EEVblog #527 - Altium Entry Level PCB Tool Rant

[DerekG]

Seriously, will be waiting with baited breath to see just what will be "FREE".

Knowing Altium, nothing will be free. Hell, in the early days they did not even have a free demo!

Dave says a cut down version is on its way. The 2 questions are:

1/ How "cut down" will it be?

and

2/ How much will Altium charge for the "cut down" version?

I will bet that they will not allow more than 100 components .............. maybe it will only be 50 or 75.

[ludzinc]

if it is not half crippled it will be kicking butt !

Let's just say that overall I'm not disappointed with the direction they are headed.

Did you get onto the Beta testing team?

[EEVblog]

Knowing Altium, nothing will be free. Hell, in the early days they did not even have a free demo!

Yes, there will be a free version.

I will bet that they will not allow more than 100 components

100 components is actually a lot these days...

[EEVblog]

Did you get onto the Beta testing team?

There is no beta testing program just yet. But I have seen it.

[DerekG]

100 components is actually a lot these days...

Yes, with micros you are quite correct.

Maybe I should edit my post above to say "I bet it does not include more than 25 components."

[EEVblog]

Maybe I should edit my post above to say "I bet it does not include more than 25 components."

Well, we'll see when it's announced.
I don't know the exact restriction figures, but their approach to restrictions will be fairly unique. I was impressed by how well they had thought about it.

[zapta]

Well, we'll see when it's announced.
I don't know the exact restriction figures, but their approach to restrictions will be fairly unique. I was impressed by how well they had thought about it.

Will it be intuitive and easy to use?

Several people mentioned how complex it is which can be a problem for the hobbyist market.

[bookaboo]

You would expect the free version to be limited to such an extent that it's only really useful for really small projects. The real question (for me anyway) is what's the price point for a product that can do large schematic and PCB layout 4-layers and spit out some nice gerbers. No need for simulation or FPGA stuff here, hell I don't even use an autorouter.

[Rigby]

Well, we'll see when it's announced.
I don't know the exact restriction figures, but their approach to restrictions will be fairly unique. I was impressed by how well they had thought about it.

Will it be intuitive and easy to use?

Several people mentioned how complex it is which can be a problem for the hobbyist market.

Compared to Eagle or KiCad, Altium is so easy my dog could use it.  I'm not sure how much experience the people you're hearing "Altium is complex" from actually have.

The rest of you: Dave already said he can't talk about it.  Stop asking questions, cripes.  Asking questions won't make it come out any sooner, and he can't answer with specific details, so what the hell are you aiming for when you ask questions?  Patience is a virtue, and impatience is the root of most evil, if not all.

[mikeselectricstuff]

My guess would be an announcement at Electronex

Wrong target market.

Maker faire then..?

[Rasz]

My guess would be an announcement at Electronex

Wrong target market.

Maker faire then..?

if only there was one coming soon, preferably in Australia ..

[EEVblog]

Will it be intuitive and easy to use?
Several people mentioned how complex it is which can be a problem for the hobbyist market.

Yes, and that is why the rumors are true (beta testers have seen an old version), it's a new program with a new name, and not Altium Designer. Altium came to the same conclusion that beginners and the low end market need an easier to use tool, and that the full blown Altium Designer doesn't really cut it in that regard. That is why they didn't go down the route of simply restricting features in the current version of Altium Designer.

[zapta]

Yes, and that is why the rumors are true (beta testers have seen an old version), it's a new program with a new name, and not Altium Designer. Altium came to the same conclusion that beginners and the low end market need an easier to use tool, and that the full blown Altium Designer doesn't really cut it in that regard

That sounds very good. Can you say if it will be Windows only? Eagle, Kicad and DipTrace support all three main OS's.

[DerekG]

Yes, and that is why the rumors are true (beta testers have seen an old version), it's a new program with a new name, and not Altium Designer.

"Altium Easy" would be a good name for a low end version. I just hope they keep the same shortcut menus in place to make it easy for people to move up to AD14 at some later time.

[DerekG]

Can you say if it will be Windows only? Eagle, Kicad and DipTrace support all three main OS's.

Altium have snubbed their nose at iOS & Linux for years.

I would not expect Altium to reverse track now.

[EEVblog]

Can you say if it will be Windows only?

Yep.

[free_electron]

Can you say if it will be Windows only? Eagle, Kicad and DipTrace support all three main OS's.

Altium have snubbed their nose at iOS & Linux for years.

I would not expect Altium to reverse track now.

when are you going to understand that it is not a matter of snubbing.

NOBODY in the electronics industry uses iOS. Even Mac's are designed using windows boxes ! There is no market there. Neither cadence nor mentor nor any other big boy design software is made for ios.

As for linux . .same story. Chip design tools traditionally coming from the unix world have been ported because solaris has gone the way ofthe wind. but even then its Red hat or nothing. any other distro : you are on your own.

[ludzinc]

Yes, and that is why the rumors are true (beta testers have seen an old version), it's a new program with a new name, and not Altium Designer.

"Altium Easy" would be a good name for a low end version. I just hope they keep the same shortcut menus in place to make it easy for people to move up to AD14 at some later time.

I'd love them to resurrect Autotrax as the product name. 

[DerekG]

I'd love them to resurrect Autotrax as the product name.

Too late. They let the name go many years ago and now Iliya Kovac uses it extensively.

http://kov.com/

[EEVblog]

Too late. They let the name go many years ago and now Iliya Kovac uses it extensively.
http://kov.com/

Yes, as I understand it, Altium let the trademark on that name slip (or hadn't trademarked it?) and he snapped it up.
Altium were not happy, but in the end didn't pursue it.

[zapta]

Can you say if it will be Windows only?

Yep.

This will a show stopper for me.  Currently using Eagle, eying Kicad down the road.

[tautech]

Dave, is there any word on what library/libraries might be included?

[EEVblog]

Dave, is there any word on what library/libraries might be included?

Yes, but I'm not sure if I should discuss that.
Suffice it to say that currently the libraries are only available if you are a paying subscriber.

[EEVblog]

This will a show stopper for me.

That's too bad, because tons of electronics and engineering programs are only available on Windows.
You can always use an emulator, some people do that.

[tautech]

Dave, is there any word on what library/libraries might be included?

Yes, but I'm not sure if I should discuss that.
Suffice it to say that currently the libraries are only available if you are a paying subscriber.

Fine, but there are Altium libraries available and one might hope they could be linked/imported/used in this new version.
Maybe a pro user could bring his favorite library home from work to use?

Could this be the start of a new WWW Altium library industry?