Downloading & installing Fritzing on Ubuntu Linux problem

After successfully using Fritzing on an Ubuntu Linux computer & designing a few PCB’s, I decided to update Fritzing to the latest Fritzing Version - Ver 0.9.3b.linux.AMD64 tar.b.bzz (Linux64bit)

Can someone please let me know how to un-rar & install the Tar program & into what folder.
I have tried several times without success but there are many options & I have had no experience with rar files & also I am new to Ubuntu Linux.
Preferably is a version of Fritzing available which can be simply downloaded and installed without it being in a compressed form.

Just go on Download page, and select Linux (64bits).
File name should be ‘fritzing-0.9.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2’

It can be extracted with standard uncompress tool (I have used Ark without difficulty).
Or you can do it in command line:
tar xj fritzing-0.9.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2

Most good Linux distros will have an “Extract Here” if you right click on the downloaded file. File name noted above. From there, go into the sub directory which was created when you do the Extract Here command. In that directory, there should be a fritzing install file. Press the F4 should open the command line tool. From there you can then install the program. I have it on my laptop which is with me. Let me pull out get the file names for the installation and I will reply again.

A simple get you up and running…

I’m going to assume we are working in your ‘USERNAME’ home folder. I’m going to call it wali ie;
/home/wali
Now change directory to your downloaded files. This should be where your file was naturally downloaded to. Open a terminal can cd to that folder ie;

cd ~/Downloads

that should leave you in the directory

/home/wali/Downloads

then extract that file with this command

unzip -xzf fritzing-0.9.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2

then change to the fritzing working directory ie;

cd /home/wali/Downloads/fritzing-0.9.3b.linux.AMD64/

The exectute fritzing
./Fritzing

or

sh Fritzing

You should be running @this point.

The main program is compressed for many reasons, an uncompressed file is just not feasible for the average internet users bandwidth. Why download 350+mb when it can be done in 174mb? Occam’s razor good sir. As the simple answer is usually the best one. Hence a compressed file.

Good luck!

2 Likes

I have written a quick document with some images to this installation process. I can’t add it to thread as it is not the right type of file extension.

If anyone wants it, let me know.

Yes please send it to me.
Tnx
Sydcee

Yes please send it to me.
Tnx
Sydcee

@sydcee how did you get on with the install?

After not having much success with re-installing Fritzing I asked my son
for help.
He had recently uninstalled Windows & installed Ubuntu Linux on my computer
and I am still not used to the Linux operating system.
He had it all fixed in a few minutes by using some apt-get commands.

I have now used Fritzing and re-created my PCB circuit layout quite easily.
I have run a Circuit check with no errors in the PCB.

I am printing it out using a Brother HL2270 DW laser printer on plain paper
to test the quality, but my printout is not dark enough.
I will be using the iron-on method for making the board.

There seem to be a few different printing options for printouts in Fritzing.
I presume “Export as an Etchable PDF” should be used for etching and this
gave me what appeared to be good except not dark enough.

Doing test prints however using the different options available eg.
export as a PDF, JPG, PDF, Export for Production I notice that in the full
A4 page printouts that here are some that show tracks not meeting the
circle of the component despite the No Errors Circuit check.

I await your valuable comments.

Thanks
Regards
Syd

I use the ‘Export for Production as an Etchable PDF’ method.

If you have a long line of continuous holes like a header, you might have to scale it a touch to get the dimensions perfect, so do a test print.

When I used thin white gift wrapping paper I printed at the std darkness, because when you iron it it squashes out the tracks wider than they are supposed to be. Now I use the yellow wax paper from eBay and that needs to be set at the printers darkest.
I also put a via with a 0.5mm hole on every connection, because after tinning it provides a good drill guide to centre holes - the 0.8-1mm holes allow the drill to not find the centre -.
https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/c51d/m5cyc1l67dhkw576g.jpg
On this board I’m going to sand the gloss off the top, for adhesion, and toner transfer the silkscreen as a part guide.

Also don’t use cheap eBay PCB because the copper tracks seam to fall off easily after etching.

The “Export as an Etchable pdf” produces about 10 different pdf’s. Is this correct?

All the Exports for Production produce everything needed to fully make the board, just in different formats.

Problem #1
After having lost my simple circuit design i have now redone it from start.
I exported it as a JPG and printed it out using my Brother HL-2270DW printer on plain paper.
As the density of the Black print was not good enough I suspected a problem with my printer and/or laser-cartridge, so I checked the print quality using my wordprocessor and printed a document and it was 100%. The print was perfect and dark confirming that the problem was with my Fritzing settings.

Problem #2
Attached is an enlarged printout of my circuit

The problem that I have at the moment is that my pcb exported for PCB as an Etchable JPG for production and make a test print on Plain Paper it’s not dark enough.
The fault is not with my printer or Laser cartridge as all other documents print out very dark.
How do I get Fritzing to print out darker?

My PCB is saved on my computer but I do not know how to include it in tis e-mail
FlySparkV2 15 Aug 2016_etch_copper_bottom_etch_copper_bottom.pdf

I am an old (70+ years) & have not done any electronics for the last 20 years.
Now a newbie struggling with both Ubuntu Linux and Fritzing. and assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any assistance.
Syd

Sorry man, I know how hard it is to get into this because I only started electronics 10 months ago, and I know how hard Linux is because I did a course decades ago - I gave up on Linux because I just wanted to use the PC, not build it every time I want to use it -.

The first thing I think is a problem is the jpg. FZ doesn’t have a ‘for Production’ jpg, only the higher quality pdf and svg.
Go File/Export/for Production/Etchable PDF. Assign a folder, and save the export there. Now print from the PDF and set printer to darkest in it’s settings.

I use the free PDFXCHANGE Viewer, because you kind-off need the advanced features to scale the print so it’s dimensionally accurate, plus other stuff.

Hello,
I have downloaded the last version ‘fritzing-0.9.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2’ and I installed with Synaptic Package Manager, but when I start fritzing again the last version 9.2.

Does anybody know what is happening?

Thanks

Synaptic is probably probably using 9.2, not the 9.3b. If you downloaded the tarball, Synaptic would not be used to install it. You have to untar the tarball, use the install file in the new directory, and run Fritzing from that directory as well.

I’m use the file manager to do all of the extracting and installing. I can walk you thru it if you want?

@enricfll

I’d remove what you’ve installed from synaptic. In terminal run
sudo apt-get remove fritzing

Then extract that tarball. Go to download folder, then extract, change folder, then run.
cd ~/Downloads
tar -xzf fritzing-0.9.3b.linux.AMD64.tar.bz2
cd fritzing-0.9.3b.linux.AMD64
./Fritzing

That should start version 0.9.3b

Hi there, I am new in this forum.

welcome to the forum.

How can I reverse this? want to take it off and then re-install it to try and correct resolution or screen size.