamesH-AltiumOfficial]

Hi plazma,

I've been watching this thread with interest and just sent you a PM.

The strange email address shown, i.e. contact@altium.com is not one I've heard of so we'll need to investigate why that is displaying.

The best address for CircuitStudio support is software@element14.com rather than an altium email address.

Best regards,

James Harriman
Altium

[plazma]

Finally after almost a month my licence is fixed.
Altium sent me a new activation link which appeared as used. It did not fix anything.


I could not login with the old or new email/username.

I noticed a LOGIN text at the right top corner of the activation webpage.
I tried to login there but it did not accept my credentials. There was however a "Forgot password?" link in the login page http://shell.circuitstudio.com/.


It worked and I got the password reset.
With the new password I could login with the correct email/username.

You can not reset the password from CS. There is no link in the login window. In account details there is a quick link for "Password Reset" but it is greyed out. Even if it worked it would not help there. You need it in the login window. If you need to reset your password use the link above.

I can now login and use the  vault. I just get this error message every time I start CS.


PS: this mess started with Farnell registering the licence to a closed email which was not even visible in my Farnell account details. They did not use the email informed in the order page. I asked for an extension for the subscription to compensate for the mess. Let see how it goes.

[JamesH-AltiumOfficial]

Hi plazma,

That message hasn't been reported by any other users so is not expected. Since the error mentions system DateTime could you please check that your system clock is fairly accurate and that your Time Zone is set correctly?

What operating system are you using (e.g. Windows 10 Pro 64-bit)?

Often in this unknown situation the first thing is to reboot the PC and see if the message still occurs.
Second option is to uninstall CircuitStudio, choose the option: "Remove Completely".
  - Reinstall CircuitStudio and when it runs for the first time, press Cancel if it wants to import settings.
  - Sign in with your email address/password and Reactivate the license.
  - While still signed in: File > System Preferences, expand Data Management > Vaults and click Add Altium Content Vault
  - Restart CircuitStudio and see if the error occurs again.

Best regards,

James Harriman
Altium

[Agent86]

Maybe this direct link will work:

https://www.element14.com/community/view-product.jspa?fsku=2726528&nsku=13AC6066&action=cart&excluding=HK%2CTW%2CCN

Hmmm, not working for me...

Please correct the following fields:
You have exceeded the maximum number of vouchers that can be applied to this order.

EDIT:  OK, I'm a dumbass.  The previous voucher was still attached to my shopping cart.  I deleted it and replaced it with this one and now it works...

[GlowingGhoul]

OK, it now appears the most reliable way to get the promotion is to go to the Farrell or element 14 site for your country and search for "eagle users promo". $495 on US, 395 pounds on UK, and 572 euro on DK.

[knotlogic]

Looking for advice for those who went from a trial version to buying a license:  What's the best way to go about it?  I purchased a copy from my local Element14 last night and I've got the e-mail with links to the download.  Should I uninstall the trial first, or just install over it?  Or do I just log in somewhere and activate something?

[onesixright]

Looking for advice for those who went from a trial version to buying a license:  What's the best way to go about it?  I purchased a copy from my local Element14 last night and I've got the e-mail with links to the download.  Should I uninstall the trial first, or just install over it?  Or do I just log in somewhere and activate something?

I was running 1.3.0 (trial).  Bought the license (not via the software). Via the website i activated my account (link from there email). I then just changed my login details in CS, and it automatically installed the license.  That seemed to work fine.

BUT after that I updated to 1.0.4, now i'm getting a error "Warning: License Renewal Failed" (Invalid duration ...). Im not sure if this was caused after updating to 1.0.4 or that it had to do with switching my trial to the official license. BTW after the message i click OK, and all seems to work.

I guess thats a 1.0.4 issue, see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/circuit-studio/circuit-studio-bugsissues/

[knotlogic]

Well, this is annoying....

So I purchased a copy from my local Element14, and they had a field in the checkout form to specify which e-mail to deliver the license to.  Like with plaszma, they (mostly) ignored that.  They linked the license to my Element14 e-mail and CCed the notification/welcome e-mail to my "delivery" address. 

The good news is I was able to log in and register through the link provided in the e-mail.  That done, I fired up CircuitStudio and used the "wrong" email address to log in.  So far so good.  Go to "View | Start | My Account | Licenses" and activate the license.  That worked.

Then I noticed under "View |  Start | My Account | Edit Account" I can change my e-mail address.  Yeah, I know.  But I did it anyway.

I took the brilliant step of changing that to the correct e-mail address.  And... it worked. Sort of.  I can log in with the "correct" address and the license was there, but I can still log in with the wrong e-mail.  What's more the license screens are slightly different in both.  The wrong account allows me to expand details of the license, but the account I want to use doesn't.

