An Introduction to TinyCAD
Welcome to TinyCAD!
You can get the latest news, release and source code from the Sourceforge site. Go to http://tinycad.sourceforge.net.
TinyCAD is an open source schematic capture program. Use TinyCAD to draw your own circuit diagrams.
You can lay out circuit diagrams using the supplied libraries. Alternatively, there is a component library editor built into TinyCAD – so you can easily create your own symbols. You may also find more libraries on the Sourceforge site that other users have release under the GPL license for you to use.
Once you have drawn your design, you can use the special functions to automatically add symbol references, check your design against rules of correctness and create a parts list. TinyCAD can also export a netlist for import into a PCB layout program.
Once you have your design you can copy and paste it into other packages such as Word (or better still OpenOffice). You may also print your design to any supported Windows printer. If your design is larger than a single page then it can be either scaled to fit on a single page or printed across many pages.
Changes since version 1.95.20
Welcome to TinyCAD version 2.00.00. Here is a quick summary that has changed in this release:
New
features:
Each single drawing file can now be made up
of multiple sheets (just like Excel).
Screen re-drawing has been
improved to reduce flicker
Save as a black & white bitmap and
select the scaling factor
Autosave every “n” minutes
New
library editing features:
Library Symbols can now have
multiple names
Export and import single library symbols or the
entire library into an XML file
Right click on a symbol in the
thumbnail view to get direct access to the symbol's
properties
Multi-sheet tabs make multiple part per package symbols
easier to draw
Changes since version 1.90.00
Welcome to TinyCAD version 1.95.20. Here is a quick summary that has changed in this release:
New
features:
Change the colours of the drawing items such
as pins and wires
A new “Windows” menu option to
navigate between your open windows
“Make horizontal” &
“Make vertical” menu options for wires
Increased zoom
on drawings
Integrate
more easily with other programs
TinyCAD now loads and
saves it's files in an XML file format
Save as a PNG file for
sharing your designs with others
Output a netlist for common PCB
programs, including PADs and Protel
Improved
symbol & library editing:
Copy symbols from one
library to another
New context (right-click) menu on library
thumbnails for faster library editing
Pins have even more options
to make them look better
Improved
features:
The Undo/Redo has been completely re-written
to make it more robust
The dragging of wires and symbols has been
re-worked at length to improved ease of use
.. and numerous bug fixes to improve stability and make TinyCAD easier to use!
Changes since version 1.80.00
Welcome to TinyCAD version 1.90.00. Here is a quick summary that has changed in this release:
New
symbol picker tool
The most obvious change to TinyCAD
when you fire it up is the new symbol picker that sits on the left
hand side of the screen. This replaces the old way of fetching
symbols from the libraries.
New
library format
The Libraries are now stored in
Microsoft Access database format. This means all new libraries will
have an extension of .mdb and can be opened by a copy of Access. This
change to a more standard format for storing libraries will make it
much easier to add new features to the libraries in future, and will
enable 3rd parties to write their own tools to read/modify
the symbols.
The first new
feature with the new library format, is that you are able to select
the default orientation of symbols when they are picked. This fixes a
long running bug in TinyCAD that symbols were drawn one way round,
but always extracted from the libraries rotated.
To convert
your libraries to the new format, use the new “Upgrade”
button in the library dialogue box.
Lots
of bug fixes
In line with all new releases I have been
busy fixing bugs. There are a few crashes fixed and some tiding up of
the way editing drawings work.
Changes since version 1.60.10
Welcome to TinyCAD version 1.80.00. So much has changed since the last release that this is just a summary of what has changed.
New
wiring tools
Automatic snap to symbols and other
wires
Automatic junction placement
New
symbol components
Unlimited number of attibutes
associated with a symbol
Make attributes hidden by default in the
library
New
editing tools
Re-size symbols
Drag wires out
Bring
to front/send to back
Select multiple objects using the Ctrl
key
Right-mouse button context menus
New
annotations
Filled polygons, rectangles and
ellipses
Resize text in any direction