4 ms·

Having used Eagle, KiCAD, and several others, my current favorite is Fritzing. It's quite easy to use and has a large library of built-in parts. Creating new

by wyager 11y ago

Having used Eagle, KiCAD, and several others, my current favorite is Fritzing. It's quite easy to use and has a large library of built-in parts. Creating new parts is pretty easy compared to other software I've used. Performance leaves a bit to be desired, but this doesn't become a problem except for pretty large circuits.

ChrisGammell 11y ago
I've heard others say the same recently. I've always liked their intuitive breadboarding stuff, though haven't used it much. A lot of user-facing friendliness, which KiCad lacks to be sure. Normally I'd call out the "built in libraries" as a false thing to optimize for, but since you mention making your own components, I assume you're willing to move outside of that as well, so that's good to hear. Most people assume every part should have a library component which is simply never going to be the case in electronics. Even if there were a library for every component, I usually only trust the parts I have made, verified and tested myself. Been burned too many times.
blackguardx 11y ago
Out of all the open CAD packages, Fritzing takes the UI win but fails for advanced users by only supporting 2-layer boards (unless this has changed?).
- wyager 11y ago
  Nope, still two-layer only. I'm actually pretty disappointed with their PCB UI. It makes a lot of assumptions about the existence of layers, and their ambiguous selection is really bad. For example, I often cannot select a small part for moving if there are too many airwires nearby, because fritzing always seems to prioritize airwires. I end up having to disable the ratsnest layer just to move a part. There's also a move vs create wire ambiguity that's really annoying. I guess I've just found that this is somehow less annoying than the problems with other PCB softwares.

4 ms·

Having used Eagle, KiCAD, and several others, my current favorite is Fritzing. It's quite easy to use and has a large library of built-in parts. Creating new

by wyager 11y ago

ChrisGammell 11y ago
I've heard others say the same recently. I've always liked their intuitive breadboarding stuff, though haven't used it much. A lot of user-facing friendliness, which KiCad lacks to be sure. Normally I'd call out the "built in libraries" as a false thing to optimize for, but since you mention making your own components, I assume you're willing to move outside of that as well, so that's good to hear. Most people assume every part should have a library component which is simply never going to be the case in electronics. Even if there were a library for every component, I usually only trust the parts I have made, verified and tested myself. Been burned too many times.
blackguardx 11y ago
Out of all the open CAD packages, Fritzing takes the UI win but fails for advanced users by only supporting 2-layer boards (unless this has changed?).
- wyager 11y ago
  Nope, still two-layer only. I'm actually pretty disappointed with their PCB UI. It makes a lot of assumptions about the existence of layers, and their ambiguous selection is really bad. For example, I often cannot select a small part for moving if there are too many airwires nearby, because fritzing always seems to prioritize airwires. I end up having to disable the ratsnest layer just to move a part. There's also a move vs create wire ambiguity that's really annoying. I guess I've just found that this is somehow less annoying than the problems with other PCB softwares.