I'm also getting a pop up message shortly after logging in:
Warning: License Renewal Failed
Invalid duration.  The duration specified is too long for the expiry date on this license.  Please contact your License Administrator for license renewal.

Guess I'm going to need to contact support.

plaszma, did you get all your account issues sorted out?

[plazma]

I got it fixed. It took almost a month.

[arteitle]

The promo still seems to be valid today (April 3), despite the website saying it would end on March 30. I was able to use it and the REACY1 coupon code to get a license for $470.

[Joel_l]

I just bit the bullet and bought this today 4/8, the coupon was still good. Once Newark decides I'm worthy to sell to I'll figure out why they charged me $100, too much.

[tonyp12]

I caved in today. Still avail at US$495. Could not get any voucher code to work on top of it.
topcashback have 6% (ebates only 3%) So I'm getting some money back.

Had no problem activate it as I used same email addresses.

[DerekG]

Nope, that redirects back to the Singapore site as well.  Not too surprising I guess, a lot of websites for the bigger companies automatically redirect to country specific pages.

You get around this by using a VPN. Select a server in the country you which to purchase from. Probably better to register using a generic email address such as gmail etc.

[ricktusl]

Nope. Don't waste your time with Cirtcuit Studio. The half-price ain't even worth it.
I still have problems licensing which takes them forever to fix.

I called Altium directly. they told me they don't support Circuit Studio while element14 points their finger at Alitum.

Customer support is extremely poor.. I suspect circuit studio is already dead.
Orcad has much better support.. at least the tech guys are much more responsive than element14/altium

[JamesH-AltiumOfficial]

Hi all,

I've helped ricktusl so the license is now working.
CircuitStudio is not dead (as suggested in this thread) - we are working hard on 2 updates: a small one due soon and a larger one near year end.

Altium doesn't support CircuitStudio support questions directly so you're better off going direct to element14 software support by emailing software@element14.com and they can definitely provide support.

The eval license has had some teething problems as it is a new type that is different to the commercial license so it's possible that element14 needed to contact Altium to resolve the license problem.

P.S. don't forget to contact software@element14.com to enquire about any June 30 specials for CircuitStudio. The CircuitStudio FAQ http://www.circuitstudio.com/circuitstudio-support addresses a lot of the common questions about importing from other systems or from Altium Designer.

Best regards,

James Harriman
Altium

[ahbushnell]

I'm happy with Circuit Studio and looking forward to the updates.

 

[DIPLover]

I just bit the bullet on "Flash sale, $495 for EVERYONE, ends July 1st", from the circuitstudio website.

Once on the canada.Newark.com website it was the same SKU as the Eagle promo. We'll see how it goes as I don't have an eagle licence (except maybe an old freeware).

After exchange and taxes it came just a little bit shy of $800 Canadian. Not bad at all. This is in the upper range of "nice new tool for the lab that will last me years" territory. $1600 would have been a definite no-go.

So now they went from $3K USD to 0.5K in 18 months... How LOW can it go?

[Dubbie]

I suspect they have found that $500 is what the market will pay. I bet the sales dried up to just above zero when they went back up to 1K

I know that $500 was the most I was willing to pay.

[onesixright]

I know that $500 was the most I was willing to pay.

+1

[Simon]

Why does CS not support Allium binary files?

Because Altium admit know knowledge of CS while farnell trumpet about how it is basically Altium. Even library files that you can download from altium are not made available in CS format even though they support competitor formats but then it's the same anyway but it's like again they won't admit to CS.

[jmarkwolf]

I'm happy with Circuit Studio and looking forward to the updates.

 

Me too.

I've been using Protel/Altium since the mid 90's, but never did use the FPGA tools, simulator, nor the embedded development tools.

I am happy that Circuit Studio came along so I can afford a reasonable facsimile of Altium for retirement.

[Harvs]

I'm happy with Circuit Studio and looking forward to the updates.

 

Me too.

I've been using Protel/Altium since the mid 90's, but never did use the FPGA tools, simulator, nor the embedded development tools.

I am happy that Circuit Studio came along so I can afford a reasonable facsimile of Altium for retirement.

Likewise.  There's lot of things that drove me nuts at first until I found a work around (i.e. came up with some sort of hack.)  However the alternative was $10k AUD out of my own pocket for AD, or learn another tool from scratch (but most of my customers wanted Altium files anyway.)

So is the pain work $10k AUD?  In my case, absolutely.

[GlowingGhoul]

Precisely. An excellent tool for the money.

Hopefully Altium is smart enough to realize that supporting this properly for the semi-professional and hobbyist market will have a long term "halo" effect on commercial sales of Altium. If they'd move support back in house for instance, I'd say at $499 this could become the standard for serious hobbyists. Support and polish is where they can really differentiate from the open source competition in this area.

