IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 23

1936: Paul EislEr invEnts thE
PrintEd-circuit board. by 2012,
thE global markEt was EstimatEd
at us $60 billion

CirCuit
Design
Comes to
the ClouD
Web-based
electroNicdesigN
tools gaiN
tractioN

resources_HANDs oN

uppose you want to create an electronic circuit and a corresponding printed- circuit
board for it. What software will you use? Unless you already have a favorite, it might be hard to
decide: There's a dizzying array of options, ranging from free software typically targeted at students and hobbyists to multithousand-dollar packages used by professionals. The possibilities have grown
even wider recently with the addition of Web-based tools that allow you to edit schematic diagrams and lay out printed-circuit boards in a browser,
without downloading and installing any software at all. If you weren't aware of these cloud-based electronic-design aids, your reaction might be
similar to what mine was initially: incredulity. The disadvantages of using software that runs in the cloud are obvious enough. For one, you need to have
a good Internet connection to get any work done. Of more concern, though, is the danger of being locked into a single software-as-a-service provider,
especially if it experiences a prolonged outage, or worse, just ceases to exist. What then are the advantages? The main benefit is that these services
promise to do for open-source hardware design what GitHub and the like have done for open-source software development: provide convenient central hubs for collaboration among strangers. And they offer the possibility of communal generation of Wikipedia-like electronic-component libraries,
which would ease the burden of electronic design substantially. With such thoughts in mind, I examined four of these services: EasyEDA, PCBWeb,
123D Circuits, and Upverter. EasyEDA offers some pleasingly familiar part libraries-including ones from Sparkfun and Adafruit-which seemed
attractive at first. But those libraries proved impossible to search. I couldn't even figure out how to specify that a resistor I was adding to my

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum July, 2014

IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 1
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 2
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 3
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 4
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 5
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 21
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 22
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 23
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 26
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 27
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 28
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 40
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 41
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 42
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 45
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 46
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 47
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 49
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 50
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 53
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 55
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 57
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 58
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IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 60
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 61
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 62
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 63
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 64
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 65
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 66
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 67
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - 68
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum July, 2014 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0116
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0212
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0911
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0811
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0711
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0611
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0511
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0411
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0311
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0810
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0710
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0610
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0510
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0410
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0310
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1209
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0507
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0407
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0307
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0207
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0107
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