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LibrePCB
- phkahler 3y ago"A LibrePCB library is more than just a collection of stupid graphics for symbols and footprints" This lack of professionalism is a bit off-putting to me. Just saying, don't put stuff like that on your front page.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- anamexis 3y agoI don't read it as unprofessional, just the opposite of "smart" in the sense of "smart light bulb" vs "stupid light bulb"
- OJFord 3y agoI was going to disagree with you (not least because 'dumb' is the established antonym) - but it is under the heading 'smart library concept', I think you're right, and maybe it's the victim of translation. (There's some other word choice that's correct and makes sense, but seems a little unusual, that makes me think/supports that.)
- Zambyte 3y agoWhat makes you think their goal is "professionalism"?
- kube-system 3y agoDevelopers and sponsors who support the project as part of their profession.
- dymk 3y agoThey presumably want to be taken seriously, and not just as some hobby thing
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- synergy20 3y agohttps://easyeda.com/ https://easyeda.com/ is another alternative that has PCB factories backing it up.
- jpm_sd 3y agoA feature comparison against KiCAD and Horizon would be helpful? https://www.kicad.org/ https://www.kicad.org/ https://horizon-eda.org/ https://horizon-eda.org/
- dbrgn 3y agoThe FAQ does not contain a direct comparison, but might answer some questions: https://librepcb.org/faq/ https://librepcb.org/faq/ One of the main "selling points" is the advanced library concept: https://librepcb.org/features/library-concept/ https://librepcb.org/features/library-concept/
- bsder 3y agoThere are two types of PCB designers: 1) Those who believe in library managers 2) Those delivering boards on a regular basis The vast majority of time in PCB design is spent reading datasheets. The second largest chunk of time is spent doing the engineering schematic design and analysis. After that is PCB placement. After that is building schematic and PCB symbols. After that is actual routing. Yes, building library symbols annoys me. It's tedious and error prone. However, it's integral to your design and you can't skimp. The sooner you accept that, that better off you will be. (A good example is your vias underneath a QFN for power and heat transfer. If your via rules change because you have a different board house, some of your physical symbols may need to change slightly. This sucks, and no library manager is ever going to solve this.)
- junon 3y agoI agree with you. That doesn't mean that Kicad's library system is great, though. It's bananas annoying to deal with.
- bsder 3y agoEvery PCB library manager is bananas annoying to deal with. Altium's was no better, IMO. Nor Orcad's. Library managers for PCB design have all the same pathologies as bug ticketing systems in software development.
- geppetto 3y agoLooks exactly like Kicad...
- regularfry 3y agoLooks like it's (at least) got faster feedback between schematic and layout.
- NikkiA 3y agoIt looks like any other standard EDA, naturally, but workflow is noticably different to KiCad, which is a good thing.
- valdiorn 3y agoIs this PCBWay challenging JLCPCB and EasyEDA? Looks like it. I welcome it, EasyEDA and the super slick integration with JLCPCB is a killer feature and the reason I use JLC exclusively for all my boards. If this works well I might give PCBWay a try.
- dbrgn 3y agoLibrePCB is not developed by PCBWay. They started supporting the project last year: https://librepcb.org/blog/2022-09-08_partnership_with_pcbway/ https://librepcb.org/blog/2022-09-08_partnership_with_pcbway... Other fabs support it too (namely Aisler) by donating a share of the income from orders submitted from LibrePCB.
- LeifCarrotson 3y agoThat's really the killer feature for you? I do have the advantage of one lab back in college where a pro spent 90 minutes instructing a bunch of teenagers how to prepare Gerbers for a class project through Advanced Circuits, but beyond that I've had no problems sending files to OSH Park, JLC, PCBWay, Sunstone, or Advanced Circuits whether they were generated in Eagle, Kicad, or Altium. Even at the low-margin providers like JLC and PCBway they still have a human look over your gerbers (and most provide web viewers for you to see what you've uploaded in those files) to make sure you're not going to order the inverse of your board, or make all your vias unplated, or swap your copper and silkscreen layers, or anything goofy like that. If you do screw up the design, that's on you and the tools won't help, but prices are dirt cheap and turnaround times are screaming fast these days, so it shouldn't be too bad. I don't understand why newcomers find plotting to gerbers so intimidating.
- chinabot 3y agointegration with LCSC for parts and assembly is a killer feature though. I loved getting my PCBs back but then if you need to solder on dozens of 0603 caps and a BGA package it just became another thing to get wrong. As my eyes and coordination are not as good as they were hitting buy now and having fully assembled boards come back for basically the cost of the parts and the PCB was game changing for me.