Tell them JamesH. It would be too easy for a non-long term thinker to let Circuit Studio die on the vine because they're only looking at the sales figures and profit of this product in isolation. No doubt this will end up in the hands of people who will ultimately be influencers in companies they work, or will work for in the future. Consider it a marketing tool.

[Simon]

Hopefully, so far they practically deny it's existance and any search for circuit studio just points you back to element14

[DIPLover]

Finally received my licence today, took them a week.

I still had days left on the trial so nothing was lost but when I inquired about the delay last week, Newark told me they had a backlog due to strong demand during the sale. Hopefully, more users will help CS get the love it deserves from the developers.

Hopefully, so far they practically deny it's existance and any search for circuit studio just points you back to element14

How many times in the same thread must you make the same point Simon?

[Simon]

maybe as many times as they bang on about how it is a version of Altium Designer, I mean if altium is as buggy as CS then I'd never buy it.

[Harvs]

I mean if altium is as buggy as CS then I'd never buy it.

No it's not as buggy.  But either way it all comes down to options, and there aren't a lot of good alternatives in either CS or AD's price bracket.

[Simon]

So the stripping down of AD to CS has created issues I get numerous memory address access violations.

[Harvs]

So the stripping down of AD to CS has created issues I get numerous memory address access violations.

It's not "just" a stripped down version.  People are commonly comparing it to AD17, the current release of AD. But when you dig around in the back end and look at how some of the features are implemented, my guess is CS is built off Altium Designer 09 or similar.  Some of the missing features aren't just Altium removing them from AD, but are a result of them using an older AD codebase.

[DerekG]

.... in my experience I found that "error dialogs" could happen from around several times a day to maybe several times a week depending on usage type and intensity.

I've actually used Altium (Protel in the early days) since 1988, but for these last 2 years I've swapped over to DipTrace (which I find more productive for the boards I am designing - normally 80 to 200 components with 500 to 1000 pads).

You can reduce the errors that Altium throws up by ensuring you run an Intel processor (as specifically recommended by Altium) over an AMD, making sure you have plenty of RAM (ie 8GB) & have a good video card (with 1GB or 2GB of memory) & up to date drivers for it.

If you do all of the above & don't have too many other programs running alongside Altium, you should find it to be very stable.

[Simon]

.... in my experience I found that "error dialogs" could happen from around several times a day to maybe several times a week depending on usage type and intensity.

I've actually used Altium (Protel in the early days) since 1988, but for these last 2 years I've swapped over to DipTrace (which I find more productive for the boards I am designing - normally 80 to 200 components with 500 to 1000 pads).

You can reduce the errors that Altium throws up by ensuring you run an Intel processor (as specifically recommended by Altium) over an AMD, making sure you have plenty of RAM (ie 8GB) & have a good video card (with 1GB or 2GB of memory) & up to date drivers for it.

If you do all of the above & don't have too many other programs running alongside Altium, you should find it to be very stable.

Latest intel i7 processor and 16GB of RAM, but I am running on intel HD graphics so maybe it objects to internal graphics cards on laptops. My PC is AMD with an independant graphics card so not sure which would work out best

[Joel_l]

So , what's happening here??

Hi all,

.........
CircuitStudio is not dead (as suggested in this thread) - we are working hard on 2 updates: a small one due soon and a larger one near year end.
.........

Best regards,

James Harriman
Altium

[onesixright]

So , what's happening here??

Hi all,

.........
CircuitStudio is not dead (as suggested in this thread) - we are working hard on 2 updates: a small one due soon and a larger one near year end.
.........

Best regards,

James Harriman
Altium

Would also like to know! I thought they were working on 2.0 ? But its pretty silent ...

[Simon]

I would say the whole thing has gone dead because Altium have bigger fish to fry or at least so they think in their unstoppable quest for profit whilst failing to understand their users. I have had circuit studio for nearly a year now and have seen no update. The only reason as suggested by others why Altium seem to have circuit studio after the massive failure of whatever that stupid cloud-based online thing was is to draw customers into the Altium "family". Yes yuck. They think that you are going to believe that having bought a product for a mere £800 you are in a family and that you are going to take up a product that now costs £7500. I was offered an introductory discount of 30% putting it at just over £4800 or rather almost what it used to cost just a couple of years ago. So the price of Altium designer has gone up and they are producing circuit studio to try and draw people in. No wonder Farnell has such minimal support for circuit studio and no wonder Altium do not really support circuit studio in real terms. They don't expect you to stick with circuit studio it is merely a sales tool for which the customer pays.

Altium see circuit studio as a way of locking people into their product. It's not particularly stable or refined and they don't have any incentive to make it much better because after eight months of owning it they try and convince you to jump to Altium designer. You are offered the product on the premise that it comes from the great Altium and by the time you have locked yourself into using it to make designs and have wasted time learning it and creating libraries for it you realise it's not so brilliant after all and if you do want that Altium greatness you have to spend up to 8 times more.

