Help with transitioning to DipTrace schematic diagrams
MJHanagan
Posts: 189
I am just starting the transition from ExpressSCH to DipTrace and seem to be stumbling with the various ways of connecting pins and wires. In ExpressSCH you essentially had to options (1) directly using wires, or (2) using "Net connectors". The net connectors were nice for connecting various things together without wires running all over the place cluttering up the page and for wiring components on different sheets together. Simply place a "net" icon down and type in a name - all nets with the same name are automatically connected together.
In DipTrace there seems to be more methods to do this but the documentation is lacking. Their video tutorial is good but glosses over this particular topic without any detail. I tried posting on their forum but in essence they said read the documentation.
Since Parallax has adopted DipTrace as their "official"? schematic software I thought I would try asking in this forum.
What I would like some advice on in particular is this: what is the best way to create connections between the Props I/O pins and the various sub-circuits drawn on other sheets?
I am always starting with a Propeller module (GG PropUSB, or now the Parallax QuickStart module) so I start with the headers to connect to these module boards. When starting with GG PropUSB module it will consist of two 16-pin headers for Prop's 32 I/O pins, two 4-pin headers for the Vin, V5, V3.3 and Vss pins, and then add the other wire to board connectors specific to the particular project under construction.
I downloaded the GG PropUSB DipTrace schematic hoping to get some hints as to how to do this but I still dont see how to do this easily. On the GG PropUSB schematic there are two BOTTOM CONNECTORs; one on Sheet1 as NetPort8 and the other on Sheet2 as Netport5. How does DipTrace know these are the same and how can I connect, say the output of an LM393 on Sheet3 to pin 8 on the Prop without using a wire? Ideally, when I do this there should be some type of indicator on the output pin of the LM393 like to PP8.
Can anyone shed some light on how best to accomplish this?
In DipTrace there seems to be more methods to do this but the documentation is lacking. Their video tutorial is good but glosses over this particular topic without any detail. I tried posting on their forum but in essence they said read the documentation.
Since Parallax has adopted DipTrace as their "official"? schematic software I thought I would try asking in this forum.
What I would like some advice on in particular is this: what is the best way to create connections between the Props I/O pins and the various sub-circuits drawn on other sheets?
I am always starting with a Propeller module (GG PropUSB, or now the Parallax QuickStart module) so I start with the headers to connect to these module boards. When starting with GG PropUSB module it will consist of two 16-pin headers for Prop's 32 I/O pins, two 4-pin headers for the Vin, V5, V3.3 and Vss pins, and then add the other wire to board connectors specific to the particular project under construction.
I downloaded the GG PropUSB DipTrace schematic hoping to get some hints as to how to do this but I still dont see how to do this easily. On the GG PropUSB schematic there are two BOTTOM CONNECTORs; one on Sheet1 as NetPort8 and the other on Sheet2 as Netport5. How does DipTrace know these are the same and how can I connect, say the output of an LM393 on Sheet3 to pin 8 on the Prop without using a wire? Ideally, when I do this there should be some type of indicator on the output pin of the LM393 like to PP8.
Can anyone shed some light on how best to accomplish this?
Comments
I created a 16+1+4 pin header to have the right pin spacing. Probably it would be better to have a part made of 4 connectors with the right PCB footprint in your case.
In my case I used the header for a propUSB clone, but smaller (http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?132904-Propeller-platform-clone-%28thanks-Nick-and-all-the-forum-users%29), so the space between headers was not defined yet. Check the diptrace files in case you find something useful.
When you have a named net you can connect to the net even without wiring (right click on the pin and select the net).
Massimo