| Developer(s) | EasyEDA |
|---|---|
| Initial release | August 2013 |
| Stable release | |
| Platform | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Available in | 13 languages |
List of languages | |
| Type | EDA software |
| License | Commercial software |
| Website | easyeda |
EasyEDA is a web-based EDA tool suite that enables hardware engineers to design, simulate, share - publicly and privately - and discuss schematics, simulations and printed circuit boards. Other features include the creation of a bill of materials, Gerber files and pick and place files and documentary outputs in PDF, PNG and SVG formats.
EasyEDA allows the creation and editing of schematic diagrams, SPICE simulation of mixed analogue and digital circuits and the creation and editing of printed circuit board layouts and, optionally, the manufacture of printed circuit boards. [2] [3]
Subscription-free membership is offered for public projects plus a limited number of private projects. The number of private projects can be increased by contributing high quality public projects, schematic symbols, and PCB footprints and/or by paying a monthly subscription.
Registered users can download Gerber files from the tool free of charge; but for a fee, EasyEDA offers a PCB fabrication service. This service is also able to accept Gerber file inputs from third-party tools. [4]
The company is based in Shenzhen, China.
In June 2010, Dillon He and Eric Cui started a survey of EDA tools for a hardware project of their own. The search for an EDA tool capable of schematic capture, circuit simulation and printed circuit board layout saw limited success, and He concluded that designing their own EDA tool would be beneficial. [5]
Their key goals were that the tools be platform independent, free, easy to learn and to use.
The first version of the toolsuite appeared online in August 2013 and since officially launching in March 2014 [6] [7] the tool has developed rapidly [8] [9] [10] [11] with several major revisions and enhancements [12] [13]
EasyEDA first received external investment in January and attracted more in November 2015.
EasyEDA is an integrated browser-based tool for schematic capture, SPICE circuit simulation (based on Ngspice) and PCB layout. [3] [4]
Import from Altium Designer, CircuitMaker, Eagle, Kicad and LTspice file formats as well as generic SPICE netlists is supported. SPICE netlists can be exported to third party simulation tools and export of PCB netlists in Altium, PADS and FreePCB formats is also supported. [14]
The ability to import LTspice schematics and symbols provides a useful way to port schematics to PCB layout without having to redraw them from scratch.
Once Gerber files of a completed PCB design have been downloaded and checked - using a third party Gerber viewer - the user is free to choose a PCB manufacturer or, for a fee, they can submit the Gerbers directly to EasyEDA for manufacture. Alternatively, printable PCB layer image output is also supported in PDF, PNG and SVG formats for home PCB etching.
The tool also includes sharing and collaboration features and a comprehensive parts and an expanding SPICE model library.
While the license at say in cap. V that EasyEDA software is usable freely for private and commercial software, in cap. VII it says that content material including electronic files are usable for noncommercial purposes only, and you may not modify any of the materials and you may not copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer or sell any information or work. This is incompatible with free software.
Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools work together in a design flow that chip designers use to design and analyze entire semiconductor chips. Since a modern semiconductor chip can have billions of components, EDA tools are essential for their design; this article in particular describes EDA specifically with respect to integrated circuits (ICs).
The Gerber format is an open, ASCII, vector format for printed circuit board (PCB) designs. It is the de facto standard used by PCB industry software to describe the printed circuit board images: copper layers, solder mask, legend, drill data, etc. The standard file extension is .GBR or .gbr though other extensions like .GB, .geb or .gerber are also used. It is documented by The Gerber Layer Format Specification and some related extensions such as XNC drill files and GerberJob to convey information about the entire PCB, as opposed to single layers.
Place and route is a stage in the design of printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, and field-programmable gate arrays. As implied by the name, it is composed of two steps, placement and routing. The first step, placement, involves deciding where to place all electronic components, circuitry, and logic elements in a generally limited amount of space. This is followed by routing, which decides the exact design of all the wires needed to connect the placed components. This step must implement all the desired connections while following the rules and limitations of the manufacturing process.
OrCAD Systems Corporation was a software company that made OrCAD, a proprietary software tool suite used primarily for electronic design automation (EDA). The software is used mainly by electronic design engineers and electronic technicians to create electronic schematics, and perform mixed-signal simulation and electronic prints for manufacturing printed circuit boards (PCBs). OrCAD was taken over by Cadence Design Systems in 1999 and was integrated with Cadence Allegro in 2005.
