LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

sironitomas · 2010-06-24 22:22:50

Hi all!

I'm working on a report for the college and I'm doing it with LaTeX. The hard part came when I had to include some simple electronic diagrams. I have to make a pair of graphics with logic gates, so the graphic itself is simple. The problem is that I want to make those circuits in LaTeX or anywhere else (importing images to LaTeX). If anyone have a clue, I will appreciate it. Thanks

PS: I've been googling arround for a while, but there are lots of options and nothing consistent.

hanlin · 2010-06-24 22:52:53

I've always used XCircuit. It's not the most complete, but it's been enough for me. You can export as eps format which will show up very nicely with latex.

eldragon · 2010-06-24 22:53:17

i do all my circuits in inkscape, and export them as PDF. those can be included directly to latex

there is an inkscape plugin to embed latex text in inkscape too if you need to.

sironitomas · 2010-06-29 04:31:44

Hi again. For those who care, I have found a good solution. It is Circuitikz http://home.dei.polimi.it/mredaelli/cir … index.html and this is the user manual http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/graphic … manual.pdf. The solution might be a little 'slow' but the final presentation is publication quality. LaTeX is really awesome!

Regards!

Cyrusm · 2010-06-29 14:08:48

xcircuit and gschem both export into eps, they make embedding circuit diagrams into latex docs easy as pie.

sironitomas · 2010-06-29 19:42:23

Cyrusm wrote:

xcircuit and gschem both export into eps, they make embedding circuit diagrams into latex docs easy as pie.

I tried Xcircuit, but it is super-hard to use, and its components doesn't have pins!!

Cyrusm · 2010-06-29 20:20:36

you could also give gschem a whirl, it's part of the geda-gaf package available from the AUR. it definitely does provide pin numbers and a large component library. however, if you're looking for "easy to use" you might be out of luck... in my experience, ALL circuit CAD programs come with a pretty high learning curve. This is mostly due to the inherent complexity of circuit design. There are lots of parts with lots of values, and lots and lots of ways to put it all together. learning computed aided circuit design can certainly be a time consuming endeavor, however once proficient in a design software it will prove invaluable in the future.

for example, with pin numbers, your standard logic IC is usually a DIP-14 with 4 gates, 3-pins each, 2 input and one output, and a Vcc pin and GND pin. normally, if you're just doing a logic circuit diagram it's not uncommon to just use the standard basic logic symbols without pin numbers,since your primary goal is to communicate HOW the circuit is going to operate, and if you are building an actual design, use the DIP-14 symbol and tie all the pins where they need to go using the pin numbers, so as to convey WHAT the physical circuit is going to look like.

if you do need pin numbers for your project, look up what the pin numbers are for whatever chip on the component's datasheet, and if all else fails, type them in manually using the text insertion tool.

Last edited by Cyrusm (2010-06-29 20:22:31)

sironitomas · 2010-06-29 23:57:14

I'm sorry, I should have explained more when I said "xcircuit doesn't have pins". What I meant is that if I want to connect a wire to a logic gate (eg.), that connection is just up to your eyes and there is no really connection more than a line that start or end close to that pin. Am I right or wrong? Hope you understand. Sory for my english...

Last edited by sironitomas (2010-06-30 00:04:27)

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#1 2010-06-24 22:22:50

LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

#2 2010-06-24 22:52:53

Re: LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

#3 2010-06-24 22:53:17

Re: LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

#4 2010-06-29 04:31:44

Re: LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

#5 2010-06-29 14:08:48

Re: LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

#6 2010-06-29 19:42:23

Re: LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

#7 2010-06-29 20:20:36

Re: LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

#8 2010-06-29 23:57:14

Re: LaTeX and Electronic Diagrams

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