DipTrace 4.3 release

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novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
Posts: 466
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
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DipTrace 4.3 release

#1 Post by novarm44 » 27 Jul 2022, 10:03

Hi All,

We have published a new version 4.3 today.
You can download it from https://diptrace.com/download/download-diptrace/
Major features are Built-in NG Spice Simulator and DipTrace XML format for Schematic and PCB Layout.
Full list of new features: https://diptrace.com/diptrace-software/whats-new/

Regards,
Stanislav Ruev
DipTrace Team

0xdeadbeef
Posts: 63
Joined: 22 Jun 2013, 22:20

Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#2 Post by 0xdeadbeef » 28 Jul 2022, 05:32

And again no push'n'shove? Really? It's really hard to swallow down my disappointment this time as it's now at least a decade (!!!) since the first statement that this will be implemented.
I mean it's great that DipTrace is even still worked on under the current circumstances, but after all these years that we were told again and again and again that "this feature is under development now", I guess it's finally time to abandon all hope.

Actually, this long overdue feature would have really saved me massive amounts of time in one of my last projects and I really had a hard time deciding whether to switch to KiCAD or not before I started it. Finally I decided to upgrade my DipTrace license since at this point I felt that switching to KiCAD would still be the bigger effort. But know I feel somewhat disillusioned (again) and I think I reached a point where I just gave up hoping that push'n'shove will ever be implemented in DipTrace.

novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
Posts: 466
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
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Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#3 Post by novarm44 » 28 Jul 2022, 11:39

0xdeadbeef wrote: 28 Jul 2022, 05:32 And again no push'n'shove? Really? It's really hard to swallow down my disappointment this time as it's now at least a decade (!!!) since the first statement that this will be implemented.
I mean it's great that DipTrace is even still worked on under the current circumstances, but after all these years that we were told again and again and again that "this feature is under development now", I guess it's finally time to abandon all hope.

Actually, this long overdue feature would have really saved me massive amounts of time in one of my last projects and I really had a hard time deciding whether to switch to KiCAD or not before I started it. Finally I decided to upgrade my DipTrace license since at this point I felt that switching to KiCAD would still be the bigger effort. But know I feel somewhat disillusioned (again) and I think I reached a point where I just gave up hoping that push'n'shove will ever be implemented in DipTrace.
The development of this feature is delayed as algorithms are very complex and need much time not only for development, but also for researching. I develop it and this is my highest priority at the moment - it is already third attempt in the process now (algorithm principle was changed twice already, third attempt promises to be successful). The development of first attempt was started in 2018 (I don't remember about statement, in 2016/2017 my primary tasks were differential pairs and high speed features) and I made pauses between the attempts: for other features, integrating features from other programmers and preparing updates. As a small work around there is "Pause Routing" feature, which allows to push other traces manually and then continue routing. I will post a video of push and shove once have some visible results while developing.

AK6DN
Posts: 23
Joined: 07 Dec 2017, 13:54

Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#4 Post by AK6DN » 30 Jul 2022, 12:55

Downloaded the 64b and 32b versions of 4.3, and the file version info for 64 is weird. Is this expected?
Capture.PNG
Capture.PNG (21.24 KiB) Viewed 4511 times

novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
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Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
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Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#5 Post by novarm44 » 30 Jul 2022, 22:09

AK6DN wrote: 30 Jul 2022, 12:55 Downloaded the 64b and 32b versions of 4.3, and the file version info for 64 is weird. Is this expected?
Thank You for report! It looks like the issue of QInstall (installation package we use), which adds its own details instead.
It happened to 64b trial file only, so I have rebuilt it without changing anything and now details are correct. Reinstalling on your side is not necessary, all DipTrace files are the same.

MarkH
Posts: 21
Joined: 27 Nov 2018, 04:53
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Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#6 Post by MarkH » 31 Jul 2022, 22:45

Congrats on the new update!

I noticed if I file > open > any network file
I get an error "T:\xxxx is unavailable"
Also if I go My computer all network drives are not showing, if I navigate with file explorer and open the file it works no problem
This may not be a diptrace error but was working on last installed version.

novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
Posts: 466
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
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Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#7 Post by novarm44 » 01 Aug 2022, 12:46

MarkH wrote: 31 Jul 2022, 22:45 I noticed if I file > open > any network file
I get an error "T:\xxxx is unavailable"
Also if I go My computer all network drives are not showing, if I navigate with file explorer and open the file it works no problem
This may not be a diptrace error but was working on last installed version.
It looks like something with permissions, i.e. DipTrace executable files do not have access to the network drives. Run as administrator or changing permissions/user may help.

FDA
Posts: 44
Joined: 01 Nov 2017, 03:06

Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#8 Post by FDA » 03 Aug 2022, 19:19

novarm44 wrote: 27 Jul 2022, 10:03 Hi All,

We have published a new version 4.3 today.
You can download it from https://diptrace.com/download/download-diptrace/
Major features are Built-in NG Spice Simulator and DipTrace XML format for Schematic and PCB Layout.
Full list of new features: https://diptrace.com/diptrace-software/whats-new/

Regards,
Stanislav Ruev
DipTrace Team
Why is the XML format still not used as the main one? It's also convenient when using version control systems!

novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
Posts: 466
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
Contact:

Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#9 Post by novarm44 » 05 Aug 2022, 10:09

FDA wrote: 03 Aug 2022, 19:19 Why is the XML format still not used as the main one? It's also convenient when using version control systems!
We decided to keep both binary and XML formats. Binary is compact and fast to read/write, which is very sensitive for large libraries and may add some delays on large projects.
XML will be polished a bit (this is first release) and then we will add an option to use it by default for save/open functionality.

Regards,
Stanislav

novarm44
DipTrace Lead Developer
Posts: 466
Joined: 08 Jun 2010, 23:24
Contact:

Re: DipTrace 4.3 release

#10 Post by novarm44 » 05 Aug 2022, 10:14

We have updated DipTrace to version 4.3.0.1 today.
Critical bug with "group" feature has been fixed in Schematic:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14758
It doesn't break schematic structure, but object grouping on inactive pages may be lost even for existing projects if you open/save them with 4.3.0.0.

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