I was contacted by telephone by somebody wanting to make me this offer despite the fact they had only just emailed me. I expressed my views and they assured me that once you are in the Altium family it's all wonderful and apparently Altium are working on an even more expensive product which I'm supposed to be excited about despite the fact I can't even afford it mid range product. So yes if you think you have been looked after after spending £800 then think again. Circuit studio is basically a small discount for Altium designer which they will probably sell to you for a discounted price anyway regardless of whether or not you are in their so-called family.

I was told that an update to Altium is due early this year so we shall see. I am not waging that I will see this update before my renewal is due and perhaps I should think again about the renewal and lock out and what I have. It does the job, it's not terrible but it could be a damn sight better. And it could actually perform like it is running on the machine that it is. As I pointed out to the Farnell support guy who is the closest I can get to Altium I can quite literally and I did go and make a cup of tea in the time it took to open the setup panel for the Bom export. I could have equally gone and made myself a 2nd cup of tea in the time it took to generate that Excel file despite the fact all of the contents of that file are already displayed in the setup panel. Circuit studio is of the lowest quality of coding if it takes this long to carry out such basic tasks.

Despite the fact I have mentioned it to a number of people and every one of those who have contacted me from Altium no one can yet tell me what I gain by getting Altium designer as opposed to circuit studio note there is not Altium the name of circuit studio I wonder why? Because as fast as you buy it they deny all knowledge of its existence having sold it to you on the premise that it is Altium greatness.

They do do introductory offers for new companies that you are still having to pay thousands of pounds for the software and within three years at most you will have to pay the rest. Once again the guy could not tell me what I was going to gain from buying Altium designer. I guess Altium is capitalism at its best money for old rope.

[DerekG]

I would say the whole thing has gone dead because Altium have bigger fish to fry or at least so they think in their unstoppable quest for profit whilst failing to understand their users.

Yes, Altium's spin to their shareholders resulted in a 20% rise in their share price yesterday:

https://www.moneymorning.com.au/20180220/altium-share-price-rose-20-today-asxu.html

Altium has a whole department that does nothing but prepare professional presentations for the ASX, existing & potential shareholders & to potential users of their software offerings.

And this department does a really good job of it (based on how their share price has risen since 2009 & the increase in software users since 2000).

I think it would be fair to say that Altium put much more effort into their marketing efforts (to shareholders & users alike) than any other PCB CAD company on earth.

.................. shame that the same effort does not go into Altium Designer itself.

Simon, I know that you were using an earlier version DipTrace before Circuit Studio.

Their latest Ver 3.2 has come a long way since Ver 2.4

I've made the move from AD to DipTrace & I'm very happy. Have you tried their current version?

[Joel_l]

Hmm, just went and took a look, I'll have to load it and give it a try. Would be great if they extended the Eagle discount to CS as well.

<I've made the move from AD to DipTrace & I'm very happy. Have you tried their current version?>

[DerekG]

I'm not sure if you meant DipTrace, but if you were, yes there is a special running for current EAGLE users:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/diptrace/diptrace-special-offer-for-eagle-users/

(On the quiet .............. you don't need to list your EAGLE licence number to qualify .............. sssssssh)

[bandgap]

(On the quiet .............. you don't need to list your EAGLE licence number to qualify .............. sssssssh)

And... the special offer specifically says Eagle subscription users. So.. if it bothers your conscience you could just pay for 1 month of Eagle standard ($15), take advantage of the DipTrace deal, and then cancel your Eagle subscription. 

-Clayton

[plazma]

Is Diptrace routing as good as CS? Push&shove etc.

[bandgap]

Is Diptrace routing as good as CS? Push&shove etc.

No push & shove yet, but they are currently working on it and it has been confirmed to be coming this spring:
https://diptrace.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11930

[Joel_l]

So I just got a little bit of time on the DipTrace demo. My first impressions are that it feels like older software ( not a bad thing ) but it all seems to work, schematic to PCB integration and auto router. Definitely going to put more time into the demo. Other notices, website support ( hope they are responsive ), A PDF tutorial, not sure how complete it is on all the features but at least there is one.

[onesixright]

@JamesH-AltiumOfficial

The silence is deafening. Any change you could weigh-in?

Much obliged!

[mars01]

Guys, Diptrace has it's own section, why don't you discuss there the benefits of Diptrace over other software or even make reviews of Diptrace?

I'm not interested in Diptrace (installed it at some point and after 20minutes ... uninstall) but I am in CircuitStudio and this is exactly what I expect to read about in this section. Be it good or bad.
Thank you all!

[Simon]

@JamesH-AltiumOfficial

The silence is deafening. Any change you could weigh-in?

