Hi what want to start designing PCB and what to know if the is a copy of Altium I could practice with.
Thanks
To the best of my uncertain knowledge we do not have Altium. However, there is a free version of Altium called CircuitMaker and it’s built on the Altium code base.
I like and use a web based alternative called EasyEDA and have used it to make some really nice (IMHO) boards. The nice thing about it is that it integrates nicely with LCSC (for cheap components) and JLCPCB (for dirt cheap board fabrication and assembly). If you’re interested I can run you through it sometime. It’s pretty intuitive and much easier to use than other free options like DipTrace and KiCAD.
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I would love that. I am a pretty good solder monkey and I am just starting to learn pcb design so any that you can me I would appreciate. Also if you can you a solder monkey on a project , I have a pretty open schedule. Just let me know what time works best for you.
I have looked into contacting them, but most of the people at DMS I’ve talked to have ended up just using KiCad (or circuit maker).
Altium has some odd requirements, and although in the past from what I remember they used to do non profit/group discounts, I haven’t heard anything about that recently.
And from my own personal experience Altium is pretty excessive unless you are doing many many layer board with all sorts of crazy stuff.
I only just barely know what I’m doing, but with a lot of help from @ozindfw I’ve been able to design my first project in KiCad. I’d definitely suggest looking into it, especially because it seems that’s what people use around here.