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from the better-than-a-sharp-stick-in-the-eye dept.
Hackaday reports
Things are about to get interesting in the world of PCB design software for the open [...] hardware community. This week, Altium launched the open public beta for its new [CircuitMaker] software[1], and it's a major change from what we looked at previously. Everything is [gratis].
You heard that right, [gratis]. Unlimited board size and unlimited layers--all [gratis]. And this isn't some stripped-down, bare-bones software here. They've thrown in almost everything under the sun: a 3D viewer, team project collaboration, [Cadsoft EAGLE] and DFX import, integrated Octopart supplier and pricing information, no commercial usage limits, and project sharing. And if that isn't enough, the "engine" seems to be the exact same back-end that is used in the full $10,000 Altium Designer as well (with a bit easier to use user interface on top).
This is a major departure from the pre-beta we covered back in September. Altium was going [to] have board size and layer limits, with the ability to "upgrade" at a cost.
[...] there are a few gotchas[...]. The software uses cloud based storage for your project files and [it] is community based. It won't work without an Internet connection, there is no local storage, and it forces you to share your projects with the world. You do get two "Sandbox" designs that you can hide from the world before you generate your Gerber files, but after that, your project is online for the whole world to see.
[...] anyone with a doggy Internet connection is not going to enjoy using [CircuitMaker] (we're hoping they remove that limitation in the final product). [...]how many people will be willing to trust their designs to a free service that could be turned off on a whim?
[...] If you want to see in-depth review of [CircuitMaker], we highly recommend you watch the video[...]. Dave Jones of the eevblog, gives you a full rundown on the beta version. Dave's in a unique place to review this software: Not only has he been using Altium since the mid-80's as a professional engineer, he's also a former Altium employee.
[1] The CircuitMaker page contains a "Free" link, but it doesn't lead anywhere--especially not to source code (even after allowing the 8 scripts that the page wants to push at you). There is some vague gibberish about GPL at the bottom of the CircuitMaker page but, again, no mention of actual source code. It appears that although the Hackaday submitter used the term "open source", that is used incorrectly.
In addition, the Download link doesn't lead anywhere for me--again, even after allowing the 8 scripts. Justice_099 in the comments says "Downloading requires a CircuitMaker account and I don't see any way to create an account there." (This really looks like amateur night.)
There is also no mention of operating systems, so I'm assuming this is Windows-only. (imroy264 in the comments says that is so and Anonymous below him says it fails via WINE).
majost in the comments says "My biggest issue with CircuitMaker is you cannot import manufacturer or third-party supplied parts libraries, and the Ciiva Library is lacking quite a few parts."
The comments also contain numerous mentions of (GPL'd, zero-restriction) KiCAD.
Related: CERN is Getting Serious About Development of the KiCAD App for Designing Printed Circuits
Original Submission
(Score: 5, Insightful) by kaszz on Sunday June 21 2015, @11:32PM
If you start developing in a propietary software that requires a yearly license to work then your data is hostage to the good will of an external party. So the first one is free..
Just say no to have your data being hostage.
And this development would probably not happen unless the free alternative were getting a lot better. Guess what happens when they get you and others to take the propietary bait *money please..*.
Any development that would form a basis for a product can't be done with these offerings.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by NoMaster on Monday June 22 2015, @02:28AM
Particularly as Altium is notorious amongst professional EEs for suddenly chopping and changing features, dropping whole product lines, forcing upgrades, and generally faffing everyone around. Altium Studio is definitely the gold standard amongst EDA software - but it comes at the price of knowing that the longer you use it, the probability of Altium fucking you over approaches 1...
I've been trialling CircuitMaker, and while it is definitely nice and a huge improvement over the other free/cheap options (gEDA, Kicad, Diptrace, Eagle, etc), it sails waaaay to close to Circuit Studio (the also brand-new 'mid-priced' [$3k up-front + $500/yr] step between free CircuitMaker and expensive [$you_have_to_ask] Altium Studio) and Altium Studio itself. Everyone with any experience of Altium expects CircuitMaker to be either crippled beyond usability, jacked up in price, or dumped within a couple of years. Possibly all three...
Personally, despite the fact that many people are creaming themselves over the opportunity to pretend they're using Altium Studio, the Altium reputation, CircuitMaker's limitations (whatever they ultimately end up being), and the fact that there are no (and will never be any) Linux or OS X versions, will keep the sane hobbyists & makers away...
Live free or fuck off and take your naïve Libertarian fantasies with you...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mojo chan on Monday June 22 2015, @07:29AM
The only was for CircuitMaker to ever gain traction with the open source community is to get key companies like Sparkfun, Arduino and Adafruit on board, and get a large number of hobbyists on board. Their cloud system is going to ensure that never, ever happens. It seems to be GPL incompatible as well, since you can't distribute the source files and the only way to even download them from their cloud is to make an Altium account.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday June 22 2015, @04:14PM
What payware for EE design is good? without having an outrageous price tag either?