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It's kind of funny, seeing all these articles on HN I finally see one that relates to me :). I remember growing up with Bunnie's Xbox hacks and it got me really

It's kind of funny, seeing all these articles on HN I finally see one that relates to me :). I remember growing up with Bunnie's Xbox hacks and it got me really interested into embedded/hardware stuff. Fast forward to today, I'm working on bringing my dream to create a laptop that doesn't stink, good quality, very Linux friendly and easy to use(by making a easy to use Linux distro). I also want to bring privacy and security by default by leveraging open source tools(including encrypted email and chat). There is a lot of room for growth and the niche markets of developers, hackers and future hackers could one day extend into other markets. Alas my skills in PCB design extend to Motor controllers/drivers. I want to learn how to do High frequency bus design say to make ARM or i7 motherboard designs. If anyone here knows what kind of software to do that sort of thing I'd love to know.

kasbah 13y ago
You mean schematic capture and PCB layout software? - KiCAD: http://www.kicad-pcb.org/ http://www.kicad-pcb.org/ - Eagle: http://www.cadsoftusa.com http://www.cadsoftusa.com Are the most popular entry level ones. You can make an ARM or i7 board with either. I think Bunnie is using Altium which is much more pricey.
- fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
  See also: - DipTrace: http://www.diptrace.com/ http://www.diptrace.com/ (probably best bang/buck in terms of capabilities/learning time) - gEDA: http://www.geda-project.org/ http://www.geda-project.org/ (not a beginner tool) - Fritzing: http://fritzing.org/download/ http://fritzing.org/download/ (super beginner tool)
  - malexw 13y ago
    And the YC-backed start-up, Upverter: http://upverter.com/ http://upverter.com/
michaelt 13y ago
I'm in a similar situation - I don't claim to be an expert, but I have a plan to gain expertise. Software-wise, Altium is one popular choice (I've used this and I like it; bunnie uses it [1] as does Dave of eevblog) and another is Cadence Orcad (I haven't used this myself, but the SABRE schematics come in this format). These are both expensive; Cadence has a range of options, from a standard version 1 year license costing $1,300 to an advanced version perpetual license costing $9,995 [2] - for Altium 1 year is $1,750 and a perpetual license is $5,495 [3]. Piracy protection used to be weak, and I'm not up-to-date on how easy it is to bypass. Like Photoshop, people used to say the companies turned a blind eye to non-professional users who were learning. This may have changed recently, I don't know. Anyway, on to my plan to learn this stuff. Bunnie's planned laptop uses a Freescale i.MX 6 processor. It seems pretty feature-packed as a processor. Among other things, Freescale seem to offer some good design documentation; they have evaluation boards [4] where they give out not just pdf schematics and gerbers but also the CAD software files. They also have extensive design documentation. Public datasheets, Hardware Development Guide, Processor Reference Manual and so on [5]. I've also discovered getting prototypes assembled in china is cheaper than I expected [6] - a few hundred rather than a few thousand dollars. My provisional plan is to read all that freescale documentation, take one of the freescale board reference designs, then to basically produce a cut down version mostly by deleting components I'm not fussed about, then to get that made and see if it works. That's my plan - whether it will work or be possible for the amount of money I have not remains to be seen :) and needless to say if an expert comes along to reply to you, maybe they'd have feedback for me too :) [1] http://andrew.huang.usesthis.com/ http://andrew.huang.usesthis.com/ [2] http://www.ema-eda.com/Products/CadenceOrCAD/OrCADPCBDesignerSuite.aspx http://www.ema-eda.com/Products/CadenceOrCAD/OrCADPCBDesigne... [3] http://www.altium.com/files/pdfs/altium%20designer%202013%20pricing.pdf http://www.altium.com/files/pdfs/altium%20designer%202013%20... Altium is one popular choice; another is Cadence Orcad. [4] http://www.freescale.com/SABRESDB http://www.freescale.com/SABRESDB [5] http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=i.MX6S&tab=Documentation_Tab&linkline=Data%20Sheets&fpsp=1 http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?co... [6] http://www.7pcbassembly.com/PCB-assembly-price.php http://www.7pcbassembly.com/PCB-assembly-price.php
- joezydeco 13y ago

kasbah 13y ago

You mean schematic capture and PCB layout software? - KiCAD: http://www.kicad-pcb.org/ http://www.kicad-pcb.org/ - Eagle: http://www.cadsoftusa.com http://www.cadsoftusa.com Are the most popular entry level ones. You can make an ARM or i7 board with either. I think Bunnie is using Altium which is much more pricey.

fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
See also: - DipTrace: http://www.diptrace.com/ http://www.diptrace.com/ (probably best bang/buck in terms of capabilities/learning time) - gEDA: http://www.geda-project.org/ http://www.geda-project.org/ (not a beginner tool) - Fritzing: http://fritzing.org/download/ http://fritzing.org/download/ (super beginner tool)
- malexw 13y ago
  And the YC-backed start-up, Upverter: http://upverter.com/ http://upverter.com/

michaelt 13y ago

I'm in a similar situation - I don't claim to be an expert, but I have a plan to gain expertise. Software-wise, Altium is one popular choice (I've used this and I like it; bunnie uses it [1] as does Dave of eevblog) and another is Cadence Orcad (I haven't used this myself, but the SABRE schematics come in this format). These are both expensive; Cadence has a range of options, from a standard version 1 year license costing $1,300 to an advanced version perpetual license costing $9,995 [2] - for Altium 1 year is $1,750 and a perpetual license is $5,495 [3]. Piracy protection used to be weak, and I'm not up-to-date on how easy it is to bypass. Like Photoshop, people used to say the companies turned a blind eye to non-professional users who were learning. This may have changed recently, I don't know. Anyway, on to my plan to learn this stuff. Bunnie's planned laptop uses a Freescale i.MX 6 processor. It seems pretty feature-packed as a processor. Among other things, Freescale seem to offer some good design documentation; they have evaluation boards [4] where they give out not just pdf schematics and gerbers but also the CAD software files. They also have extensive design documentation. Public datasheets, Hardware Development Guide, Processor Reference Manual and so on [5]. I've also discovered getting prototypes assembled in china is cheaper than I expected [6] - a few hundred rather than a few thousand dollars. My provisional plan is to read all that freescale documentation, take one of the freescale board reference designs, then to basically produce a cut down version mostly by deleting components I'm not fussed about, then to get that made and see if it works. That's my plan - whether it will work or be possible for the amount of money I have not remains to be seen :) and needless to say if an expert comes along to reply to you, maybe they'd have feedback for me too :) [1] http://andrew.huang.usesthis.com/ http://andrew.huang.usesthis.com/ [2] http://www.ema-eda.com/Products/CadenceOrCAD/OrCADPCBDesignerSuite.aspx http://www.ema-eda.com/Products/CadenceOrCAD/OrCADPCBDesigne... [3] http://www.altium.com/files/pdfs/altium%20designer%202013%20pricing.pdf http://www.altium.com/files/pdfs/altium%20designer%202013%20... Altium is one popular choice; another is Cadence Orcad. [4] http://www.freescale.com/SABRESDB http://www.freescale.com/SABRESDB [5] http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=i.MX6S&tab=Documentation_Tab&linkline=Data%20Sheets&fpsp=1 http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?co... [6] http://www.7pcbassembly.com/PCB-assembly-price.php http://www.7pcbassembly.com/PCB-assembly-price.php

joezydeco 13y ago