This is my first day at Fritzing. It looks like all I might ever want.
I wanted to use an item not in any library that I could find (cd4011, 7 DIL chip). So, I wanted to either create or modify an existing 14Dil item, and possibly create a blank DIL chip outline for easy use as a template.
2 problems I encountered:
1, There seems to be no way to create new parts except for modifying an existing item one has placed within a project which has to be placed within a project otherwise the editing option line is feint and not available. i.e. you cannot create a new part from scratch.
To modify an existing part, all aspects function except for the “Schematic” window icon which seems to be uneditable.
If it is me, please help.
If not, what a pity.
Thanks
While parts creation is indeed exciting, in this case someone has preceded you. If you search in the parts bin (the magnifying glass) for 4011 you will find an excellent multipart (where you can move around individual gates) or a single part (all together) from one of our better parts makers. If you do need to make parts later here are a couple of recent tutorials to help you along:
Hi
Thanks for the reply.
I seemed to have tried all ways, including your suggestion of “searching” for parts named 4011. All I find are my previous attempts at editing a 74xxx chip which happens to be a 14DIL and, since they are rubbish because I couldn’t fully edit the schematic and change internal gate diagrams to suit, I tried to delete them. No right-clicking option to do that either.
No multipart items as you describe are to be found.
When editing an existing part, the schematic allows no alteration whatsoever, just metadata.
Clearly, I am not on the same page here. Sorry for being a dumbo but something is “getting lost in my translation”.
FYI. In order to try to remove the baddies, I uninstalled Fritzing, searched and deleted any related files found on the hard drive, reinstalled Fritzing and, you guessed it, the baddies remain.
OK time to ask some questions Are you on the latest version 0.9.3? If so which operating system (I’m on Win7 pro, but as long as you are on 0.9.3 you should be fine)? If you are in 0.9.3 make sure you have network access (because it needs to get to github to update the parts data base) and then in Fritzing run help->check for updates (which will check github, this is supposed to be automatic but I just had a case where mine missed an update until I did a manual check). The 4011 part is a late update, around November I think. Once the updates complete (if they are needed) then entering 4011 in the parts search window and hitting enter should come up with 4 parts, A microchip dsp, the 4011 single part the 4011 multi part and another dsp. As to editing parts as I said intitially it is exciting. The new parts editor is a work in progress and not entirely finished (I rarely use it, and tend to create parts entirely outside of Fritzing and then import them to be blessed). The graphics for both breadboard and schematic are in svg files and they are typically edited by Inkscape (open source and what I use) or one of the commercial packages such as Corel Draw or illistrator. The tutorials listed give the gory details , it isn’t easy and has a steep learning curve but it is possible. The parts editor allows you to make a generic box like schematic for cases where that is acceptable, the real logic diagrams need to be created in an svg file.As to the files, if you are on Windows (as I am) then the user files are in a hidden directory in c:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\Fritzing and c:\User\user_name\My Documents\Fritzing. (where username is your windows username) To see at least the AppData one you have to enable show hidden files in explorer. The paths for the other OSes are in the documentation somewhere (I can find it if needed).
Hi Peter
I have Windows 10, Fritzing version 9.3.
As you suggested, I loaded the updates via help/ check for updates.
Brilliant. All loaded and so I am off and running.
Its a Beta program and free, so no complaints from me.
Job done.
Once again, many thanks.
Good to hear! While it does have its limitations and bugs, Fritzing is over all an amazing piece of software. The developers appear to have thought of a whole lot of things that could be done and made provisions to be able to do them. If you have more issues, feel free to post there is lots of help available here.
Are you on the latest version 0.9.3? If so which operating system (I’m on Win7 pro, but as long as you are on 0.9.3 you should be fine)? If you are in 0.9.3 make sure you have network access (because it needs to get to github to update the parts data base) and then in Fritzing run help->check for updates (which will check github, this is supposed to be automatic but I just had a case where mine missed an update until I did a manual check). The 4011 part is a late update, around November I think. Once the updates complete (if they are needed) then entering 4011 in the parts search window and hitting enter should come up with 4 parts, A microchip dsp, the 4011 single part the 4011 multi part and another dsp. As to editing parts as I said intitially it is exciting. The new parts editor is a work in progress and not entirely finished (I rarely use it, and tend to create parts entirely outside of Fritzing and then import them to be blessed). The graphics for both breadboard and schematic are in svg files and they are typically edited by Inkscape (open source and what I use) or one of the commercial packages such as Corel Draw or illistrator. The tutorials listed give the gory details