Much obliged!

James called me the day before yesterday. I'm not entirely sure why he wished to call me rather than answer on here and I don't know if that means I'm expected to rely at least some of our conversation. Apparently circuit studio is alive and well but it is second in-line to Altium designer updates. He is disappointed that his promise has not been realised and I am assured that circuit studio will be worked on as soon as Altium designer 18 is out of the stocks.

We did discuss some of the differences between circuit studio and Altium designer I didn't fully understand the implications of all of them as I don't use the advanced features but there are things like dedicated flat flex design tools that allow 3D simulation of the flat flex which does sound quite handy for those of us that use 3D CAD. There is also the ability to have multiple circuit boards within one design which as he pointed out a is quite a challenge from a software point of view where you have nets spanning different circuit boards. All in all I  still don't understand why there are two separate products when one mirrors the other. If functionality in Altium designer could be turned off we wouldn't all be sitting here waiting for Altium designer 18 to be released before we could contemplate circuit studio been updated. We would receive the same updates and those on a lower tier licence would also be updated but obviously would not have access to the more expensive features. It would appear that Altium has chosen to develop three separate products simultaneously and by the looks of it put in at least twice the amount of effort necessary. I suspect somebody is dead scared in management of people hacking Altium designer and that if Altium designer is supplied with different licensing levels people will somehow manage to unlock the more advanced features. Although they have perhaps overlooked the fact that you can download a demo.

My next priority software wise is 3D CAD as this is quite essential and something I have access to at work and these days invaluable also in electrical design. I do indeed curse the fact that at work our subcontract designer cannot send me models as it would make my job of then creating drawings and mechanical bill of materials a lot easier. What I usually end up doing is knocking up a quick 3D CAD model to represent a circuit board and then just dump a component on it to represent the bill of materials so that it works in CAD.

[Simon]

Guys, Diptrace has it's own section, why don't you discuss there the benefits of Diptrace over other software or even make reviews of Diptrace?

I'm not interested in Diptrace (installed it at some point and after 20minutes ... uninstall) but I am in CircuitStudio and this is exactly what I expect to read about in this section. Be it good or bad.
Thank you all!

True but I will say that I have used DipTrace and I once paid for a licence and yes it is quite cheap but it is software developed by one person only and I was not impressed with the support or the "attitude" it was a bit like talking to Putin they were always right. You autoroute last time I used it was crap as it could not deal with copper pours so I have very little motivation to try again.

[onesixright]

@JamesH-AltiumOfficial

The silence is deafening. Any change you could weigh-in?

Much obliged!

James called me the day before yesterday. I'm not entirely sure why he wished to call me rather than answer on here and I don't know if that means I'm expected to rely at least some of our conversation. Apparently circuit studio is alive and well but it is second in-line to Altium designer updates. He is disappointed that his promise has not been realised and I am assured that circuit studio will be worked on as soon as Altium designer 18 is out of the stocks.

We did discuss some of the differences between circuit studio and Altium designer I didn't fully understand the implications of all of them as I don't use the advanced features but there are things like dedicated flat flex design tools that allow 3D simulation of the flat flex which does sound quite handy for those of us that use 3D CAD. There is also the ability to have multiple circuit boards within one design which as he pointed out a is quite a challenge from a software point of view where you have nets spanning different circuit boards. All in all I  still don't understand why there are two separate products when one mirrors the other. If functionality in Altium designer could be turned off we wouldn't all be sitting here waiting for Altium designer 18 to be released before we could contemplate circuit studio been updated. We would receive the same updates and those on a lower tier licence would also be updated but obviously would not have access to the more expensive features. It would appear that Altium has chosen to develop three separate products simultaneously and by the looks of it put in at least twice the amount of effort necessary. I suspect somebody is dead scared in management of people hacking Altium designer and that if Altium designer is supplied with different licensing levels people will somehow manage to unlock the more advanced features. Although they have perhaps overlooked the fact that you can download a demo.

My next priority software wise is 3D CAD as this is quite essential and something I have access to at work and these days invaluable also in electrical design. I do indeed curse the fact that at work our subcontract designer cannot send me models as it would make my job of then creating drawings and mechanical bill of materials a lot easier. What I usually end up doing is knocking up a quick 3D CAD model to represent a circuit board and then just dump a component on it to represent the bill of materials so that it works in CAD.

Thanks for the update! Appreciate it! 

[JamesH-AltiumOfficial]

Hi All,

Thank you all for asking about the updates! The update schedule has indeed slipped by several months, however the slippage has almost passed and we're still fully committed to producing the updates to make CircuitStudio even better. As soon as we can announce, we will. I will also try and keep you updated as we go.

Best regards,

James Harriman
Altium

[Joel_l]

Skeptically optimistic. 