- dbrgn 3y agoJust a few days ago, version 1.0 was released. Release blogpost: https://librepcb.org/blog/2023-09-24_release_1.0.0/ https://librepcb.org/blog/2023-09-24_release_1.0.0/
- gorenb 3y agoThis is exactly what I was looking for.
- kachurovskiy 3y agoDo we have a ChatGPT-style workflow for PCBs on the horizon yet?
- stn8188 3y agoDefinitely not GPT-style, but there are quite a few examples of ML/AI integration with EDA. For example: Startup looking at a post-layout DFM check workflow: https://cadstrom.io/ https://cadstrom.io/ Cadence is probably the biggest EDA company talking about ML/AI in the PCB space (that I've noticed) with their recently announced "Allegro X" stuff. The videos are mostly marketing fluff, but they seem to be on track with what I'd expect for "AI assisted PCB design". https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/pcb-design-and-analysis/allegro-x-design-platform.html https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/pcb-design-and-anal... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlWfSQq0NkA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlWfSQq0NkA They also have a neat machine-learning optimization tool for their electronics simulations: https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/system-analysis/optimality.html https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/system-analysis/opt... On the chip-design side of EDA, both Cadence and Synopsys have a bunch of AI-assisted tools that supposedly are being used right now. I'm not as familiar with that stuff so I prefer to read the humorous Deep Chip summaries: http://www.deepchip.com/items/0593-08.html http://www.deepchip.com/items/0593-08.html And lastly, there's some recently published and soon-to-be-published work showing that there's potential to speed up electromagnetic simulations with neural nets. It's all just proof-of-concept for now, but I'm hoping this proves that ML/AI can be can be integrated in a useful manner in commercial electromagnetic solvers :) https://shielddigitaldesign.com/posts/2022/ml-replace-field-solver/ https://shielddigitaldesign.com/posts/2022/ml-replace-field-... https://shielddigitaldesign.com/posts/2023/s-param-from-via/ https://shielddigitaldesign.com/posts/2023/s-param-from-via/
- AdamH12113 3y agoI think there are too many steps with too many opportunities for failure and too little training data for such a thing to be feasible for the foreseeable future. Almost any small error of the kind that GPTs produce can prevent your board from working or destroy components. Picking the wrong part number or connecting the wrong pins is a hard fail that costs a fair bit of time and money to fix. Softer error like picking the wrong capacitor value for an RC filter or using bad trace routing would be tricky to debug. Maybe a better approach would be to have an LLM generate RTL code for an FPGA.
- Animats 3y agoThe usual questions: - How comprehensive is the part library? - Is there auto-routing? How good is it? - "Import formats: DXF". For what, the board outline? DXF is for mechanical CAD. You can't import a board layout or schematic that way. - "Export formats: PDF, SVG, pixmap, BOM, pick&place, Gerber/Excellon". None of which have enough info for import into another EDA program. This thing is very self-contained, which is unusual for an open source program. This seems to be is a marketing tool for some board maker. "At this time, you can choose either AISLER or PCBWay as the PCB manufacturer. With every order you start with LibrePCB Fab (or direct .lppz upload on the AISLER website), they will make a 'donation' to the LibrePCB project."
- Alupis 3y ago> Is there auto-routing? How good is it? Why do people always ask for this? It's a feature only newbies use, and once a project becomes even slightly less than trivial, the best auto-routing tools fall face down. There's an awful lot more to PCB design than just physically fitting the components on the board.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoNewbies probably value it as it’s a feature newbies use. Newbies are people too. (Disclaimer: I’m a EDA newbie myself, so I value it)
- stvltvs 3y agoIt's been a long while since I've designed PCB, but doesn't auto-routing provide a good starting point that the designer can refine? I remember it reducing a lot of grunt work.
- Alupis 3y agoIt creates more problems than it solves for anything but very trivial layouts. It has no comprehension of the actual components it's placing, or the nets it's routing. So it'll find a physical layout that matches your schematic in a logical sense, but the actual circuit may not work when it's finally assembled (ADC placed next to a switching power supply, for example). Some components have strict tolerances or needs, and some types of designs require special considerations. So, a newbie will click the button to auto-route and then have the board fabricated and then do the final assembly - then wonder why it doesn't work, or it sometimes works, etc. If you don't have the skills and knowledge to do the layout the "right" way, you likely don't have the skills or knowledge to debug a bad board layout. PCB layout is not trivial. Some folks spend an entire career doing just PCB layout. For low-speed trivial designs, you can get away with a lot of bad practices, but it's best to invest some small amount of time learning the craft. However, general rule of thumb, if your design works on a breadboard then you can probably make it work on a PCB... probably.
