vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
This just for battery status. The preamp itself is my Space Heater design, running a 12AX7. Because I need a 12AX7 in my bass.
Bring out yer Diptrace
- Thread starter Grubb
- Start date
Grubb
Well-known member
Have any of my fellow 'tracers worked out how to use the Spice simulation capability inside Diptrace? I get tired of how clunky LTSpice is for laying out components. I realise it probably has limited functions but thought it might be a timesaver to use instead of rebuilding each circuit in LTSpice - if it can give me the information I want.
Bricksnbeatles
Member known well
Quick vent: The UI for Diptrace is such crap on MacOS. It straight up looks like its out of 1998, and it's way more difficult to navigate than the Windows version. Doesn't help that component previews in the schematic capture program are terrible. It'll be quite a while before I can get my desktop running diptrace again, but it's also frustrating not being able to use it on the go at all. Anyone have suggestions for a free PCB cad that actually works on Mac in the meantime? I have a pcb I want to lay out and get ordered ASAP, and diptrace is not being a friend in that matter.
Grubb
Well-known member
I know nothing about Macs but I am wishing you good luck! Hope you can find a worthwhile solution.
JamieJ
Well-known member
Agreed @Bricksnbeatles
I think mine is better since upgrading to the hobbyist version if you haven’t done that already. I’m too committed to diptrace now to want to learn another CAD system.
I find with mine that it often freezes and I need to save a project regularly just in case I have to reload it. At least it’s free.
I think mine is better since upgrading to the hobbyist version if you haven’t done that already. I’m too committed to diptrace now to want to learn another CAD system.
I find with mine that it often freezes and I need to save a project regularly just in case I have to reload it. At least it’s free.
Harry Klippton
Well-known member
If diptrace is giving you Win95 vibes, kicad is Ms DOS
benny_profane
Well-known member
Yeah, KiCAD is pretty retro looking, but it functions pretty well on Mac. There’s a bit of a learning curve with some things, but it’s very capable. It’s also really easy to do rev tracking with GitHub.
I learned/started out with eagle. It has many flaws, but it has the most ‘modern’ GUI of the programs I’ve used.
finebyfine
Well-known member
One program I don't see discussed often are EasyEDA and EasyEDA Pro. There are parts of schematic editing that I couldn't figure out in EasyEDA that I use a lot in Diptrace (I didn't have any incentive to switch though) but IMO as someone who has a hard time using frustrating UIs who has tried Eagle and KiCAD, EasyEDA is pretty user friendly. I'll probably always keep a PC around just for Diptrace when I'm buying a mac soon for my daily driver but I'll test the waters on switching over a bit more fully
Robert
Reverse Engineer
I bought an iMac a couple years ago but DipTrace is a pretty big part of my day so when I realized how bad their implementation was I had to jump ship.
It might be more usable in a virtual Windows session, but I figured if I was going to do that I might as well just keep my Windows machine.
A lot of folks use Eagle, so it's obviously more than capable, but the UI is just so awkward and unusual that when I found DipTrace there was no looking back. DipTrace behaves like you'd expect a standard Windows application to behave. There wasn't much of a learning curve to figuring out basic functionality if you've use any other drag-and-drop type application.
KiCAD is a bit unusual as well, but I figure if I was going to struggle through the learning process all over again I might as well go for a free and open-source option. I think it is improving, however.
It might be more usable in a virtual Windows session, but I figured if I was going to do that I might as well just keep my Windows machine.
A lot of folks use Eagle, so it's obviously more than capable, but the UI is just so awkward and unusual that when I found DipTrace there was no looking back. DipTrace behaves like you'd expect a standard Windows application to behave. There wasn't much of a learning curve to figuring out basic functionality if you've use any other drag-and-drop type application.
KiCAD is a bit unusual as well, but I figure if I was going to struggle through the learning process all over again I might as well go for a free and open-source option. I think it is improving, however.
swyse
Well-known member
I use easyeda for all my pcb work and I found it very intuitive and especially convenient if you're using JLCPCB and LCSC as well.
vigilante398
Authorized Vendor
I tried Eagle when I was still shopping around for programs, and I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted it to do. I spent more time watching tutorials than actually working my design. DipTrace is just about the most intuitive thing out there in my opinion.
finebyfine
Well-known member
swyse
Well-known member
I was just looking at that the other day, I never found out what rotate does.
Passinwind
Well-known member
I finally got around to downloading KiCAD v6 last week and there have definitely been substantial improvements from v5. Once they get the integration with Spice fully worked out it looks like it could be a great one stop shop.
finebyfine
Well-known member
Along with gate, it defines the compression region. Took me forever to grasp it. Pulled from the SSM2166 datasheet
Wish I had found a circuit with the NE572 (edit: didn't realize the ne/sa572 isn't drastically cheaper than the 2166 until just now actually) which is what I was looking for when I found it.
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cdwillis
Well-known member
If you think that's bad you should check out LTSpice for Mac OS X. I'm a pretty calm dude, but that program actually pissed me off. They just decided that Mac OS X didn't need toolbars. You're just supposed to start out knowing the shortcut keys.
Bricksnbeatles
Member known well
Yeah, I downloaded LTSpice on my Mac last month, and after an hour of trying to get anything out of it, I gave up. Absolutely terrible UI. I’ll have to keep spicing on the desktop only
