ChunkSchematic

ChunkSchematic is a simple, yet incredibly powerful and flexible schematic capture software package for Windows. At Chunk Systems we design effects pedals for bass guitar. For years we've been looking for a reliable and affordable schematic capture tool which gives us results in a useful netlist format. Eventually we gave up and wrote our own.

Anyone can download and use ChunkSchematic, but a license for the correct pin count is required to export a netlist. You can obtain licenses in two ways:

You can purchase them at an affordable price.
You can contribute to the publically available library of parts for ChunkSchematic. Chunk Systems will reward your contribution by offering you extra license capacity.

The idea behind this purchasing system is that ChunkSchematic can be useful for everybody from hobbyists and students through to professional engineers.

For more information about the goals and features of ChunkSchematic, see the manifesto below.

download

Download the current release of ChunkSchematic.

For the moment you just unzip the file to your hard drive and run ChunkSchematic.exe. An installer will be included with later versions. License and ReadMe files with more information are included inside the zip file. A basic help system is included to get you started. The latest libraries are also included.

By installing the software you agree to be governed by the license agreement.

purchasing

You can purchase licenses for ChunkSchematic through Paypal by clicking one of the Buy Now buttons below. Prices are in Australian dollars but exclude Australian GST, which will be added for Australian customers. Orders will be processed and license keys sent to you by email on the next Australian business day. You can upgrade your capacity at any time by purchasing extra pins.

license capacity	price	click to buy
100 pins	AUD 49
200 pins	AUD 99
500 pins	AUD 159
1000 pins	AUD 199
10000 pins	AUD 299

Please contact schematic@chunk.com.au with any questions on licenses or purchasing.

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contributing to the libraries

When you design a new product there will sometimes be parts that you want to use that will not be in the libraries and you will need to add them. Chunk Systems wants you to contibute these additions and improvements to the wider Chunk Schematic community because it makes Chunk Schematic more useful. In exchange for your help in expanding the libraries, Chunk Systems will offer you more license capacity, which means that you are allowed to export larger netlists from Chunk Schematic.

The amount of capacity offered depends on how useful we think your addition is. However, we will generally follow a policy of giving you a 150% return on your work in terms of pins. That is, if you add a new part with 100 pins, we will offer to add 150 pins to your licensed capacity. You can reject our offer if you like, in which case your additions or modifications will not become part of the publically available library. However, our intention is to be generous. The idea is that people who make significant and regular contributions should be able to use Chunk Schematic for free.

To contribute, email your modified ckl files to contribute@chunk.com.au and include a description of your changes.

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enquiries

Please direct any enquiries about ChunkSchematic to schematic@chunksystems.com.

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manifesto

Here's a summary of what ChunkSchematic is all about.

simple interface, powerful backend

ChunkSchematic schematic and library files are written in a human-readable language called MOLLUSC, the Modular Objective Lightweight Language for Uncomplicated Schematic Capture. This means that, although it has a simple user interface, you can achieve virtually anything in Chunk Schematic by writing MOLLUSC code yourself. For example, MOLUSC lets you reuse and modify part of an existing component definition to create a new component.

easy to add new parts

Whereas most schematic capture packages require you to come to grips with a clunky component editing interface in which you need to place each pin by hand, ChunkSchematic lets you list the pins in a simple text format and let the system place them automatically. This dramatically reduces the time it takes to add large complex components with many pins.

intelligent layout

If you've done a lot of schematic capture, you'll know that you spend a lot of your time tidying up wires after moving components around. Chunk Schematic reduces the need to rewire with its intelligent wire layout system. Also, most schematic capture packages define component labels in a fixed location relative to the body of a component, which can be rotated or flipped. This means that as you move components around you constantly need to be adjusting the position of these labels so they don't overlap other components. Chunk Schematic avoids this problem by including only those component body and label orientations that make sense for a given component. These orientations are easy to define using MOLLUSC. You'll spend less time cleaning up the details with Chunk Schematic.

