DipTrace have released a new version of their PCB and Schematic capture software. There’s a free version available that is only limited on the number of PCB sides (two) and the number of pads. The actual board area can be almost unlimited.
I use a licenced version for all my projects as I needed the increased number of pads, but for smaller boards the free version may be suitable. The good thing is that the free version can open up files created with the licenced versions, and print them out. This means that I can include the original PCB artwork files with my projects and people can print out original PCB foils for use when making their own PCB’s.
I’ve just about completed my Evaporator project. Needless to say, there’s been a little bit of scope creep and I had to make some alterations to the final design; but there all positive I think.
It’s funny how we get spoilt by things. I can remember buying one and two line, sixteen/thirty-two character black on grey LCD displays without backlights, as there wasn’t really much other choice. I raided my parts box for an LCD display for this project and found one of these older displays. After fitting it in the prototype I realised that without the backlight, it was almost unusable; how did we ever manage without backlighting. So I changed to a four line display with back-light; as that’s all I’ve currently got available. The firmware is very simple to change for any display type so it doesn’t really matter for the end user.
Since I’m off on vacation soon, I won’t have time to write the project article text until I return (unless I can somehow slip my laptop into my luggage). Even so, it’s not going to be available for a couple of weeks.
If anybody has any ideas for projects they’d like to see, please let me know.
I use a licenced version for all my projects as I needed the increased number of pads, but for smaller boards the free version may be suitable. The good thing is that the free version can open up files created with the licenced versions, and print them out. This means that I can include the original PCB artwork files with my projects and people can print out original PCB foils for use when making their own PCB’s.
I’ve just about completed my Evaporator project. Needless to say, there’s been a little bit of scope creep and I had to make some alterations to the final design; but there all positive I think.
It’s funny how we get spoilt by things. I can remember buying one and two line, sixteen/thirty-two character black on grey LCD displays without backlights, as there wasn’t really much other choice. I raided my parts box for an LCD display for this project and found one of these older displays. After fitting it in the prototype I realised that without the backlight, it was almost unusable; how did we ever manage without backlighting. So I changed to a four line display with back-light; as that’s all I’ve currently got available. The firmware is very simple to change for any display type so it doesn’t really matter for the end user.
Since I’m off on vacation soon, I won’t have time to write the project article text until I return (unless I can somehow slip my laptop into my luggage). Even so, it’s not going to be available for a couple of weeks.
If anybody has any ideas for projects they’d like to see, please let me know.
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