Breadboard - Schematic - PCB package

moxhamj

New Member
http://fritzing.org/

Three parts to the program:
Breadboard - drag and drop just like Pebble
Schematic - add components and wire them up
PCB with autorouter

I only downloaded it 5 mins ago and it seems very intuitive. What is very nice is that whatever you do in one of those parts is updated in other parts. So you can design your board on the schematic, or on the breadboard, or on the PCB.

I wish I had this when I was a kid!
 

westaust55

Moderator
Fritzing

Fritzing was previously mentioned on this forum almost 18 months ago when PEBBLE was first getting underway.

What about Fritzing?
http://fritzing.org/
Or Java Breadboard Simulator?
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/netpro/bboard/
I had a look at Fritzing at that time and although it has the schematic capability was then limited in terms of IC and components that were useful to the PICAXE community.

Believe Rev Ed were interested in supporting Fritzing and looking again now, I see that PICAXE is now listed amongst the “Done” components these days.
 

1968neil

Senior Member
I wish I had this when I was a kid!
What a find !, I haven't used pebble so can't comment there.

However, as a freebie it's excellent, I use protel and its very hard to learn, this however is so simple even newbies would get on with it.
As you say very intuitive to use.

My only issue is the size of the breadboard, i'd soon run out of space !
Otherwise excellent.
I did notice that there also appears to be a programming facility for the picaxe although have yet to try it ! (under the window Tab)

Regards
Neil
 

manuka

Senior Member
I gave Fritzing a work out a while back,& this upgrade seems worthwhile. It's very pretty & full of user config. features. You could rustle up your own component needs quicktime I'd say. The ghosted green indicators for otherwise invisible breadboard tracks were very nifty. Many newbies have real hassles trying to ascertain patterns in such a sea of holes of course.

However I didn't -& still don't-find it's "3 -in-1" nature very productive & (IMNSHO) this needs work. In spite of useful autorouting,DRC & copper fill etc,even a simple demo (below- taken at the level of a PICAXE newbie rustling up a simple LED flasher) shows all manner of tweaks that need to be further attended to by the end user. The BB lays out well (PEBBLE style) but the schematic & PCB are very patchy indeed. New users may not have EAGLE (pun!) eyes & assume everything works OK "'cos it was done on a computer". I'd annoying (Win XP) crash & burn hangups (especially under autorouting) that further blighted my retrial, but thankfully work was not lost.

As a freebie it may perhaps well have some mileage for "BB-schematic-PCB" educational use. Simple layouts (as below) can be made more effectively in other ways (& may better train newbies), as the likes of school users may become frustrated with the need for considerable layout tweaking. Even Windows Paint could produce a better schematic !

Naturally it's what you're used to of course, but breadboard layouts I feel can be done just as well (if not better- pigtail R's etc) under PEBBLE. Refer similar circuit pix below . The two programs in fact are remarkably akin in many ways,with even some of the component images looking -ahem-VERY familiar.

I'll probably still stay with PEBBLE, especially since my weary eyes appreciate its cleaner & larger layout space.

Extra: For those who've just come in - PEBBLE (Picaxe Electronic Bread Board Layout Emulator) is available free,as both a download & a convenient on line version. Google, or check hosting sites such as Robotgear
 

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