Tag: proprietary format

CEM DT-9939 multimeter leads (WHL #88)

Just an oddball thing that I discovered this week when lending out the leads of my newest multimeter, a CEM DT-9399. While the unit was an absolute bargain for what it can do, and the only thing to complain about is the slow continuity test mode and the slow Wireless USB (!) data transfer, this post really is about the boring leads. They just happened to be the only ones around in the office, and the boss asked for a spare multimeter that he could take home for the weekend for some rudimentary electrical testing, likely on an AC device. Well, better safe than sorry, don’t hand over the regular (non-safety) 4mm leads with some add-on test prods – give him the leads that came with the 1000V CAT III/600V CAT IV meter, right? […]

30th July 2023 31st July 2023 By Bzzz In No Comment

RIP Cadsoft/Autodesk Eagle (#R20)

Oh well, looks like we got another piece of software to mourn for…good ol’ Eagle is no more!

Autodesk announced in a recent blog post:

Effective June 7, 2026, Autodesk will no longer sell or support EAGLE. Moving forward, we will continue to invest our energy in Fusion 360 Electronics.

(Note that it says 2026: That’s the end of the support. However, nobody sane will buy into that package from now on and switch again with all their projects in less than three years…)

Sure, the announcement itself was a surprise, but the path was clear once Autodesk tried squeezing out money. […]

11th June 2023 11th June 2023 By Bzzz In No Comment

RIP RS DesignSpark Mechanical (#R19)

Well,

It looks like RS has pulled the plug on the free Designspark Mechanical 3D modelling software. I’ve only been using it for about three years, starting right on the transition from DSM4 to DSM5, but I spent countless hours with it, making or editing probably close to 100 models, plus opening hundreds more, e.g. recently checking electronic component STEP files before importing them into Altium. OpenSCAD doesn’t really work for complex geometries, and Sketchup, later Google Sketchup, was quickly dismissed when I tried DSM – it’s simply inferior software, at least, it was back in ~2019/2020, plus Google als tried monetizing it at that point. […]

30th April 2023 30th April 2023 By Bzzz In No Comment