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.
Pro Tip: Moving Multiple Component Primitives in Altium Designer
Sometimes you have a design where you don’t want to make a new footprint, but need to move a certain track or via 10 mil one way… for 30 copies of the same footprint. Continue reading
ATX Power Supply Breakout Board
How many of you have or know of someone who has an old computer just sitting in the closet gathering dust. How many of you would like to have a multiple output bench power supply? Do you need an extra +12V DC power supply for your CB, ham shack or office? What we have here is a 4\” x 6.3\” PCB that has all the standard connectors needed to take the output connectors from an ATX power supply and give you easy access to them.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!