Fritzing is an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

initiative to develop amateur or hobby

CAD software Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

for the design of electronics hardware, intended to allow designers and artists to build more permanent circuits from prototypes. It was developed at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. Fritzing is

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

under the GPL 3.0 or later license, with the source code available on GitHub and the binaries at a monetary cost, which is allowed by the GPL.

Goals

The software was created with inspiration from the Processing programming language and the

Arduino Arduino () is an Italian open-source hardware and open-source software, software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardwar ...

microcontroller and allows a designer, artist, researcher, or hobbyist to document their Arduino-based prototype and create a PCB layout for manufacturing. The associated website helps users share and discuss drafts and experiences as well as to reduce manufacturing costs. Fritzing can be seen as an

electronic design automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...

(EDA) tool for non-engineers: the input metaphor is inspired by the environment of designers (the

breadboard A breadboard, solderless breadboard, or protoboard is a construction base used to build semi-permanent prototypes of electronic circuits. Unlike a perfboard or stripboard, breadboards do not require soldering or destruction of tracks and are h ...

-based prototype), while the output is focused on accessible means of production. As of December 2, 2014 Fritzing has made a code view option, where one can modify code and upload it directly to an Arduino device. Component images are distributed under CC BY-SA 3.0, which will also be the license for any generated breadboard views.

Maker

Fritzing allows for creation of

printed circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB), also called printed wiring board (PWB), is a Lamination, laminated sandwich structure of electrical conduction, conductive and Insulator (electricity), insulating layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes ...

s. Fritzing provides access to a commercial service known as �
FritzingFab
�� to order PCBs created with designs made on the Fritzing software.

2016-2019 Fritzing Development Stall

From 2016-2019, development for version 0.9.4 stopped, mainly because Fritzing’s revenue declined. Before 2016, when Fritzing 0.9.3b was released, donations were not mandatory, so only a few users who downloaded Fritzing donated. Some users wanted development to continue and even tried to convince some developers to continue, but failed. Finally, in 2019, Aisler arranged a development team for Fritzing, and version 0.9.4 was released. Since then, donations were compulsory, with options to donate either 8€ or 25€

Simulator

Since version 0.9.10, Fritzing incorporates a basic simulator, which became non-beta in version 1.0.0. The main aim of the simulator is to teach electronics to beginners, and Fritzing version 0.9.10 only supports analysis of DC circuits. The simulator works on the breadboard and schematic views. In addition, it checks that the parts are working within their specifications (otherwise, a smoke symbol appears). The simulator provides multimeters to read voltages and currents and it attempts to recreate a realistic laboratory session. The simulator was officially supported in Fritzing 1.0.0, and improvements have been made since.

Friends of Fritzing e.V.

Friends of Fritzing e.V. was a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

association established in 2012 to support the development and sustainability of the Fritzing project. Fritzing itself began in 2007 as a publicly funded research initiative at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Germany, and later transitioned to community-driven development. The foundation played a crucial role in maintaining the Fritzing software and its ecosystem. However, due to administrative overhead, Friends of Fritzing e.V. ceased operations in 2018. Following the closure, the Fritzing team sought alternative methods to sustain the project. In 2019, they transitioned to using

Open Collective Open Collective is a crowdfunding platform focused on grassroots groups. It enables organizations, communities, and projects to get a legal status and raise funding through subscription or one time payment. It's particularly favoured by open sourc ...

, a platform that facilitates transparent financial contributions to open-source projects.

Release history

References

External links

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User Forum

FabService
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Fritzing overview
{{CAD software Free electronic design automation software Physical computing Electronic design automation software for Linux Engineering software that uses Qt Free software programmed in C++ Arduino