[HN Gopher] JITX - The Fastest Way to Design Circuit Boards
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       JITX - The Fastest Way to Design Circuit Boards
        
       Author : Teever
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2024-03-20 21:01 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.jitx.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.jitx.com)
        
       | SV_BubbleTime wrote:
       | Well, this sure seems like an ad. Anyone actually use it?
       | Probably not going to sway me away from KiCAD even for a moment.
        
         | cushychicken wrote:
         | Their offering is a CAD tool plugin, not a freestanding CAD
         | tool.
        
       | zachbee wrote:
       | There are so many different tools to help design and route PCBs
       | now. You have DeepPCB, Flux, and Quilter doing auto-routing, and
       | SKiDL, CuFlow, and JITX doing programmatic schematics (and also
       | sometimes auto-routing?).
       | 
       | To be honest, I don't really understand how these tools are
       | differentiated from one another. I personally know the Quilter
       | guys, so if I had to pick I'd use their product, but I don't
       | think the market crowding here is great for anybody.
        
         | krasin wrote:
         | > I don't think the market crowding here is great for anybody.
         | 
         | In the end, the users will win from this crowding, I suppose.
        
       | kelvie wrote:
       | Perhaps related to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39263854
       | ?
       | 
       | Or to save a click: https://github.com/atopile/atopile
       | 
       | I'm a hobbyist PCB designer, and a hobbyist (and generally happy)
       | openSCAD user, with the BOSL2 library, and a hobbyist ESPHome
       | user and I would really love some code alternative to KiCad.
       | 
       | It also sounds like maybe I have too many hobbies.
        
       | midnightclubbed wrote:
       | This looks interesting, as a hobbyist with a EEE background and a
       | programming career I like the idea of designing circuits using
       | code.
       | 
       | But maybe I'm not the target audience here... pricing seems high
       | for anyone who is not using this commercially (and at scale).
       | $1000 per month (or $60 a day, which I don't really understand
       | the utility of).
        
         | Zamiel_Snawley wrote:
         | Their yearly option is only 18% off too, at $9,804.
        
       | Zamiel_Snawley wrote:
       | Commercial license is $1000/month. How does that compare to other
       | EDA software?
        
         | mattofak wrote:
         | Altium is about $10k to start and then $2.5k ~ 3.5k per year
         | depending on plan.
        
       | cushychicken wrote:
       | I have to give JITX credit - every time I see their latest
       | product offering, it gets closer to something I'd actually use.
       | (Working EE who primarily does board and system design.)
       | 
       | These layout automations they show in the landing page are the
       | first thing they've showcased that I'm intrigued enough to want
       | to try for myself.
       | 
       | The thing I wonder about with all of these EDA companies is
       | whether any of them understand that they're not attacking the
       | biggest problem of circuit design.
       | 
       | Capturing the SCH/PCB is a relatively small part of the process
       | of getting a working design ready to sell. Less than ten percent
       | of the time, I'd guess. The bulk goes in to design documentation,
       | testing, certification, compliance, and DFM/DFA.
       | 
       | A part of me sort of hates to see these companies do their thing,
       | because it's making the fun part of the job shorter and faster.
        
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       (page generated 2024-03-20 23:00 UTC)