<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rMoTqSC9wrY" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
In this tutorial you will design and build your own keyboard. You will also learn all the essentials to design and build any electronics. Enjoy!
    </div>
    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://github.com/FEDEVEL/custom-keyboard">Github (HW + 3D + SW)</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

Tutorial - Custom DIY Keyboard Design and Build | Part 2: Keyboard Schematic

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N4cLFE0FF2U" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
        In this tutorial you will design and build your own keyboard. You will also learn all the essentials to design and build any electronics. Enjoy!
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-chapters">
        <div>
            Chapters:
        </div>
        <ul class="chapters-list">
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:00</span><span class="chapters-text">What is this tutorial about</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">03:34</span><span class="chapters-text">Starting a new project</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">08:42</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding RP2040</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">14:43</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 100nF</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">20:12</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 2.2uF</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">23:14</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 200R</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">25:43</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 27R</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">27:40</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding USB-C connector</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">31:25</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding ESD protection</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">34:03</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 1uF</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">36:10</span><span class="chapters-text">Connecting USB CC pins</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">36:46</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 5.1k</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">38:21</span><span class="chapters-text">Voltage regulator 5V to 3V3</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">42:27</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 47uF</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">45:49</span><span class="chapters-text">Crystal ABM8-272-T3</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">47:22</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 1k</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">48:32</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 15pF</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">49:48</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 1M</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">52:52</span><span class="chapters-text">Flash W25Q128JVS</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">58:20</span><span class="chapters-text">Boot Select Button</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:01:09</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 100k</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:03:10</span><span class="chapters-text">Reset Button</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:04:28</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 10k</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:08:23</span><span class="chapters-text">Adding 1x3 Header</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:11:50</span><span class="chapters-text">User LED</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:15:06</span><span class="chapters-text">Power LED</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">1:16:38</span><span class="chapters-text">Thank you for watching</span></li>
    </div>
    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://oshwlab.com/robertferanec/custom-keyboard">Finished project (EasyEDA)</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://github.com/FEDEVEL/custom-keyboard">Github (HW + 3D + SW)</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6784228">Thingiverse (3D)</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXvLToQzgzdftro2qK5In8p6ExsDFdpzw">Link to the complete playlist</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

Tutorial - Custom DIY Keyboard Design and Build: Schematic + PCB + Case | Part 1 - RP2040

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lqc1jmbSxnE" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
Why is the thickness of PCB layers important? Explained.
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-chapters">
        <div>
            Chapters:
        </div>
        <ul class="chapters-list">
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:00</span><span class="chapters-text">What is this video about</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:36</span><span class="chapters-text">What is PCB stackup</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">01:08</span><span class="chapters-text">Is stackup important?</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">01:37</span><span class="chapters-text">Layer thickness vs. crosstalk</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">03:37</span><span class="chapters-text">Layer thickness vs. track width</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">05:11</span><span class="chapters-text">Layer count and order</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">07:44</span><span class="chapters-text">Conclusion</span></li>
    </div>
    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

How to choose PCB?

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="blog-content">
        <b>Update 2018-10-22</b><br>
        <i>A lot has changed after I initially created this post. Therefore I am updating this article so you have more accurate information. – Robert</i>
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
        <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/7ffc8-altium-vs-orcad.jpg" alt="Altium vs Orcad" />
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content">
        Many people ask if they should go for Altium or OrCAD. My answer is … it depends.
    </div>


    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <b>1) My personal opinion</b><br>
        Personally I love Altium Designer more than OrCAD from Cadence. Altium is a complete package – you have everything in one place from schematic, libraries, pcb, output documents. It is also very intuitive and user friendly. Altium is the software what I have and use in my company (I also have OrCAD Professional, but I have not had the right project for it yet). HOWEVER, if I had a bigger team e.g. 3 and more HW engineers, I would seriously consider to go for OrCAD, see the next point.
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <b>2) Price point of view</b><br>
        Altium Designer is getting more and more expensive (I think it is around 10 000 USD or even more, correct me if I am wrong) and OrCAD can be interesting from price point of view. Based on the information I have, OrCAD Professional starts at $2K (for a standalone license) and includes advanced features. The OrCAD Professional has everything what you need for designing any board (you can use OrCAD Professional to design complex and advanced boards).<br><br>

        So, if your budget is limited, the 2k OrCAD Professional is perfect choice. Or, if your team is bigger, OrCAD can make sense. You only buy a few expensive licenses and a lot of work can be done with cheap $443 license (I think that is current price for OrCAD Standard). Disadvantage of OrCAD is, that you may need some time to get used to it and they still need to improve some stuff. But I know they are working on it …<br><br>

        Still, if you have for example 3 engineers, that would be like 6k vs 30k for buying the software … big difference, and I would go for Cadence, even it is not as nice and easy to use as Altium (Altium has some cheaper options like CircuitStudio, but I would not go that way).
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <b>3) Big board design & Simulations</b><br>
        If your designs are based on big boards (e.g. server boards) or if you require simulations, definitely go for Cadence. This will cost you more money, but everything works together e.g. you can add info into schematic or into PCB and this info can be transferred and used in simulation. Cadence simulations are really good, Altium is not good in simulation. Also, a lot of big boards have reference designs in Cadence, this can save you a lot of time and money.
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <b>4) Your boards are used in mechanical complex design</b><br>
        In this case, consider Altium. I talked to some engineers who use Altium, because it helps them to work closely with mechanical guys.
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <b>5) Learning for future</b><br>
        If you are planning to be a hardware design engineer, learn both softwares
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-text">
        <b>Conclusion</b><br>
        I am not sure if these points will help you, or they will confuse you even more.<br><br>

        PS: Non of these companies is paying me, nor Altium nor Cadence, but I do have some free licenses from them.
    </div>

</div>


Altium Designer vs. Orcad PCB Designer Professional

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V0kfHAjht5I" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
        Very useful trick to delete tracks. Select a segment and press Backspace key for multiple times.
    </div> 
</div>


Altium Designer – Delete tracks while using Backspace

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3mpfB3EG5wo" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
        This video describes how to automatically add a page number to ports. Page numbers refer to the pages where signal continues – very useful.
    </div> 
</div>


| KNOWLEDGE BASE

A rich source of expert knowledge

How to add a Page number to a Port in Altium Designer

Newest Posts

Tutorial - Custom DIY Keyboard Design and Build | Part 2: Keyboard Schematic

Tutorial - Custom DIY Keyboard Design and Build: Schematic + PCB + Case | Part 1 - RP2040

How to choose PCB?

Categories

BUSINESS ADDRESS