Sooner or later there comes a point in your electronics career where it would be nice to have a schematic for the project you are doing. If you have a steady hand and lots of paper to spare, the first option is to draw the schematics on paper. However, computer aided design (CAD) software does have it’s advantages, allowing easy modifications, sharing and later PCB creation.
In this short tutorial, I’ll show how to create a simple schematic using DipTrace, an excellent electronics CAD package that has a free version as well as inexpensive entry-level commercial and non-profit licenses. The circuit I’m doing is a simple ATtiny2313 breadboard header that integrates an ISP programming header, a few capacitors, a reset pullup resistor and a clock crystal, eliminating the need to wire these things every time I start a new project. Additionally, I’m showing how to use DipTrace’s powerful facilities to create new components in literally few minutes. Let’s get started!
Why DipTrace and not Eagle CAD (or some other brand)?
The electronics CAD software, the most often recommended software for beginners is Eagle CAD. The main reasons are probably the rather reasonable pricing and large existing userbase. Also, a lot of open hardware projects share their schematics in Eagle format, and many PCB fabrication shops accept Eagle files directly without conversion to Gerber format.
Continue reading: ATtiny2313 Breadboard Header with DipTrace