Do you like to draw schematics, board/chassis layouts and guitar wiring diagrams quickly? Then let me introduce you to the DIYLC tool. DIY Layout Creator is an open source drawing tool developed by a large online community of DIY electronics enthusiasts.It is free,multi-platform and has a very easy to use interface.
The goal of this drawing tool is to give enough power to the user for drawing board/chassis layouts and guitar wiring diagrams without a steep learning curve. The cool thing about this tool is that mos of the time you will be using only the mouse to do your drawing stuff.
The best part? The tool is built on an open-source framework, which you can use to draw anything you like.
DIYLC Features
DIYLC freeware comes with many features such as auto update checks for new versions, zoom in/out feature and save default values for each property of a component individually. You can also share your projects with other people with the “export the output to image, PDF or printer” feature.
The tool runs on any machine with a JAVA JRE 1.6.0_45 or newer, making it platform-independent. More impressively, it comes with an API that allows you to use plug-ins and add other components without any trouble.
It makes for convenient editing as it offers the grouping feature. You can group the components of your file together and delete, move, or edit them all in one go. Plus, all the components you would ever need in a schematic are already present in the tool. All you need to do is drag it and place it per your requirements.
DIYLC supports uploads to cloud storage. Besides sharing your projects via the cloud, you can also search through other user’s projects and download them. This feature always comes in handy when you only want to make minor changes to a design to make it your own.
Of course, the tool comes with some templates to help you create your designs. You can also create your own templates if you’re a heavy user. Plus, it allows you to export PCB trace masks that are suitable for toner transfer.
Interestingly, DIYLC can also create a bill of materials for your projects. The bill can either be included in the project or exported as a separate file in a file format of your choice.
The tool makes working on your projects easier with its configurable grid spacing. It is also backwards compatible, so if you find a project online made with an older version of DIYLC, you can open it and work on it without any problems.
Are you a skilled designer that is looking to help in a project? You can contribute to the DIYLC project in many ways, you can consider making a small PayPal donation, help with adding the information to the user manual, add a new functionality though plug-ins and extend the component base.
How to Install DIYLC
Now it is time to install the DIYLC program in your machine. Open a new terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and run the following commands.
Add the repository.
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://www.diy-fever.com/diylc_repository binary/">/etc/apt/sources.list.d/diylc.list'
Update the source list.
sudo apt-get update
Install the DIY Layout Creator tool.
sudo apt-get install diylc
Conclusion
The newest version of DIYLC on GitHub, DIYLC 4, is the fastest version of this tool ever released. The developer, bancika, credits the Java Profiler built by YourKit for the increase in memory and performance.
Now that you’ve learned about DIYLC’s features and how easy it is to install, you’re ready to use it to draw high-quality schematics easily and for free.
