SparkFun Electronics Commentsurn:uuid:214d0e4e-f1b1-d287-ce26-ac5b4c9f82492024-03-29T09:48:42-06:00SparkFun Electronicsmeljr on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?meljrurn:uuid:1f72cbf4-cff3-ef24-f6d3-68c71d30dabf2016-08-12T10:03:06-06:00<p>Well thought out article. Personally, I prefer Open Source and Open Hardware solutions when they meet my project requirements as I expect that during the product's useful life cycle there isn't a great deal of risk. I also agree that contributing in some way, financially or otherwise, is for the greater good the long run as a strong Open Source community tends to keep the commercial entities competitive and customer focused.</p>
SMasci on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?SMasciurn:uuid:fc9038a4-8c81-31b3-f19c-f91db77be1c62016-08-12T05:22:46-06:00<p>I totally agree with you but I would go further. Many people seem to have this fairy tail notion that as long as they have access to the source code that they can fix any problem. Maybe if they were independently wealthy and had a VERY VERY long healthy life with no distractions AND were EXCEPTIONAL programmers they could just about fix any software problem. But the fact is MOST free open source software IS VERY badly written and does not easily lend itself to being fixed by some programmer wannabe who gets confused when he has to write more than 10 lines of code. I know a lot of people will take exception with this but in support of my claims I offer this simple fact: find some free software that you have had problems with and go look at the support pages. In particular look at how long some of the bugs have been outstanding. It is quite common now to find bugs that have been outstanding for several years.</p>
SMasci on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?SMasciurn:uuid:226af64b-d895-2377-1f55-a5411f562aab2016-08-12T04:50:26-06:00<p>..."I had argued that, given my software background, I could have fixed the most annoying flaws"<p>It is a sad fact that most programmers think they are MUCH better than they actually are. Your boss will have had experience of this many times and ultimately he has to decide whether to pay for a quick solution or invest real time and money in something that may never pay off. If you felt so strongly about it you could have done the work in your spare time at no cost to the company and then presented it to him.</p><p>It is easy to bitch about one's employer but much harder to try to understand the real problems the employer faces on a day to day level.</p></p>
androticus on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?androticusurn:uuid:e6b5b254-137d-b4e5-9ae9-4d8963f91cd22016-08-09T22:28:18-06:00<p>More examples would have been helpful. You don't even have one example in the "Value Add" category. Would tools like Ayla fit in that category?</p>
Customer #18200 on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?Customer #18200urn:uuid:20c0ded2-7899-95ed-26b6-fc2e0ce6f97c2016-08-07T20:54:00-06:00<p>Seond the vote for gEDA. It has a larger learning curve, but the payoff is well worth it.</p>
Pearce on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?Pearceurn:uuid:47c2b623-fea8-9e4a-51fc-76fb5dcc6afc2016-08-05T08:40:46-06:00<p>I'll check it out. I'm currently working on learning KiCad right now, but I'll add it to the list.</p>
dbc on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?dbcurn:uuid:b3482e8a-490e-0f95-ebfd-957e4fa25d212016-08-04T22:22:00-06:00<p>Hey, how about giving gEDA, the GNU EDA suite, a bit of love! It has been around far longer than KiCAD. It is another free-as-in-speech EDA system to consider.</p>
dbc on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?dbcurn:uuid:b7ef9150-3894-1623-bbea-7d0ebee8a6942016-08-04T22:19:35-06:00<p>I've never used anything but gEDA, producing regular gerbers, and fabbed with several places. None ever had a problem with my gerbers. Several friends have used a bunch of fab houses with a whole bunch of boards with KiCAD output and never had a problem. Before switching to KiCAD, one friend had boards fabbed with PCB software he wrote for himself, and never had a problem.<p>There is NO MAGIC in an RS-274X file. They come in clean and crufty, to be sure, but most fab houses can deal with even very crufty RS-274X. In any case, most of them do automatic DRC on incoming gerbers, and if there is something they don't like, they will flag it so that you can fix it and resubmit. Any time that has happened to me it has been a PEBKAC, not a gEDA problem.</p><p>gerbv is a free gerber viewer (part of the gEDA suite, but works perfectly well stand-alone). If gerbv is OK with it, and you label your files clearly, you will have no problem.</p></p>
andy4us on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?andy4usurn:uuid:3d92849f-6711-2677-e3fe-f6665179b9932016-08-04T20:43:33-06:00<p>Everything has a price. As an Engineering Director I've paid for nothing for free tools and hundreds in engineering hours to work around them. I've also paid thousands for tool chains with problems, but usually a lot less than a free tool chain. There is a price to entry for most things. In general, when it comes to delivering a product on time, pay for the toolchain, compared to engineering hours and missed delivery schedules, it's the least expensive part of the equation.</p>
ME heat o nator on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?ME heat o natorurn:uuid:ab9c7b2a-9f52-93e6-ae50-0dd1bd2af4632016-08-04T13:58:33-06:00<p>The one I worked with could, but the software they provided allowed click for pricing and some other time saving features as long as you didn't go bigger than the board size they were capable of or something to that effect. If you are not a PCB company, but need something quick, it can be advantageous, but if you plan to iterate or go to large scale production it is really bad.</p>
ME heat o nator on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?ME heat o natorurn:uuid:6587c602-8d15-1b76-0df3-24648df0c0fa2016-08-04T13:09:45-06:00<p>I have used the "free" proprietary software. It did the trick when I needed the PCB done quick and simple. I am not a PCB guy and the design needed rework. We soon went outside the limits of that software and I had to learn KiCad, redraw everything and find a new company to do the board. It was a frustrating learning experience.</p>
John Morris on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?John Morrisurn:uuid:2ec59c6b-7581-9f1e-898b-1b251cb161bc2016-08-04T11:45:16-06:00<p>Bottom line, stick to Free Software or you will eventually lose. The vendor will change focus, get acquired, etc. and the tool you need will either be dropped or suddenly mutate into something entirely different. Even if you are paying for it you have no real vote in the direction of it unless you are huge. No matter what happens to Free Software, the worst case scenario is you have to use the last version that works for you and you always have the option to maintain it yourself or organize a fork.<p>Avoid the cloud, none of it is Free Software (if it is based on Free Software, install a local copy and avoid the trap) and again, the rules will suddenly change and you are hosed.</p><p>These guidelines become more important the longer your project runs (initial design plus support) and the more time and energy you have to invest in learning the tool.</p></p>
CRC_Robotics on Enginursday: How useful are free tools?CRC_Roboticsurn:uuid:201c1216-3f2d-45d7-80d1-3b7f93a6c2be2016-08-04T10:56:43-06:00<p>Nicely wrote article! It allowed me to discover several nice software and your thought process was clear. You clearly highlighted the limitations of each business model and some pitfalls.<p>Thanks!</p></p>