[Systems Engineering Teachers' Mailing List] Response to: Free PCB design software (Neville Young)

[Brendan D'Arcy]

Hi Neville,

We actually use Fritzing all of the time. It has many advantages, the first being that you can design a wiring diagram, PCB and a virtual breadboard layout all in one package.

I usually get the kids to do all of this in the following way:
1. draw the wiring diagram in Fritzing
2. lay it out on the virtual breadboard in Fritzing
3. actually build it on the breadboard, test and modify if needed (real-life)
4. (optional) design a PCB using Fritzing

Another advantage for us, is that we use Arduino Uno microcontrollers for most of our projects and Fritzing has these Arduino boards built into their component libraries. Students can simply design their projects using garden variety components and Arduino boards from concept to reality, and they can do this quickly and effectively. Best of all, they teach themselves (once they know the basics) and can work at their own pace....all for free!

Thanks for posting this up on SysEng. Fritzing is a great tool! I am glad others are using it too.

Brendan D'Arcy

Senior Teacher - Head of Engineering (electronics)
Kardinia International College
Geelong
Ph: 03 52 789999
Email: b.darcy at kardinia.vic.edu.au 

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Today's Topics:

   1. Free PCB Design	Software (Neville YOUNG)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 22:14:27 +0000
From: Neville YOUNG <NYO at gwsc.vic.edu.au>
Subject: [Systems Engineering Teachers' Mailing List] Free PCB Design
	Software
To: "Systems and Engineering Teachers' Mailing List"
	<syseng at edulists.com.au>
Message-ID:
	<D4241F24AFD03B46A5DE976EB46FCB3834916E5B at GWSC-MAILBE.gwsc.vic.edu.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Everyone,

I have been investigating a free PCB design package called Fritzing. The following is a description from their website.



Fritzing is an open-source hardware initiative to support designers, artists, researchers and hobbyists to work creatively with interactive electronics. We are creating a software tool, a community website and services in the spirit of Processing<http://processing.org/> and Arduino<http://arduino.cc/>, fostering an ecosystem that allows users to document their prototypes, share them with others, teach electronics in a classroom, and layout and manufacture professional pcbs.



You can design the PCB by either drawing the schematic or by building a Breadboard design on the screen. It may be just what some students will find as suitable for their projects. They also have completed projects available for free to download, although not all of them are described in English.



Their web address is:-



http://fritzing.org/



Well worth having a look at.



Cheers

Neville Young




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