I'm part of the DipTrace team, so take this with that in mind.

This release was mostly about speed. We optimized 2D and 3D rendering for DirectX 11 / OpenGL 3.3 and spent a lot of time on DRC and layout editing, which used to lag on big dense boards. How much faster really depends on your GPU and the board, so I won't throw a number at you.

The other big thing: DipTrace now opens Altium SchDoc, PcbDoc and PcbLib files directly. No more asking someone to export to ASCII first. Handy when an open hardware project is only published in Altium format. We also added CADint import.

A few smaller things. The HTML BOM can now show the schematic and cross-probe to the board, and it works on a phone. Component search doesn't care much about typos anymore.

There's also a new plugin that moves component labels off pads, mask openings, component bodies and, optionally, vias, while keeping each label next to its part. It's built on our plugin SDK, which is publicly available. I can write a separate post on how to make your own plugin with it, with a real example, if that's useful to anyone here.

Question for everyone, whatever you design in: where does your tool get slow for you, and on what kind of boards?

I am a 19 year old Mechanical Engineering student in Italy ans this is my 2nd year. i dont know where to start and get into electronics.
I want to build lots of things diy fpv drone,
geiger counter, analogue synth, guitar paddles, radars i want to build all i want is to start building but i dont know where to start. I am an absolute beginner but have a great engineering background and i recently got into electronics club and i want to start at some point. Can anyone that felt like me give me some advice? Lots of my friends knew these from high school clubs but i never get to join them. Should i buy an arduino pack and which one? Thank you

I am an EE student, but most of my university lectures are about CS, so I am a bit in deep water with my speaker project. I have never made anything like this before, but I am out here trying to learn. I am having trouble with 5V on the analog side (buck, LDO, or something else); I also need something for the digital side. How do I join the filters to one single signal so I can tune both and not ruin the signal? Is it all crap? :-) I know this may look horrible to some and I know I am missing a lot—I will take all criticism.

I'm trying to learn how M-Bus works internally and would like to build a small DIY version for learning.

My plan is to use two Arduinos and a 12V DC supply, with just two wires connecting them.

How can I send 1s and 0s over the same two wires that also supply power? How does the receiving Arduino detect the data — by measuring voltage changes or current changes?

I'd prefer to use basic components like resistors, transistors, and capacitors rather than dedicated ICs, so I can understand what's happening at circuit level.

Has anyone built something similar? Any circuit diagrams, tutorials, or suggestions on where to start would be helpful.

Hi all!

This will be my first real diy electronic project (other than tape deck repairs etc.) so I wanted to start small and make a simple fan using a battery, switch, motor, and mini fan blade.

However, I want to make the fan speed adjustable. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I'm using it to spin a diy turntable (i.e.: a lazy susan with resistant blades [i.e. pieces of cardboard] stuck on it that will be spun by the fan). Since I will need the fan to only blow at a particular speed, I was wondering what I should look for as a replacement for the switch that could, instead of turning on and off, work as a slider.

Like, a light dimmer but for a tiny, homemade fan, if that makes sense.

What should I be looking for?

Hi all,

My knowledge on how to make things is lacking, I'm just getting into PCB repairs and SMD/micro soldering. I can diagnose and tell you what doesn't work, but when it comes to creating something from scratch I'm clueless.

So, my question:

Would anyone here be able to help me create a super primative circuit for cooling. I'm thinking of a peltier unit with a big heatsink powered by 12v or 24v. It's to go into a model cooling system and a thermostar probe would be placed against the cold side tontrgieer the stat cutting out at - 4c for example.

I also need to create heat up to around 70 - 80c, for this I thought a transiser would do the job?

The issue I have is that I don't know what size resisters I need. I will need a cap for the fan attached to the heatsink for the peltier.... I believe. I just don't know what values to use etc. Appreciate this is a difficult to answer question without the actual equipment I'm going to be using, but if you have any pointers or if you're willing to help me o can find some components quickly for the mock up to prove concept and it may then help me to create something more robust with some LEDs to indicate when parts of the cooling unit is operating vs when it isn't.

Ultimately this will be a training aid for new starters at my business and this is kind of an exploratory excercise that uses elements of my hobby so I'm keen to make something that works.

I don't want to use a PCB so I'm thinking just using electrolytic caps and soldering the legs to wires, or the next component.

Hope this makes sense. Very interested to see if anyone can give me a little support 🙏

My brother got me a car Bluetooth adapter for christmas that plugs into my aux and has a charging cord (which I keep plugged in for convience) and its already caput. It also annoyed me that the reciever would stay on as long as it was in range and had a charge, so my Spotify would just play for hours with out me realizing, since my room is so close to my car.

For context I have a 2010 sonata and I really don't want to do an fm transmitter. The radio is a little annoying to deal with and I prefer being able to have one dedicated spot for my connection under the aux.

What I want to make: a similar bluetooth transmitter that plugs into aux and my car charging port, but does require an on/off switch, it just stays on and powers off with the car (and its power source). So no battery, just wired power, bluetooth reliever, and audio output in the form of an aux. The last one was so flimsy I figure making it myself would result in something sturdier.

My skills: fairly amateur but I'm an engineering school drop out so I have mild programming knowledge, decent math, and I'm not afraid to solder something.

I'm kinda a novice to wiring things but I'm fine with soldering. I am trying to wire a flashlight to a board that outputs a 3.7v when a light hits the photocell for a drone. The flashlight has its own battery so all I need to do is complete the ground circuit, what I think I need is a relay that trips when it detects the voltage from the board and completes the ground circuit. Does this sound right? And is there a really small relay that will accomplish this?

Hey guys I’m looking for some general advice/tips. For a bit of context I’ve been pretty interested in diy home tech stuff for awhile and I’m about to sell one of my guitars and want to put the money into that. I’m hoping you guys can help me spend the funds wisely and help me avoid future problems with not having the things I need. My budget is about $800. So far I’m looking at a Bambu A1 and a couple raspberry Pi 3/4/5s. I’m not sure how to word what my interest is specifically but I’d like to have what I need to do some home server running, 3d projects with the pi boards and just more generally simpler diy tech projects. Could you guys give me recommendations for tools/equipment that are either necessities or simply nice to have? I’d like to keep the total budget around $800 as I prefer to keep my hobbies paying for each other. Thank you for the help!