Fritzing
Fritzing is a very-very handy a tool, very complex but very simple to use, to design circuits, as well as so called "layouts", be it PCB or stripboard or bread...
- Paid • Open Source
- Electronic Design Automation Tool
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- AppImageHub
- Flathub
What is Fritzing?
Fritzing is an open-source initiative to support designers, artists, researchers and hobbyists to take the step from physical prototyping to actual product. We are creating this software in the spirit of Processing and Arduino, developing a tool that allows users to document their Arduino and other electronic-based prototypes, share them with others, teach electronics in a classroom, and to create a pcb layout for manufacturing.
Fritzing Screenshots
Fritzing Features
Fritzing information
- LicensingOpen Source and Commercial product.
- PricingOne time purchase (perpetual license) ranging between $9 and $26.
- Written in
- RatingAverage rating of 2.2
- Alternatives51 alternatives listed
Supported Languages
- English
GitHub repository
- 3,611 Stars
- 770 Forks
- 496 Open Issues
- Updated
Comments and Reviews
Tags
- Educational
- Printed Circuit Board
- Electronic Design Automation
- processing
- breadboard
Category
Education & ReferenceRecent user activities on Fritzing
- added Circuit Simulation as a feature to FritzingGu
kaekazeh liked Fritzing
Oleg Lavrovsky liked Fritzing
Fritzing has a big database of electronic parts. Not only that, you can create your own parts and that is a very good option. Besides a standard PCB creation tool, it also has a practical Breadboard view for assembling and connecting electronic elements and a Schematic view for making an electric schematic. In other words, a complete software for electronic projects.
Fritzing lacks stability. It can be buggy. Sometimes you cannot make an electric connection or they pop out of nowhere. Unfortunately the project seems to be discontinued. Although rather unpolished and unfinished, it has a great potential to become a first-class software for electronic engineering.
I dont like Fritzing ,because you have to design all your resistor and other components if you change the values, that includes graphics time 4 SVG times 5 before you can use it! Other EDA's allow you to change values, not this one.
First of all this is program not a simulation program! :( You can make shematic, PCB circuit design and breadboard circuit stuff(with image) but you can't simulate your created circuit. if you want to show someone something or visualise shematic this is good tool.
Fritzing has a big database of electronic parts(even have like a arduino, raspberry pi etc...). Not only that, you can create your own parts and that is a very good option.
So if you are new on electronic then this program good for you because you can easily visualize a shematic and understand easily but I say again you can't simulate a circuit.
the development of this application is NOT discontinued, it is in an active stage, again...
Fritzing is a very good looking application, it has a fancy looking modern UI, you know, that toy-like environment... I downloaded it a few days ago, and I was very happy with it... cause it all looked promising...
in the end, however, I realized that actually creating a layout is NOT easy at all, unless you make one of those pricy and fashionable layouts which have expensive components... I mean, this is rather an illustration toy for kids with rich parents, than for DIY circuit builders...
why I had downloaded was because I wanted to use it.... and I made several attempts, in rounds, so to speak... like 4-5 of them... and each time I'd get stuck...
:::::::::::::: what does "stuck" mean? :::::::::::::: you want to do something and it doesn't work... say: you want to put a transistor into the circuit... or, as it happened to me, I wanted to insert a generic switch...
in no time, I would find myself extensively googling how it could be achieved...
as with the simple 2P2T switch, I realized that I'd have to design one, and incorporate it into my Fritzing environment... which is a great deal of work, they said at the forum... I was still ready to do that...
after 2-3 attempts with this VERY simple, small circuit... counting but a few resistors, like 5, one capacitor, an IC socket and 2 generic 2P2T switches... I got ultimately stuck... cause I couldn't find a generic 6 pin IC socket... (DIP-6) that is, I was facing having to work on a component's graphic and linking...
I left that layout, thinking that I could draw it even in "photoshop" (GIMP, the free and modern day version of the expensive Adobe app), in 10 minutes...
:::::::::::::: another attempt :::::::::::::: then I made another attempt, at another layout... a small guitar (bass guitar) pre-amp circuit..., 17x9 holes in a veroboard :) pretty tiny... it uses JFET transistors... a special type... pretty popular, actually... but there was no JFET in the default set of devices... in fact there's no JFET anywhere in the application.... the developers' advice at the forum was to use a MOSFET instead... which has 3 pins, too (my note) :)
I would have used the MOSFET, although I would have hated the conceptual corruption... BUT I couldn't because the transistor is just WAAAAY TOOO BIG... it occupied much more space in the circuit than normal... the normal would be 3 pins... and that's it... (cause this is how it is in reality, too) but in Fritzing, the transistor would occupy 4x3 pins on the veroboard... which is unacceptable...
:::::::::::::: why i s it unacceptable? :::::::::::::: cause developers do their best and trickiest to make the board AsAP -- "as small as possible" -- so it'll nicely fit in a stomp box or a guitar's body... every 1/10 inch matters... also, the space on the veroboard is for you to use... not for the illustration sotfware to occupy it with LARGE parts...
:::::::::::::: conclusion: :::::::::::::: so, in the end, I managed to install DIYLC (DIY Layout Creator), an open source application, and within 2 minutes I was already drawing, without compromise! and yes, I uninstalled Fritzing quickly... not because I wouldn't trust, even support a nice project... including waiting for them for long months... BUT because I took a look at their offered components list... and I figured that the entire Fritzing project seems pretty "commercial", okay, it is free, it is open source, but its entire design is based on the idea to sell stuff... that is, pricy components from BIG manufacturers... including making it difficult for kids to place generic components into their layouts...
see the list: (beyond these there is only one “self” of parts, "common", which doesn't have a generic 6 pin IC socket, or a JFET)
Arduino, SparkFun, SeedStudio, Intel, Analog Devices, Atlas Scientific, Shootlab, Parallax, Picaxe, Lilypad, SpakFun-AnalogIC, SparkFun connectors, SparkFun DigitalIC, SparkFun discret semi SparkFun electromechanical, SparkFun etc, SparkFun power IC, SparkFun RF, SparkFun sensors,
PS: I uninstalled it, and I use DIYLC ever since, very effectively...
[Edited by jepe, August 17]
This seems an inactive project. All new sign-ups are refused because an very outdated captcha. Nobody response on comments. emails and tweets.
I know what you mean, but in any case, Fritzing is NOT inactive :) it is in active development, and is absolutely up-to-date and ready to use
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