Altium Design Security Advisory

After troubleshooting a problem I was having with the supplier links in Altium Designer, I recently found that, for at least one of the supplier links (Mouser), your login credentials are being passed in clear text.  Even better, they are in XML that clearly tells anyone watching what they are.  Altium has been notified of this.  I haven\’t heard back.  So, until a fix is rolled out, don\’t use the Mouser supplier link with your login credentials.

Debug adapter for eZ430

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For those of you who do prototyping with the eZ430 or eZ430-RF boards, this may be of interest.  It\’s a debug adapter that you can put inline to make use of  a logic analyzer or other test equipment easier.  It expands out to 0.1\” spacing posts from the 0.05\” spacing used in the eZ430 connectors.  Continue reading

Altium Designer Overbar or Overline

While trying to move to a new EDA package, Altium Designer, I had a really hard time finding out how to put a overbar, or overline on top of a pin designator. This is usually used for active low signals. In Eagle PCB you just put an exclamation in front of the signal, or around the part to have the overline, like !RST or !TST!/GPO. For Altium Designer, each letter that needs an overline should be suffixed with a backslash, e.g. R\\S\\T\\. You\’ll never find it in the Designer notes unless you know to look for backslash. The words overbar or overline are nowhere to be found. I hope that this saves someone some time!