[ahbushnell]

Guys, Diptrace has it's own section, why don't you discuss there the benefits of Diptrace over other software or even make reviews of Diptrace?

I'm not interested in Diptrace (installed it at some point and after 20minutes ... uninstall) but I am in CircuitStudio and this is exactly what I expect to read about in this section. Be it good or bad.
Thank you all!

True but I will say that I have used DipTrace and I once paid for a licence and yes it is quite cheap but it is software developed by one person only and I was not impressed with the support or the "attitude" it was a bit like talking to Putin they were always right. You autoroute last time I used it was crap as it could not deal with copper pours so I have very little motivation to try again.

I'm surprised your 3D CAD person can't export step files?  What 3D CAD product do you use? 

[Simon]

I do my own 3D CAD and I use solid edge. Yes solid edge can export step files as can circuit studio and supposedly dip trace although it fell over when I used third-party models for connectors from the manufacturers which I was certainly not prepared to model from scratch myself.

[Relaxe]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the helpful thread.

I just purchased a couple of CircuitStudio Licenses, at half price trough the direct link, and felt bold enough to ask customer service to apply the "ACS10" for an additional 10% off.
It worked

I know it may not be a product for everyone, our startup is currently an Altium user, but with extra license priced at roughly 10k$, it makes much more sense to buy 20x licenses of CS.
As we do not do high-speed, RF or weird flex stuff, no need to stick with Designer.
No learning curves, keeping our library files, and almost fully compatible files between CS and CircuitStudio sealed the deal.

Also, a notable tidbit, the executable for Designer is "dxp.exe" since the first "Altium DXP" in 2003. Still today, Designer is invoked with "dxp.exe".
Well, CS' executable is... "dxp.exe". Just fuel for those feeling it's just a simple reskin of Designer... it sure feels like it!

[DerekG]

and almost fully compatible files between CS and CircuitStudio sealed the deal.

??

I know it may not be a product for everyone, our startup is currently an Altium user, but with extra license priced at roughly 10k$, it makes much more sense to buy 20x licenses of CS.

If you find that you need more power than Circuit Studio can offer you, then take a read of the post below (& some before & after it). Cadence's OrCAD offers a much more powerful product for not a lot more money than Circuit Studio.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eda/which-software-so-many-choices/msg1466515/#msg1466515

[ahbushnell]

and almost fully compatible files between CS and CircuitStudio sealed the deal.

??

I know it may not be a product for everyone, our startup is currently an Altium user, but with extra license priced at roughly 10k$, it makes much more sense to buy 20x licenses of CS.

I"m doing something similar with CS and Altium. We have two people I work with that use Altium and I use CS and it works great. 
If you find that you need more power than Circuit Studio can offer you, then take a read of the post below (& some before & after it). Cadence's OrCAD offers a much more powerful product for not a lot more money than Circuit Studio.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eda/which-software-so-many-choices/msg1466515/#msg1466515

[Simon]

I'm still struggling to understand altiums game and can only understand it by assuming that they are simply trying to gather up customers. As I have said before you get promised so much for so little only to find from what others say they have sold you an old version of altium and it's full of bugs that may have just existed in that version or are down to the slimming it down to CS and support is terrible to non existent, the one guy at Farnell does his best but there is only one of him which is why they can afford to give the software away.

For some reason they have set themselves up for twice the work instead of doing what everyone else does and have modular software with tiered licensing. So we have to wait for them to finish fannying around with AD18 before they will even bother to look at CS, my license is up soon and I'm still waiting on bug fixes that were known about when I bought into it. It's great being constantly reminded that you are third best - because lets not forget they are working on an even bigger product than AD so yea, good luck!

[Joel_l]

My subscription was up yesterday. I decided to pocket my renewal fee.

[Simon]

I'm wondering if I should do the same until updates come out, I have paid one of their highest prices and they insist on these offensive deals that just suck people in. It's not about the money, I am sick of moving from poorly supported or created software to another that is just as bad and having to create all of my libraries again. The concept of pre-installed libraries is silly as they never suit everyone. It's time all of these companies grew some balls and started to work with one standard international library format that supports: the schematic symbol, the PCB footprint, the 3D model, the spice model. Then we would see who the clowns are and who really thinks they have something to bring to the party because I am getting pissed off with having to waste so much time on these people!

[Simon]

And the biggest and stupidest cockup here is that CS is in no mans land with one company "making" it and another selling it, supporting it sort of and pricing it any old how based on how the wind blows today. Clearly with these stupid price deals the software itself costs not very much, if they can sell it for £400 or even less and 800 who is getting the difference? I should have just offered them my contact details for a tenner....... more than I would get from facebook.........

[VEGETA]

Altium now have a lot of PCB software, they even announced that higher end one which will be bigger than their flagship product (AD)!!

