Notes on the Fritzing releases. Related issue numbers in brackets. As this is early alpha work, do not expect anything to be compatible between versions! < OUTSTANDING ISSUES > Some things that are known to be not-so-nice: - Performance: If you have performance problems (especially when you use the breadboard), you can disable animation and anti-aliasing in the preferences, and close the outline view in the bottom right corner. It also helps to stay at 100% zoom because it means lower-res images. - Copy & Paste is not properly working, even if it seems to be.. don't use it yet! < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > 0005 ALPHA - Feb 5th 2008 Maintenance release: We missed some Eagle footprints last time, and also use the chance to add a few new features < ENHANCEMENTS > - Rotation of parts, in steps of 45 degrees - Info box got a little face-lift and provides links to the web reference and the author(s) - Note that the web reference is not finished yet, though. - Part footprints (for use with Eagle) can now be stored in the part's folder, in Fritzing's eagle/lbr/ folder, or in Eagle's lbr folder. Fritzing will look for your specified footprint in these locations in this order. This makes it easier to share your parts. < BUG FIXES > - Supplying missing footprints for the new parts from release 0004 - Live feedback for dragging things was sometimes missing on the Mac < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > 0004 ALPHA - Jan 29th 2008 Big release with a lot of enhancements! Everything behaves and looks much more realistic, with legs/pins and high-res images. Breadboard has finally arrived. Parts can now easily be created by yourself, see the libraries folder and the upcoming tutorial. < ENHANCEMENTS > Part Library - Parts can now be defined externally, by you: All you need is a little partdescription.xml and a few images. Tutorial coming soon. [#56] - Script for quickly creating your desired IC, available as a separate download, see http://fritzing.org/learning/parts - New part hierarchy scheme. It's already partly reflected in the palette, the full scheme will be in the new online reference. - Part library was restructured on the file system: Official parts are in libraries/core, user's parts are supposed to be in libraries/user. The hierarchical folder structure which you can find in the core library is not necessary, it just helps finding things on the file system. - New parts: Breadboard, Ceramic disk Capacitor, Electrolyte Capacitor, Optocoupler, 555 Timer, RGB LED, Voltage Regulator Realism - Parts can now have bendable legs/pins [#51] - Parts can now have internal wires connecting their terminals (they're actually nets). Currently, this is only used by the Breadboard in order to simulate its connections. [#40] Beautification - Revised artwork and icons, check out the transparency on the LEDs! - High-resolution images [#41] - Small and large icons for every part [#53] - Palette shows large icons by default - Better background and grid color, terminal label color Wiring - Wire tool now stays selected - Wires snap more easily into place - Visual indication on terminals if they are connected to - Easier to connect multiple wires to one terminal - Wires are curvy by default - Wires can connect to legs Usability - Improved 'New' wizard: One step, better auto-generated name, Ctrl+N shortcut [#33] - Sketch folder for each new sketch and associated files [#69] - Sketchbook location defaults to the OS-dependent user's documents location [#45] - New 'Info' view that provides information on the selection - Editor tab shows project name instead of full file path [#29] - Large parts can be defined to automatically order to the background - Slightly improved XML of the .fz file Eagle - Individual footprints can be set for your parts within Fritzing in the Properties section - Handles same-named parts - Joins wirings into proper nets [#11] - Removed info pop-up on the start of the export < BUG FIXES > - All elements can now have any name, even none. [#4] - No longer possible to connect a wire to the background and produce ghost terminals. [#67, #70] - Short wires don't freak out any more [#89] - Wire thickness zooms properly - Image export works with all file formats on Windows, also no path problems anymore [#48] < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > 0003 ALPHA - Dec 29th 2007 Started work on getting a decent part library. Work has begun on nicer design of the parts and a scheme for defining and designing parts externally. From the next release on, it should be possible for everyone to add parts. < ENHANCEMENTS > Beautification - Nicer visual representation and corresponding icon for these parts: [#25] Arduino, red LED, resistor, button, photocell (lsr), force resistor (fsr), power transistor, transistor, potentiometer trimmer Extensibility - Parts are defined via XML in the /libraries/core subfolder of Fritzing now. [#56] This is not complete - don't try to add your own parts yet! Currently, it's only possible to redefine the image, size, and terminals of existing parts. More to come in the next release! - New parts: Transistor, Power Transistor Usability - Parts now have real sizes according to the internal grid - Sockets on the Arduino now line up on the 0.1" grid (not corresponding to the exact locations in physical reality) [#36] - Application name is now 'Fritzing' on all platforms [#57] Eagle - Board is now created directly, omitting the schematics creation step. [#61] This makes the export much easier to generalize for library parts, and we assume that the Eagle schematics are not of much value as we are approaching our own schematic editor. - Fritzing menu got a headline and is now easier to identify [#60] - Cleaned up menu structure and benefit from new Eagle beta [#62] < BUG FIXES > - Changed default wire color to off-white to make it visible on white backgrounds in exported images - Terminals are now really fixed < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > 0002 ALPHA - Dec 6th 2007 Smoothening of the first release: less pain, slightly improving on the eye, better PCB export workflow. < ENHANCEMENTS > Usability - Terminals/Pins of parts are now fixated - Parts are now rotatable (though in steps of 90° only, and terminals don't follow..) [#28] - Hold spacebar to pan (with the selection tool enabled) - Removed pop-up context menus; if you like them, you can enable them through the preferences again [#35] - Moved image export menu to File > Export [#34] - Eagle export more streamlined - more explanatory dialogs - better menu structure and naming [#17] - more helpful features in the menu (multiple exports, etc.) [#12] Beautification - New splash screen! [#19] - Tuned logo! - New icons! - New default colors for background, grid, and wires Installation - No longer need to copy Eagle scripts to Eagle directories [#10] < BUG FIXES > - "Export to PCB" now works reliably - no path problems anymore [#20] - no place.scr file anymore [#30] < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > 0001 ALPHA - Nov 12 2007 Initial release. Supporting the basic functionality of a Hello World- example from the creation of a circuit to the automatic export as an Arduino shield. No work on aesthetics or usability yet, almost everything is the GMF default.