useful output

Chunk Schematic exports netlists in the universally supported Protel format. You can use these netlists with virtually any PCB layout package including the freely available Protel Autotrax.

an interface that works

Chunk Schematic's zooming and scrolling engine has evolved over several years and is very solid. Unlike other packages, you won't see rendering glitches when you zoom or scroll. All the professional features you'd expect are there, including Cut, Copy, Paste, mousewheel support and multi-level Undo. Chunk Schematic's interface is simple and intuitive and uses the same selection and editing paradigms you're used to from other Windows software.

affordable and collaborative

Chunk recognises that the usefulness of a schematic capture packages is largely determined by the size of the library of components that exists for it. There are, therefore, two ways to get a license for Chunk Schematic. One way is to pay for it, the other is to contribute component definitions to the public library. Like many other schematic capture licensing schemes, a Chunk Schematic license enables you to create designs up to a certain number of pins and Chunk will reward each useful contribution to the library by increasing the number of pins for which you are licensed. This means that Chunk Schematic is affordable for everyone from the hobbiest through to the professional engineer.

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license agreement

BY INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE AND KEEPING THE PRODUCT, IN PART OR IN WHOLE, YOU ARE CONFIRMING THAT YOU HAVE LICENCED THIS PRODUCT SUBJECT TO THIS LICENCE AGREEMENT AND ARE BOUND BY ITS PROVISIONS.

This software licence agreement is a legal agreement between you (the purchaser and the individual user) and Chunk Systems for a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence for the use of Chunk Systems product. This agreement defines the product to include all software (including but not limited to updates, patches, utilities, demonstration and evaluation versions, and all backup copies that have been made by you) and all associated materials (including but not limited to images, photographs, text, audio, music, packaging, documentation, this licence agreement), in part or in whole.
This software product is protected by copyright laws within Australia and internationally. The product is provided to you under this licence agreement and has not been sold to you.
Chunk Systems grants you, the individual user licensee, the right to install and use this product on a single computer that you own or operate. The software may be transferred to another computer provided that you will be the only user of the software and there will be only one copy of the software product installed at any one time. In the case that the Licensee is an entity, then Chunk Systems grants you the right to select an individual user that may install and use the this product bound to the conditions of this licence agreement.
If this software product is exchanged or upgraded with another Chunk Systems product, then this licence agreement will be automatically transferred to the new product or version unless an updated licence agreement is supplied.
You may not rent, lease, loan, resell, distribute, network or create derivative works based upon the product. The product may be permanently transferred to a new licensee on the condition that the new licensee agrees to also be bound by the conditions of this agreement. In the case of such a transfer, all materials that are any part of this product will also be transferred by you, including any backup copies of the product, and you will remove any installations of the software on computers you either own or operate.
This product may be copied or duplicated for the purpose of data backup. The software may be stored on a storage device such as a network server used only to install or run the software product on computers used by individuals who are licensees of the product as outlined in this agreement. A single product licence may not be shared, and the licensee may activate only a single copy of the software program at any one time.
You will take all reasonable steps and make your best effort to ensure that this product is and will not be accessible for use, copying, distribution by any person or entity that does not have permission from Chunk Systems to do so.
You will not reverse engineer, decompile, dump, disassemble or otherwise reduce this product to a human perceivable form.
This agreement may be terminated at any time by destroying all parts of the product. This agreement will terminate automatically without notice from Chunk Systems if you fail to comply with any provision of this licence agreement.
To the maximum extent permitted by the applicable law, in no event shall Chunk Systems or any of its agents be liable for any indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages whatsoever, including but not limited to loss of business profits, loss of business information or business interruption by use or the inability to use this product or support services provided by Chunk Systems. As all computer programs contain errors, this product will be operated by skilled and suitably trained personnel who can verify the results of use to be accurate.
You will not export this product to any country, person, entity or user that is subject to US export restrictions.
If the product was purchased within Australia then this agreement is governed by the laws of the state of New South Wales. If the product was purchased outside of Australia then New South Wales law applies to the maximum extent possible in the jurisdiction that the product was purchased.

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