I used CM a bit and found it nice, but their decisions are bad such as cloud-based only which just doesn't work for most people. I see the same projects every time I log in, so there is no interest of making a community around one software.

I don't know about CS because I didn't use it, but as you said, having one company making it then another one for selling is not a good idea. Why not just doing it directly and you will have money river the simplest way!

IMHO, CS didn't find the target market yet and the catastrophe is if they themselves don't know it. CM targets makers and AD for high end stuff... so that leaves the new high end product and CS...??

They say CS is a professional tool...etc, but isn't AD for that? If it is up to me I would have CS be very cheap (like 200-400 USD only) and sell it directly without quoting and stuff. This way thousands will get it without even have to think of alternatives.

They have got to know that KiCAD exists, so they should offer significantly better product to get people to pay for it. Basic functionality (and even more) are in KiCAD.

As for libraries, I once made some components inside CM. So I guess KiCAD doesn't have a "vault" so someone must do everything manually.

[Joel_l]

CS and DEX are the two programs I have a love hate relationship with. They are close to what I want but have big nags.

In the case of CS, it was a poor attempt to carve designer up into a lower cost package. Some of the decisions made seem pretty random. But still, it is usable and well integrated. Of all the different PCB programs I have used, it has the best auto router for the price. I'm not so sure why I'm hung up on auto routers when I don't tend to use them. I guess it's because if it's part of the package, I expect it to work at some level, many do not. My biggest issue continues to be lack of support and good documentation. Most of the task beyond very basic operations I have learned by trial and error, or Google search, not the documentation. As far as the subscription, I don't need any of the day to day perks of the subscription. The Vault is not a value add to me. I have local copies of much more than the basic parts libraries I need. If something new pops up, there is still the direct download path or just make the part from there. CS has the potential to be stellar, but I fear Altium is too myopic to get it there.

[Simon]

In the case of CS, it was a poor attempt to carve designer up into a lower cost package. Some of the decisions made seem pretty random. But still, it is usable and well integrated. Of all the different PCB programs I have used, it has the best auto router for the price. I'm not so sure why I'm hung up on auto routers when I don't tend to use them. I guess it's because if it's part of the package, I expect it to work at some level, many do not. My biggest issue continues to be lack of support and good documentation. Most of the task beyond very basic operations I have learned by trial and error, or Google search, not the documentation. As far as the subscription, I don't need any of the day to day perks of the subscription. The Vault is not a value add to me. I have local copies of much more than the basic parts libraries I need. If something new pops up, there is still the direct download path or just make the part from there. CS has the potential to be stellar, but I fear Altium is too myopic to get it there.

My feelings exactly, I don't mind the price if it is supported and bug fixed but it's not.

[Relaxe]

I'm with Simon:
-Moving from one software to another is a very bad thing.
-I vote for you on the UN Resolution for "One World, One Library" initiative
-Having Altium not fully take ownership of their product is kind of weird at best

To Derek:
In my region (Canada!), cost for EDAs, in USD (Seat/ Yearly Renewal):
-Altium Designer:
 - 10,900$ / 1,900$ for Permanent License
 - 0$ / 4,000$ for time based
-Orcad Standard:
 - 2,600$ / 430$
-CircuitStudio:
 - 500$ / 130$

I'm working at a company with a good Altium library, and we needed a new EDA seat.
Altium's pricing just did not made sense.
Buying a small lot of CS license did.
We still have the AD seat for converting things, or for full feature if needs be.
And, well, if we get really pissed at CS, it's still only worth 45 days of AD licensing!!!

For Orcad: I'm not going to pay 5x the price to redo my libraries.

Also, about CS being lagging from AD in terms of feature; totally agree. It's kind of sad, seing the 1.4 version being posted a year ago. I would not tend to pay for renewal.... But who knows, they may drop it altogether with a very sweet deal to convert to full AD licenses
I'm personally living with AD since 2004... I've been trough many versions, and lived trough many bugs, seen new features....
Having a 500$ "Altium Designer 2016" still makes a good value proposition to me.

[Simon]

Well I was thinking more of an ISO standard for libraries so that they become agnostic to the software used. We all know what proprietary formats are about.....

[Relaxe]

Obligatory XKCD:

[VEGETA]

I'm with Simon:
-Moving from one software to another is a very bad thing.
-I vote for you on the UN Resolution for "One World, One Library" initiative
-Having Altium not fully take ownership of their product is kind of weird at best

To Derek:
In my region (Canada!), cost for EDAs, in USD (Seat/ Yearly Renewal):
-Altium Designer:
 - 10,900$ / 1,900$ for Permanent License
 - 0$ / 4,000$ for time based
-Orcad Standard:
 - 2,600$ / 430$
-CircuitStudio:
 - 500$ / 130$

I'm working at a company with a good Altium library, and we needed a new EDA seat.
Altium's pricing just did not made sense.
Buying a small lot of CS license did.
We still have the AD seat for converting things, or for full feature if needs be.
And, well, if we get really pissed at CS, it's still only worth 45 days of AD licensing!!!

