Schematics in posts

Tapperman

I've noticed that some of the posts show schematics of the project connected with the software ... Where do you get the software to generate what appears to be ASCII, for including in a post?
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PJAllen

If it's ASCII art then it's just characters, strategically placed.· Something else that you may have seen (??)·may have used the special·schematics characters set included with the Propeller IDE.

Tapperman

Thankyou ... I thought perhaps someone had come up with a tool to make schematic docs easier ... would remove much confusion if circuit could be included in comments with the basic stamp code (all wrapped up nice and neat)

sylvie369

It's not ASCII art, but you can save schematics from Eagle as images, and upload them using the Attachment Manager. It seems to work, right?

Of course that means learning Eagle, which is kind of a pain.

Tapperman

Thankx, I've been using expressPCB ... takes some getting used to ... but I had seen a few examples in the propeller section (just purchased the professional propeller board!! "xmas to myself") and I thought there might be an application I was unaware of that would place the schematic in the original source code.

That (to me) would be the ideal way to go ... everything together in one file. As it stands right now, I have to put links in my source code, so I can find my schematic.

And as far as Eagle goes, I'm not opposed to learning a new application ... keeps me on my toes. And helps me understand things (I might otherwise miss), when someone cites specifics.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

If you're using the Propeller IDE, you can create limited schematics directly in the source code. From the menu, click Help->View Character Chart... Clicking on any of the schematic component characters there will insert them into your code. It's tedious, but it works.

-Phil

Tracy Allen

Almost a lost art now. It is still useful for quick illustrations, like,

p1 ----/\/\---->|-----Vss
           1k       led

To do it right, it has to be done with a monospace font like Monaco or Courier and within a system that does not mess with the formatting. That is fine for quick illustrations within a STAMP program. On the forum, it almost has to be done within a [noparse][[/noparse] code] block. And it has be be previewed/edited to make multiline art register correctly. The font buiilt into the Propeller IDE for making schematics gives very nice results and is much more flexible than vintage ascii art, but as Phil says, it is tedious, and just like the vintage version, you have to learn a lot of tricks. The propeller font unfortunately does not show up in the forum listings, I think, although Phil has probably figured out a way to do it.

GIFs or PNGs made from a screen shot can be very small files and work fine as forum attachments, but not as quick attchments to PBASIC code.

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Tracy Allen
www.emesystems.com

Tapperman

Thankyou Tracy & Phil ... I really appreciate the input this forum provides for new users (such as myself) ... wonderfull way to make friends too. Happy new year to all.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Tracy's right: the Propeller font does not show up in the forums without some effort. You can modify the Parallax forum's CSS file to specify parallax.ttf as the default font for [noparse][[/noparse]code] blocks and store it on your PC. Then set your browser to "user mode" instead of "author mode" to activate it. But that doesn't help everyone else, who would have to do the same.

My recommendation is to obtain a copy of DesignWorks Lite. It's a steal at $39.95, and the learning curve is virtually nil. Then you can copy and paste the schematics you create with it into a paint program to save as a GIF, which you can post to the forum.

-Phil

Tapperman

Thanx, just downloaded the 30 day trial version ... more later