Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

snapeda.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 110 posts

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#101

Post by natashabaker »

new299 wrote: post #82
new299 wrote: post #81

What license are the footprints provided under? I couldn't see this on the main page?

ok found it: "Individual CAD symbols and footprints on SnapEDA are licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA) with the Design Exception 1.0. This license allows designers to use CAD files downloaded from SnapEDA for commercial and personal use free of charge, and make derivative works. If CAD files, or derivatives thereof, are shared publicly, attribution must be give…

This terms of use was originally written for our free library. Basically the way the license works is that as soon as you use a model in your designs (Design Exception), there is no license; it becomes your IP. You can re-post the models online in small quantities so long as you provide attribution to the source (SnapEDA). For InstaPart, we haven't re-evaluated the license, but we're open to it if you have better ideas. All our InstaPart users are professionals who are simply using the models in their designs (ie. not re-posting to the Internet), and therefore the attribution is not an issue. The models immediately become part of their IP. Basically the motivation behind our license was to be as flexible as possible without encouraging people to scrape and re-post vast quantities of the library without attribution.

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#102

Post by natashabaker »

Animats wrote: post #63
natashabaker wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Here's an example of a part page: https://snapeda.com/parts/LTC6995HS6-1%23TRMPBF/Linear%20Tec... On this page, you'll notice the following: 1. You can upvote or downvote the part 2. You can leave a comment on the part 3. We have automated algorithms that uncover common defects in parts on the Validations tab. This is a patent-pending technology we developed that we plan to expand further to include more checks.

"Upvote" should mean more than "I liked it". It's too easy to get likes. Something that says "I used this footprint to make a board, and the part soldered into place OK" would be helpful.

That's an excellent idea. Will talk to our developers and see if we can re-purpose it this way.

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#103

Post by sockopen »

simcop2387 wrote: post #88
natashabaker wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very constructive, thanks. We recently installed the app (Intercom) and it has really helped provide a channel for feedback which we have then used to prioritize improvements. I'll talk to my team about reducing the number of pages the automated pop up shows up on though.

One of the ways I've seen it done, and done it at previous companies is to not present it to every user on page view. Pop it up for only 10%, even if you have a button/link/menu to bring it up for everyone. That way you can solicit feedback while still gaining a lot of the benefits of having live interaction. It'll also still give you some insight to where the chat is most useful, but it'll take longer to gather usef…

I'm cool with a cookie and an [X] or a Close button on warnings / notifications / advertisements / popups / music controllers so you know that I have seen it, and do not want it displayed to me again.

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#104

Post by natashabaker »

Fiahil wrote: post #70
natashabaker wrote: post #2

Dear HN Community, I wanted to introduce our startup SnapEDA to the HN community. We recently completed Y Combinator, and have been quiet about the platform while we've been improving it. With that said, we’d love to get feedback from the HN community! Our goal is to build a canonical library for making circuit boards: one trusted, centralized place to get digital models. These digital models include PCB footprints,…

> and verified using proprietary patent-pending verification technology Is "proprietary patent-pending technology" really necessary? It's the kind of phrasing seen on uninteresting product trying to pretend they're interesting (ex: "Our Proprietary Patent-Pending Technology Makes Our Product So Great This Single Mom Can't Even Talk About It. Discover Now For $99.99")

Here's our motivation for that wording: We know how important verification is and we spent a ton of time building an automated verification system (still in Beta) that provides transparency into common issues with CAD models. It can uncover and display defects, such as the centroid not being at 0,0 which will cause issues with pick-and-place machines, eventually pin mapping issues as well. We were trying to find a way to succinctly communicate this focus & investment into verification technology which differentiates us from any other library in the market. Apparently that was not communicated well and we'll re-word to make this more clear. :-)

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#105

Post by soneil »

natashabaker wrote: post #58
soneil wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope this is constructive, but that chat invitation on every freaking page drove me off the site. By time I'd logged in and searched for two parts, the incessant chirping and popups of Clippy were too much.

Very constructive, thanks. We recently installed the app (Intercom) and it has really helped provide a channel for feedback which we have then used to prioritize improvements. I'll talk to my team about reducing the number of pages the automated pop up shows up on though.

I think a callout the first couple of times is fine (still not my preference, but I think this is a cultural thing - the US style "how can I help you" in retail rubs me up the wrong way too).

But I think after that it'd be very much preferable to taper off - especially the sounds. As another commenter said, know your audience - your icon is obvious and descriptive, so we don't need to be told 20 times what it does.

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#106

Post by rfrank »

akiselev wrote: post #75
rfrank wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, for the most part library stuff is quick. Some tools let you pattern place the pins and plop them all down at once. High pin count parts like FPGAs and connectors with weird footprints are the big time sinks.

Weird footprints are really the only time consuming part with modern EDA software. Tools like Altium have templates, footprint generators, and features for bulk editing symbols and footprints so all you do is create a quick Excel spreadsheet with pin number and formulas for x and y (especially easy for FPGAs and processors with pins in a grid). You copy paste that spreadsheet into Altium and you're done. It takes me…

Yeah, when I was doing library stuff I used Mentor Expedition which has all kinds of stuff for speeding up footprint creation. Symbols can be time consuming for the various XXGAs because some of our customers have fairly... elaborate standards for visual appearance, pin locations, etc.

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#107

Post by funkaster »

natashabaker wrote: post #2

Dear HN Community, I wanted to introduce our startup SnapEDA to the HN community. We recently completed Y Combinator, and have been quiet about the platform while we've been improving it. With that said, we’d love to get feedback from the HN community! Our goal is to build a canonical library for making circuit boards: one trusted, centralized place to get digital models. These digital models include PCB footprints,…

Is there any way to get support? I've been having problems trying to login or do anything since yesterday, but your support (or contact) email is bouncing...

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#108

Post by natashabaker »

funkaster wrote: post #107
natashabaker wrote: post #2

Dear HN Community, I wanted to introduce our startup SnapEDA to the HN community. We recently completed Y Combinator, and have been quiet about the platform while we've been improving it. With that said, we’d love to get feedback from the HN community! Our goal is to build a canonical library for making circuit boards: one trusted, centralized place to get digital models. These digital models include PCB footprints,…

Is there any way to get support? I've been having problems trying to login or do anything since yesterday, but your support (or contact) email is bouncing...

Ah sorry we switched our email servers yesterday afternoon. Info@snapeda.com is back up and running, or you can also contact us through the chatbot in the lower right corner of the website.

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#109

Post by funkaster »

natashabaker wrote: post #108
funkaster wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any way to get support? I've been having problems trying to login or do anything since yesterday, but your support (or contact) email is bouncing...

Ah sorry we switched our email servers yesterday afternoon. Info@snapeda.com is back up and running, or you can also contact us through the chatbot in the lower right corner of the website.

still bouncing... I'll try the chatbot. You might want to remove the email from your page. It's very frustrating to try to contact a company, but all the info on their website points to a non-working email :(

Re: Show HN: InstaPart – Build circuit boards faster with instant parts

#110

Post by natashabaker »

funkaster wrote: post #109
natashabaker wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah sorry we switched our email servers yesterday afternoon. Info@snapeda.com is back up and running, or you can also contact us through the chatbot in the lower right corner of the website.

still bouncing... I'll try the chatbot. You might want to remove the email from your page. It's very frustrating to try to contact a company, but all the info on their website points to a non-working email :(

It's definitely fixed now.
Post reply on HN