Monday, May 12, 2008

Farhan on Schematic Drawing Software

I'm really in the dark ages on this subject -- I usually just draw something by hand and then scan it. Others (like JF1OZL) have good results with this technique. I don't. So I was glad to see this suggestion from Farhan on software that can be used to draw professional-looking schematics:

"i have used something called schemat.zip available freely on the
internet. it consists of a bitmap file with all the symbols that we
use in ham radio. i open it in ms paint, start a new copy of ms paint
and start selecting the symbols from the first ms paint window and
pasting it into the fresh ms paint window. Remember to UNSELECT
OPTIONS->DRAW OPAQUE. Sorry for the caps, but it is important. You can
use the line tool to draw the 'wires' connecting individual
components. holding the shift key down while drawing lines forces the
lines to come out perfectly horizontal or vertical."

Thanks Farhan!

3 comments:

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  2. I have used PCB123 Schematic with some success. It is a free download from www.pcb123.com.

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  3. Eagle seems to be the best:

    http://www.cadsoftusa.com/

    SparkFun has a series of tutorials on working with Eagle.

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