XCircuit is a schematic capture program for drawing publication-quality VLSI electrical circuit schematic diagrams and related figures. It's part of the Open Circuit Design tools. It's primarily intended for ULSI/VLSI IC design and not for PCB design, the latter though is still possible. XCircuit regards circuits as inherently hierarchical and can save circuits both in PostScript (.ps) and Ngspice (.cir) netlists file formats for further processing. The program compiles PostScript files from special template-labels specified by user.
The term gEDA refers to two things:
Quite Universal Circuit Simulator (Qucs) is a free-software electronics circuit simulator software application released under GPL. It offers the ability to set up a circuit with a graphical user interface and simulate the large-signal, small-signal and noise behaviour of the circuit. Pure digital simulations are also supported using VHDL and/or Verilog. Only a small set of digital devices like flip flops and logic gates can be used with analog circuits. Qucs uses its own SPICE-incompatible backend simulator Qucsator, however the Qucs-S fork supports some SPICE backends.
KiCad is a free software suite for electronic design automation (EDA). It facilitates the design and simulation of electronic hardware for PCB manufacturing. It features an integrated environment for schematic capture, PCB layout, manufacturing file viewing, ngspice-provided SPICE simulation, and engineering calculation. Tools exist within the package to create bill of materials, artwork, Gerber files, and 3D models of the PCB and its components.
Altium Limited is an American- Australian multinational software company that provides electronic design automation software to engineers who design printed circuit boards. Founded as Protel Systems Pty Ltd in Australia in 1985, the company has regional headquarters in the United States, Australia, China, Europe, and Japan. Its products are designed for use in a Microsoft Windows environment and used in industries such as automotive, aerospace, defence and telecommunications. Its flagship product, Altium Designer, is a software for unified electronics design.
This page is a comparison of electronic design automation (EDA) software which is used today to design the near totality of electronic devices. Modern electronic devices are too complex to be designed without the help of a computer. Electronic devices may consist of integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or a combination of them. Integrated circuits may consist of a combination of digital and analog circuits. These circuits can contain a combination of transistors, resistors, capacitors or specialized components such as analog neural networks, antennas or fuses.
Altium Designer (AD) is a PCB and electronic design automation software package for printed circuit boards. It is developed by Australian software company Altium Limited. Altium Designer was previously named under the "Protel" brand.
PCB is a free and open-source software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) - for printed circuit boards (PCB) layout. It uses GTK+ for its GUI widgets.
DesignSpark PCB is a free electronic design automation software package for printed circuit boards. Although there is no charge for the software, the user must register with DesignSpark.com to unlock the program and it displays advertisements which must be acknowledged before the user can begin working.
LTspice is a SPICE-based analog electronic circuit simulator computer software, produced by semiconductor manufacturer Analog Devices. It is the most widely distributed and used SPICE software in the industry. Though it is freeware, LTspice is not artificially restricted to limit its capabilities. It ships with a library of SPICE models from Analog Devices, Linear Technology, Maxim Integrated, and third-party sources.
DipTrace is a proprietary software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) used for electronic schematic capture and printed circuit board layouts. DipTrace has four applications: schematic capture editor, PCB layout editor with built-in shape-based autorouter and 3D preview, component editor, and pattern editor.
Pulsonix is an electronic design automation (EDA) software suite for schematic capture and PCB design. It is produced by WestDev, which is headquartered in Gloucestershire, England, with additional sales and distribution offices overseas. It was first released in 2001, and runs on Windows.
Upverter is an electronic circuit design system delivered in a web browser, which enables hardware engineers to design, share, and review schematics and printed circuit boards. It additionally features the ability to generate a bill of materials, Gerber files, and a 3D rendering. Upverter provides web-based tools for editing schematic diagrams and for laying out printed-circuit boards. It does not require payment for open-source projects.
Autotrax was a free software application that ran on DOS on an IBM or compatible PC. It was designed by Protel Systems, and was one of the first professional printed circuit board CAD applications available for personal computers. It is a freeware download and also available in a stripped-down version marketed as Easytrax.
CircuitMaker is electronic design automation software for printed circuit board designs targeted at the hobby, hacker, and maker community. CircuitMaker is available as freeware, and the hardware designed with it may be used for commercial and non-commercial purposes without limitations. It is currently available publicly as version 2.0 by Altium Limited, with the first non-beta release on January 17, 2016.
The Proteus Design Suite is a proprietary software tool suite used primarily for electronic design automation. The software is used mainly by electronic design engineers and technicians to create schematics and electronic prints for manufacturing printed circuit boards.
