Free Altium is Coming

[EEVblog]

Now that the cat is out of the bag, no harm in showing a few more screen shots

[T3sl4co1l]

Ribbon!?  ....

[neslekkim]

Ribbon!?  ....

So?, it's a good way of grouping functionality

[timb]

Ribbon!?  ....

Being on the "Ribbon Hate" bandwagon is *sooo* 2007.

Things I've learned from this thread: People dislike things that are different. People hate change. The Hivemind is real. People put way too much energy into bitching about things that don't affect them.


Sent from my Smartphone

[EEVblog]

Ribbon!?  ....

So?, it's a good way of grouping functionality

Agreed. What's the problem? I like it.
Is this like a Comic Sans hatred thing? 

[janekm]

Ribbon!?  ....

That's actually a HUGE improvement over the usual Altium interface.
Pop quizz, in the menus called "Place", "Design", "Tools", where would you expect to find:

• Board Shape
• Add Via Stitching
• Add Polygon Pours
• Manage Polygon Pours

(I'm sure anyone who hasn't used Altium for 20 years or so has to search for them every time...)

I'm very impressed with what I've seen so far, the interface improvements and collaboration tools actually look like notable improvements on the Altium core. Looks like they'll be at Maker Faire so we should get more details soon 

BTW everyone, please don't turn this into a debate about the security merits or otherwise of Windows, that's totally irrelevant to the discussion, please make a new thread if you want to have a pissing match about that! Some of us are actually excited about a potentially less shit PCB design software being released! 

[DerekG]

Agreed. What's the problem? I like it (the ribbon menu).

Yes, I like it too. Windows overtook DOS mainly because "a picture describes a 1000 words."

Altium have worked hard at simplifying their menu system to make it easier & faster for the newcomer.

10 out of 10 for this effort.

I have always liked the menu system in Iliya Kovac's AutoTRAX - just that the software is full of bugs & does not work well.

But take a look. The ribbon bar is similar:

http://www.kov.com/Slides/UI/images/3.jpg

Maybe Altium has now employed Iliya Kovac 

I'm suspecting the keyboard shortcuts are however no longer supported.

[Rigby]

I like the ribbon, also.

Writing software that uses a ribbon virtually necessitates thinking about your menus in a new way that promotes better organization.  I am fully behind any effort to find a better ways to design good user-software interaction.  That's a two-way interaction, and the ribbon is a great step forward; rows and rows of 16x16 toolbar buttons is a shining example of an unscalable UI.

I'm excited about this new tool.  I can't wait to get the nag email from my employer asking me what the software package is used for and if it's needed.

[Rory]

If a prospective employer requires Altium experience in their job qualification, will this be sufficient to qualify, or is it too different to use as a learning tool?

[Rigby]

Depends on the position's requirement(s) and the software you have experience in.

This software isn't released yet so it will be hard to say just how like or unlike Altium Designer it is overall.

In my experience, specific tool experience isn't very important.  Anyone can learn a tool.  The more useful trait is just plain passion.  PCB tool experience in general is also very valuable.  So, if you want a job that requires Altium Designer experience, this will probably get you closer.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Considering that a large proportion of the skill in making good PCBs is placement, a lot of experience in using any PCB package is more valuable that knowing a particular one extremely well, at least in the longer term that employers should be looking for.
You can teach/learn a package fairly easily. Designing good PCBs is mostly down to experience
 

[Rigby]

Hey that's what I was trying to say.  Well put.

[Rory]

Depends on the position's requirement(s) and the software you have experience in.

This software isn't released yet so it will be hard to say just how like or unlike Altium Designer it is overall.

In my experience, specific tool experience isn't very important.  Anyone can learn a tool.  The more useful trait is just plain passion.  PCB tool experience in general is also very valuable.  So, if you want a job that requires Altium Designer experience, this will probably get you closer.

Since Dave has had his hands on the new gee-whiz, it will be interesting to get his take on this. 

