Hackaday Newsletter 0x84

The PCB design tools war heats up. [HACKADAY]() Chip Shortage Engineering: Misusing DIP Packages [Read Article Now»]( Try It Out By [Elliot Williams]( It’s like Star Wars versus Star Trek at a SciFi convention, or asking creamy or chunky at the National Peanut Butter Appreciation Festival. (OK, we made that one up.) When [Jenny reviewed the 1.0 version of LibrePCB](, it opened the floodgates. Only on Hackaday! Of course it makes sense that in a community of hardware hackers, folks who are not unfamiliar with the fine art and engineering of designing their own PCBs, have their favorite tools. Let’s face it, all PCB design software is idiosyncratic, and takes some learning. But the more fluent you are with your tool of choice, the more effort you have invested in mastering it, leading to something like the [sunk-cost phenomenon](: because you’ve put so much into it, you can’t think of leaving it. The beauty of open-source software tools is that there’s almost nothing, aside from your own psychology, stopping you from picking up another PCB program, kicking the proverbial tires with a simple design, and seeing how it works for you. That’s what Jenny did here, and what she’s encouraged me to do. Whether it’s beginner-friendly [Fritzing]( (also recently in version 1.0), upstarts LibrePCB or [Horizon EDA](, heavyweight champion [KiCAD](, or the loose-knit conglomeration of tools in [coralEDA](, you have enough choices that something is going to fit your PCB hand like a glove. I certainly wouldn’t risk the leap to a new tool on a super complicated project, or something with a tight deadline, but why not start up a fun board to test it out? Maybe follow Tom Nardi’s lead and [make a Simple Add-on](, for a badge or just as a blinky to put on your desk? Don’t be afraid to try something new! From the Blog --------------------------------------------------------------- [Hackaday Superconference 2023: First Round of Speakers Announced!]( By [Elliot Williams]( The first half of the Supercon Slate is revealed. Get your tickets now -- they're almost gone. [Read more »]( [Hackaday Prize 2023: The Wildcard Finalists are Here]( By [Tom Nardi]( Agriculture robots are taking over the Hackaday Prize's Wildcard Round. [Read more »]( [Why Walking Tanks Never Became A Thing]( By [Lewin Day]( Everyone loves Mechwarrior, except reality. [Read more »]( [Hackaday Podcast]( [Hackaday Podcast 239: Overclocking, Oscilloscopes, and Oh No! SMD Out of Stock!]( By [Hackaday Editors]() What happened last week on Hackaday? The Podcast will get you up to speed. [Read more »]( If You Missed It --------------------------------------------------------------- [Just What is Tone, in a Microphone?]( [Wok Your Way to the Center of the Galaxy]( [ModuCoil – A Modular Coil for Motor and Generator Projects]( [At Last! Faster OpenSCAD Rendering Is On The Horizon]( [2023 Halloween Hackfest: Flickering Pumpkin Pin Is Solidly Built]( [One-String, One-Trick Pony Plays “the Lick”]( [Hackaday]() NEVER MISS A HACK [Share]( [Share]( [Share]( [Terms of Use]( [Privacy Policy]( [Hackaday.io]( [Hackaday.com]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update preferences]( Hackaday.com · 61 S Fair Oaks Ave Ste 200 · Pasadena, CA 91105-2270 · USA