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Free PCB software from RS! — Parallax Forums

Free PCB software from RS!

LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
edited 2010-07-07 18:27 in General Discussion
RS has just launched DesignSpark PCB, a free PCB package:

uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=pcb&cm_sp=Homepage-uk-_-Online-Quotes-_-Primary-Banner

It's actually a version of a well-known PCB package that I used for over 15 years, from shortly after it was launched.

RS has obviously done it to annoy their main competitor, Farnell, who took over CADsoft (Eagle) a few months ago.

I'll be creating a Propeller part for it, based on my existing Pulsonix part.

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Leon Heller
Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

Comments

  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-07-06 17:50
    I'm downloading it now. Who is RS? When I first saw this, I thought it was RadioShack... but it doesn't look them. I've never heard of RS before.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-07-06 18:05
    They are one of the two biggest electronic suppliers in Europe, Farnell is the other. RS started off as Radiospares, many years ago, selling parts for radio repair shops. They and Farnell are our equivalents of Digi-Key.

    The software has a few irritating omissions, like no buses, but it's quite capable of producing good results and is very easy to use.

    I just created a DIL Propeller part, it's in these library files:

    www.leonheller.com/DesignSpark/Library.zip

    It only took me a few minutes, as I just had to create the schematic symbol, then copy and paste the pin names into the library editor from the Pulsonix library editor.

    Extract the Parallax library files and add them to the DesignSpark library directory. I think you might have to tell DesignSpark about them, in order to use the part. I'll add the QFP part later.

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    Leon Heller
    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

    Post Edited (Leon) : 7/6/2010 6:49:48 PM GMT
  • hover1hover1 Posts: 1,929
    edited 2010-07-07 00:01
    No limitations! Nice find Leon. Bummer, no busses.
    Jim
  • TubularTubular Posts: 4,718
    edited 2010-07-07 01:00
    Interesting, thanks Leon. Seems to be a very generous deal. So, what's the heritage of this software? Was it EasyPC or something like that?

    Perhaps DesignSpark is meant to be the RS version of Farnell's Element14?

    Wjsteele in the US, Farnell is associated with Newark / PremierOne, and RS is associated with AlliedElec.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-07-07 03:22
    It is a stripped-down version of Easy-PC, as is Advanced Circuits PCB Artist. It looks like DesignSpark is the equivalent of Element14. It's a good thing we have two large companies like that here, competing with one another; Digi-Key doesn't have an equal-sized competitor.

    Here is a nice review of it:

    translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=sk&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikrozone.eu%2Fpluginy%2Fcontent%2Fcontent.php%3Fcontent.68&sl=sk&tl=en

    The Google translation (from Czech, I think) is a bit weird in places, but it's quite readable.

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    Leon Heller
    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

    Post Edited (Leon) : 7/7/2010 3:32:01 AM GMT
  • Paul MPaul M Posts: 95
    edited 2010-07-07 13:12
    Leon said...
    RS has obviously done it to annoy their main competitor, Farnell, who took over CADsoft (Eagle) a few months ago.

    Almost certainly as they have provided Eagle ULP's to convert Eagle files into an ascii format that can then be imported into Designspark.

    @Leon
    Thanks for the propellor library which I tried but DesignSpark uses .cml, .ssl, and .psl files for the component, symbol and the pcb symbol. The library folder also contains .ssx,.psx, and .cmx files but I'm not sure how they are related to the .--l files??

    Paul

    Post Edited (Paul M) : 7/7/2010 1:21:55 PM GMT
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-07-07 13:56
    Those are just additional files created by the software. They are used for indexing (hence the 'x'), and aren't needed when installing or giving library parts to other people. If you delete them you will find they are recreated when you next use the software.

    I'm tidying up that part, to conform with my usual standards for symbols.

    I'll be creating a schematic for a minimal Propeller system, and a PCB. Perhaps someone else will beat me to it.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Leon Heller
    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

    Post Edited (Leon) : 7/7/2010 2:01:48 PM GMT
  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-07-07 16:51
    This is a great find, Leon... I've been playing with it and created my first little part with it (a li-po charger.) I'm testing the full development process now.

    Bill
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-07-07 18:27
    I didn't have to do much. I have an RS account and got an email about it a couple of days ago when it was released.

    It's a good idea to create your own libraries for new parts. If you put them in the existing libraries and install an upgrade, you will lose them if the libraries are upgraded.

    Here is the schematic of my minimal Propeller system:

    www.leonheller.com/DesignSpark/Propeller.sch

    and here is a PDF of it:

    www.leonheller.com/DesignSpark/Propeller%20(Schematic).pdf

    I found a minor omission in the user interface, a tooltip on the mouse pointer doesn't appear when it is placed on one of the Toolbar buttons. I've notified the developers.

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    Leon Heller
    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

    Post Edited (Leon) : 7/7/2010 10:05:06 PM GMT
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