KICAD has no breadboard features. I had tried the same idea but it backfired sometime back. To achieve the breadboard making idea, I had to use other software such as Proteus and Fritzing. Proteus will allow you to view the 3D in form of a Breadboard and this will also be seen in the fritzing EDA
I downloaded fritzing software on linux, but haven’t used it yet. I was thinking of using it to document prototypes on breadboards that work. However, a digital camera might do the same thing more easily. I guess it will be ease-of-use that chooses the tool for me. If fritzing does the job but is hard to use, I might prefer to buy a digital camera and use it instead. However, I might need to get other things like light umbrella, camera flash, tripod for camera, tripod for camera flash, etc., in order to use the camera. (things that make snapping a photograph harder and/or more time-consuming). Now it occurs to me that using the camera for this purpose will also take a great deal of extra room (space); whereas fritzing software no extra room at all. Has anyone used fritzing software for this specific purpose ?
On the other hand, I might classify both the fritzing software and the camera as redundant after taking time to verify the breadboarded circuit works as expected, and updating the schematic as needed to get to that point.
Perhaps it would be wiser for me to first assemble a new-to-me circuit by looking only at a fritzing diagram before deciding if fritzing might be a useful documentation tool in the future.
Does the fritzing software also make a schematic diagram of the circuit? or does it use a schematic diagram to draw the fritzing picture ? (As I said, I haven’t used it yet.)
Apparently it can. There is a screenshot in the post from BlackCoffee from 5 days ago.
Recently I bought a webcam directly form China with manual focus and 2.8 to 12mm zoom lens for around EUR 40. It is quite good with low light conditions. As a “tripod” I use a magnetic stand usually sold for dial indicators, and this works quite well on your desk.
Because these modern camera’s work quite well with low light conditions, you do not need a “light box” as much as you used to, but for even lighting without too much shadows you do need multiple light sources.
From what I know, if you buy an EUR40 “web cam” here in a local computer shop, you get an ugly piece of plastic with a tiny lens and very cheap PCB camera inside.
If you go to Aliexpress there are many camera’s in many different quality and price ranges. The camera I bought has a C-mount lens, which is of course interchangeable. I would not really were to buy comparable camera’s locally for a decent price.
But the aux camera equipment will be useful for taking pictures of other results, like finished boards. I’m thinking of buying a LED ring light for working on boards, as simple light sources are too directional, and for taking photos. Friend of mine got a bargain selfie ring light with a gooseneck and is using it for illuminating mechanical stuff he wants to fix, looking through the hole.
… and housings,
… and the equipment you use, power supplies, oscilloscopes, function generators…
… and for making short video clips of how to do things.
… and for complete youtubeable video’s.
… and for measuring.
… and for many more purposes. Like apples and oranges you can compare them, and although both are sort of round, there are also many differences.
One of my goals with a webcam is to mount one semi permanently near the ceiling and with a high magnification factor. The idea is that it is permanently focused on a small area on my desk, for example 20x30mm (So it needs a high magnification, probably such a 15 cm long tube lens construction.
My goal with this is to use for accurate measurements after calibration. The long distance ensures that parallax errors are minimal. It is a more modern equivalent of an optical comparator.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=optical+comparator&t=h_&iax=images&ia=images
I do like the idea of a ring-light.
In fact, I already have one on my stereo microscope.
I do not like an abundant use of ring lights though.
Having some shadows makes your photographed objects look more natural.
Moderate use of a ring light does fill in the shadows so they are not black holes.
All camera’s I know still have a much smaller dynamic range then a human eye has (in a single picture, but it’s not fair, cause your eyes always focus (and adjust lighting) for the area you are looking at). It is very hard to determine if objects in your peripheral vision are properly lighted, while a still photograph can be examined painstakingly.
A few comments…
Perhaps like many folks, I avoid posting about other/competitive products. Fritzing, in this case. But, given that folks use Fritzing and Kicad, it seems logical to expect a User to decide what works best for them/project. And, it makes sense to be open to options (isn’t that a Part of an Engineers toolbox?, So to speak…) Fritzing 0.9.9 was released in 2021, so, it’s a fairly recent release…
Thus, re: @Russ comment/interest
• Fritzing is So Easy to use. Period. Sure, it may require 15 minutes learning the GUI and where stuff is but, not a big deal.
• It’s loaded with Parts and, while not quick/easy to make New, Custom Parts, it’s not hard to do it and once done, User’s can make a Boiler-Plate Part Template. Also, true for the PCB shape.
• As I said previously, The PCB, Schematic and BreadBoard are linked together and User can do the design in Either of those panels (the other panels auto-populate with your deisgn). Just need to place the parts/etc where wanted. You can Right-Click a Ratsnest line and select to make a Trace from it (in PCB or, a Wire in Schematic). Jumpers are auto-placed if wanted (esp on Single-Sided board).
• The Autorouter is quite good and has a Slider for optimization level of the layout.
• All the Exports work well.
Only real shortcoming’s, as compared to Kicad are:
• No Gerber Viewer (I use Kicad’s GerbView for that)
• Just like Kicad’s Part/Footprint library, Fritzing Parts can have issues… (But, the user: VanEpp will make Parts for users if you provide spec/drawing…etc
• Only 1 or 2 layers
Regarding: Camera/Video… Quite independent of Fritzing/Kicad… On my computer, it’s One-Click to Screen-Record and Movie of whatever the user wants to do, including making a BreadBoard with loaded circuit/parts…
Again, it’s so simple to use and powerful enough…
I did a very pragmatic solution to this. I will solder, so I will use a prototype board. Then I use breakout boards for “difficult” components like USB and 3.5 mm audio.
If anybody tells me how easy and cheap it is to get two PCB boards from some manufacturer, I might rethink this for my next project.
fig16_219_io_board_kicad_sch_oyvind_teig.pdf (178.2 KB)
It’s lightly described in Extension I/O board (Disclaimer: no ads, no money earned etc. on any of my blog notes - only fun and expenses).
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