For Orcad: I'm not going to pay 5x the price to redo my libraries.

Also, about CS being lagging from AD in terms of feature; totally agree. It's kind of sad, seing the 1.4 version being posted a year ago. I would not tend to pay for renewal.... But who knows, they may drop it altogether with a very sweet deal to convert to full AD licenses
I'm personally living with AD since 2004... I've been trough many versions, and lived trough many bugs, seen new features....
Having a 500$ "Altium Designer 2016" still makes a good value proposition to me.

WOW! These are some crazy numbers for AD!

I have a question which is kinda stupid: Why not use KiCAD and stay with it?

It is 0$ and unlimited... I don't know about libraries though, so I asked.

Your 500$ CS makes sense too, not expensive even for individuals

[Simon]

Obligatory XKCD:

STEP files are pretty much universal for 3D CAD interchange
open document or MS "x" files are universally used for office documents
PDF is the universal written document format
DXF is universally used in 2D CAD and the prefered format for interchanging patterns etc.

[bson]

They don't expect you to stick with circuit studio it is merely a sales tool for which the customer pays.

That's exactly what it is.  The marketing term is funnel, and the goal of the product lineup is to get you to the most lucrative (for them) possible point.  They don't worry about what's useful to you (they're not engineers so are clueless), or what's a good value, or even practical - they look at what sells and drives the funnel.  So you get bizarre products where you can't add library parts or other preposterous stupidity.  The other big problem with the marketing funnel is it's constantly changing, so sure you can buy upgrades for $150 perhaps, today, but what about 5 years from now?  The product is terminated and replaced with another piece of funnel collateral, and you're given 50% off the first year of AD and told to go buy that if you want it to work properly with Window 15.

It's MUCH better to buy the top end product from an entry level player than an entry level product from a player way up the value ladder.  With something like Diptrace you're guaranteed that unless the company is acquired they will be focusing their energies on their main product, not some crippled-down bastard version that won't stand the remotest possibility of cannibalizing their cash cow.  You want the product that puts their reputation on the line, not some marketing toy.

[steverino]

They don't expect you to stick with circuit studio it is merely a sales tool for which the customer pays.

That's exactly what it is. 

Agreed.  There is no real support for this tool.  When I first purchased CS last year (1/2 off price), It would not display correctly on a Virtual Machine (Parallels) on my mac.  Sent email inquiry to Element14 and received no response.  I did however receive a marketing email asking how I liked my downloaded trial copy (I think this came from Altium proper).  I replied that I had purchased the product and had received no reply to my inquiry.  I finally got acknowledgement that my problem was already in their database and they had no fix.  The problem eventually was resolved when I updated my Parallels installation. 

Some months back I received the following offer from Altium in an email:

I understand that you have been using CircuitStudio for some time now. As you know, CircuitStudio is an incredibly intuitive ECAD tool that was designed to be stepping stone to the full-featured suite, Altium Designer.
 
Having said that, I have an exciting opportunity for you to upgrade your CircuitStudio license to Altium Designer 18, including one year of subscription for just $4,995, which is roughly a 50% discount! This opportunity is valid from now until February 23rd.

Which seems to confirm Simon's assessment.

[ahbushnell]

If you buy at the end of the quarter or end of the year (even better) you can often get a much better price on Altium. 

[Simon]

I understand that you have been using CircuitStudio for some time now. As you know, CircuitStudio is an incredibly intuitive ECAD tool that was designed to be stepping stone to the full-featured suite, Altium Designer.
 
Having said that, I have an exciting opportunity for you to upgrade your CircuitStudio license to Altium Designer 18, including one year of subscription for just $4,995, which is roughly a 50% discount! This opportunity is valid from now until February 23rd.

Yea, same thing I got word for word - junk mail, seems our money is being taken so that we can be put on a marketing list. The inconsistency in pricing is worrying as they clearly don't take the product seriously. Altium are presumably not making much out of this if Farnell can sell at 45% so it's a marketing tool for altium and farnell are making money out of old rope as all it costs them is 1 member of staff. I suppose for the two of them it is a better deal than Farnell selling Altium their customer list.....

Altium seem to be the only company that sell two versions of the same thing instead of doing what everyone else does and have tiered licensing, that way the low end CS functionality is taken care of as the core of AD and the 1000's they charge for AD gets spent on the advanced features. Nope instead they are doing it all 3 times over so we loose out because they are running around like headless chickens....

[kaz911]

I got the same mail and responded with :

Please feel free to contact me again when price for the upgrade is $1500,-

I have not heard from the Indian sales person since.