- bvanderveen 3y ago> No online account. Among the nerds, the backlash has started. Watch out, Fusion 360. In the world of doing stuff with atoms, no one ever wanted their drafting table to have authentication, ACL, 2FA, or storage/backup.
- ShadowBanThis01 3y ago[flagged]
- mkl 3y agoFrom the website, second paragraph. Their point is pretty clear in their comment.
- ShadowBanThis01 3y agoNo it isn't, or I wouldn't have asked. Is he mocking people who hate "online account" requirements, or supporting them? You can't tell from "no one ever wanted their drafting table to have authentication, ACL, 2FA, or storage/backup," because those things on their own aren't inherently objectionable. Is it a sarcastic comment, or in earnest? So... you're wrong.
- ShadowBanThis01 3y ago[flagged]
- dang 3y agoCould you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
- AYBABTME 3y agoI wish there was some "here are basic building blocks to achieve XYZ" for real beginners who just want to hack something together. E.g. I would like a 48VDC-48VDC battery-to-battery charger, but I have no idea how to get started. I'm sure this is a fairly simple design (I guess boost voltage and then do CC/CV).
- alexose 3y agoIt would be cool if someone borrowed from the Factorio interface and let you paste in blueprints. I'm not an experienced enough PCB designer to know how terrible of an idea this is, but it sounds mildly feasible.
- RF_Savage 3y agoLike reuse-blocks tuat have a qualified design and layout on it?
- 15155 3y agoFor low-speed and low-current stuff you can generally copy/place placement and routing of DC-DC converters. 2L->4L may require some retooling, but 4L+ is all the same.
- rcxdude 3y agoYou can do this, though the interface tends to be clunky. It can he valuable but mostly for between different designs done in-house, no-one is trying to make easily reusable building blocks at this level (unlike footprints, where people are at least trying, but not generally succeeding)
- Aurornis 3y ago> I'm sure this is a fairly simple design Not simple at all. Switching regulators are sensitive to PCB layout, component selection, and parasitics of the PCB itself. You can’t really treat switching regulator schematics as cut-and-paste building blocks like this because the layout requires an understanding of how the circuit works, where the switching nodes are, and how to organize everything to keep parasitics low. If you take a random 48V switching regulator schematic and lay it out without understanding these details, you’re likely to blow the switch up from ringing or at least have terrible EMI radiation. The basic building blocks for beginners would be more like low-speed logic circuits and simple microcontrollers circuits. Jumping into medium voltage switching regulators and battery charging (which can result in fires very easily if you’re not careful) is far from simple.
- codazoda 3y agoAs a total noob, will this help me design my first parts using a kit like a Pico W kit with motors, switches, LEDs and such? Will the ECD be helpful in making sure I get stuff close-ish?
- eternityforest 3y agoThis project is amazing. I tested it out by seeing how far o could get only ever briefly glancing at the manual, I was able to make parts and put them on the board. I have high hopes for this one! Hopefully I'll get to work on a hardware project again and really try it out, I haven't had a reason to do any custom electronics lately though, and it's z but expensive and clutter creating to do on a whim very often.
- z3ugma 3y agoI've used LibrePCB to put together 2 different PCB designs for hobby IOT use. I found it very easy to import parts from vendor sites, and/or take PNG images of other boards like hats that will fit with the PCB I'm designing.
- bredren 3y agoMy first job out of undergrad was doing pre-sales on what was Mentor Graphics' (acquired) PADS PCB design tool. As part of our jobs, our small group of people in their early 20s would handle this inbound phone number for NA and any voicemail that came in after hours. We'd do basic qualification, write up the lead and if it was good pass it to the inside sales rep who managed whatever region it came from. I remember looking at the license holders and it seemed like everyone had at least a few licenses to that product. Siemens owns all that now. Curious how PADS stacks up today, if anyone is familiar with the tool.
- RF_Savage 3y agoIt is fast, but clunky. Up until recently it was the only tool I was aware of where multiple people could genuinely work on the same design. So it's true value is in large, complex designs with a decently sized team working on it. That said kicad is catching up to it for all the simpler stuff.
- e-_pusher 3y agoIt is still used widely in China and Taiwan. PADS is ok but it has a clunky and dated interface. It’s more capable older cousin Xpedition is used heavily in aerospace and medical design applications.
- dingosity 3y agoGPLv3 and librepcb-cli source isn't published. what?