Not a newbie, I started with Easytrax, then Autotrax in DOS, until Protel got expensive. Then about 15 years ago on the advice of a mentor, moved to Mental Automation tools which have been adequate for our needs (not to mention the great parts library he had built up by the time I started on it...)

It will be difficult enough going through the learning curve for the new software but if it's not a good platform to migrate to Altium Designer, what's the point in using it if the proficiency gained doesn't apply to the rest of Altium's products? 

[zapta]

Sigh.  Name the security concerns.  We aren't allowed Linux or Mac because of security concerns. 

That's your opinion and you are entitled to it, but there are other opinions. At work we used to support all three systems  but now windows is discouraged for security reasons and I fully trust our security, they are world class experts.

Saying that anybody that disagrees with you must be ignorant is counter productive for the discussion.

My point here it's not that everybody should drop windows but that it's funny that Altium builds a 'community' for windows users only.

[GeoffS]

As this is a thread about Altium, posts arguing the 'best' operating system have been deleted.

[ehughes]

I really like the comments/collaboration features.   


Looks great!@

[ChrisGammell]

New version looks like the previous Altium Designer (looking at Dave's screenshot), which is a great piece of software. I will definitely be checking this out.

You can hear me laughing at Dave talking about the "cloud" feature starting about 28 minutes here: http://www.theamphour.com/216-last-minute-decisions-obdurate-onepercenter-obstacles

And finally, I actually won't be leaving KiCad because I'm used to it and there are no restrictions. I see it getting better in  the next few years (though it has a ton of problems now as well). If people get sick of the cloud, check out KiCad.info 

[c4757p]

If people get sick of the cloud, check out KiCad.info 

-1, Flamebait 

[msr]

Where can I see the features and limitations of this CircuitMaker?
And why Altium seems to not advertise it on their website?

[ChrisGammell]

How could I resist? This whole subject just tickles me. Watching the handwringing over all these features I shan't message the K word in this thread again

[Rigby]

Where can I see the features and limitations of this CircuitMaker?
And why Altium seems to not advertise it on their website?

It isn't released yet and is in a closed beta.

[zapta]

For those who didn't believe I was telling the truth 
http://circuitmaker.com
Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.
You can sign up on that site.

'Maker', this is an indication of their target market, as opposed to let's say 'Pro'.

[Rigby]

How could I resist? This whole subject just tickles me. Watching the handwringing over all these features I shan't message the K word in this thread again

Mention it all you like.

I reserve judgment on the Altium tool until I've used it.  I've used Altium Designer, though, and it's pretty great. 

I've used Kicad and I'm not sure how anyone can tolerate it.  No one would tolerate the problems that software has if they paid even $1 for it.

The good thing about that it is that anyone using it is going to see impressive improvements in an already useful (to them) tool in the near future.  There's a lot to be said for that.  Kicad could be the most consistently up-to-date EDA software package, soon.

If anything I would like to see more development attention paid to Kicad.  I REALLY hope that CERN can keep up their momentum.

[zapta]

And finally, I actually won't be leaving KiCad because I'm used to it and there are no restrictions. I see it getting better in  the next few years (though it has a ton of problems now as well). If people get sick of the cloud, check out KiCad.info 

Kicad and the other CM competitors do support the cloud, it's call github.  ;-)

https://github.com/zapta/power-monitors/commit/cbf68082d77411b56746d49a4da8005c6a9a07c6

What Altrium brings is a better collaboration because the system understands the semantic of the design files.  This is an old practice in other file types (software source code, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc) but not sure if it was done for EDA files. Other aspects that may be useful are workflows (you submit your change, it goes through review/fix/approval, and then you merge it in) and versioning.

The cloud thing is very good if done right and with no artificial restrictions. For example your Kicad forums  https://forum.kicad.info/  and Amp Hour repository http://www.theamphour.com/ are on the cloud and support all three platforms  ;-)

[marshallh]

Looks like the same old DXP with a Ribbon UI bolted on.

It can read proper Altium files as shown by the imx6 Rex sample design. So the files it saves are also in teh same format. Maybe they're encrypted/only save to cloud.