[sdiy] AI code generation

[charlie]

the database format used by those altium files is ole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLE_DB

no i mean the prices was 20-30$ overall with 2 runs and to create the
skill, so a bit less.  creating and testing the skill just added a bit more
cost.



On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 at 09:17, cheater cheater <cheater00social at gmail.com>
wrote:

> sorry, what are "ole versions"?
>
> so you mean it cost around $60?
>
> not terrible, especially given the complexity. you could have wasted a
> day or two on this.
>
> On Sun, Jul 26, 2026 at 5:27 PM charlie <charlie at finitemonkeys.com> wrote:
> >
> > actually i realised that was about 2x the cost as someone on the list
> asked me how i did it. so i made a skill for it from the findings i did and
> made a claude skill for it, then ran it again to verify it worked.  given
> the skill and depending on complexity of the board perhaps less, really
> depends if it comes across anything i didn't. it is for the ole versions
> though
> >
> > https://github.com/charlie-x/altium2eagle-claude-code-skill
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 at 08:16, charlie <charlie at finitemonkeys.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> i did it on a subscription, so just some usage, but not that much about
> $20-30 i'd guess at from the context size, if i'd used deepseek around $4-$8
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 at 01:42, cheater cheater <
> cheater00social at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Neat - any clue how much it cost you?
> >>>
> >>> On Sun, Jul 26, 2026 at 6:43 AM charlie <charlie at finitemonkeys.com>
> wrote:
> >>> >
> >>> > i had claude convert  an older altium binary pcb/schdoc to eagle for
> me, it did a good job, way better than any of the existing scripts or tools
> i've used before, fusion july 2026 wouldnt even open the altium
> pcbdoc/schdoc.
> >>> >
> >>> > the erc matches except for three components that exist in the altium
> schematic and not in the pcb, so its correct.
> >>> >
> >>> > some minor issues, mostly to do with slots and such since eagle,
> but  i had it make the lbr/sch/brd and link it and verify it so i can edit
> the parts it couldnt easily do. and nee dto update my drc
> >>> >
> >>> > https://i.imgur.com/ViWxQA4.png
> >>> > https://i.imgur.com/pxapS9B.png
> >>> >
> >>> > left it going while we ate dinner and came back to it done.
> >>> >
> >>> > On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 at 12:06, grant musictechnologiesgroup.com <
> grant at musictechnologiesgroup.com> wrote:
> >>> >>
> >>> >> I think this is simply an example of what all of us on this list can
> >>> >> relate to. I ran into that identical dongle.  I think very many
> people
> >>> >> have. It's legend!
> >>> >>
> >>> >> They messed up the firmware too. Two  replacement PCBs are available
> >>> >> that allow one to build an STM32 or 8051 board and replace the guts
> of
> >>> >> these. The opto-isolator issue is rampant on Tindie and other
> places too
> >>> >> (Amazon, obv), possibly propagated inadvertently by the Arduino
> crowd.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> GB
> >>> >>
> >>> >> On 7/25/2026 11:21 AM, cheater cheater via Synth-diy wrote:
> >>> >> > Yes, of course.
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> > Focusing on only the shittiest products won't tell you anything
> about
> >>> >> > top-end capabilities.
> >>> >> >
> >>> >> > On Sat, Jul 25, 2026 at 8:14 PM Ben Stuyts <ben at stuyts.nl> wrote:
> >>> >> >> The MIDI dongle doesn’t surprise me a bit.
> >>> >> >>
> >>> >> >> They are good at manufacturing, I think we can agree on that.
> Both good and bad products, with and without QC. See e.g. Big Clive’s
> youtube channel for lovely Aliexpress (or Amazon for that matter) items
> like chargers that can kill you. And then there are also the
> people/companies who (re-)sell fake products of course. So buyer beware.
> >>> >> >>
> >>> >> >> Ben
> >>> >> >>
> >>> >> >> On 25 Jul 2026, at 18:52, Mike Bryant <
> mbryant at futurehorizons.com> wrote:
> >>> >> >>
> >>> >> >> It's not a case of being dismissive, it's a case of spending
> half the day tracing a hum loop to find the Chinese MIDI dongle doesn't
> have an opto-isolator in it as per the MIDI specs !
> >>> >> >>
> >>> >> >> By all means design out excess cost, but never ever ignore the
> specification.
> >>> >> >> ________________________________
> >>> >> >> From: cheater cheater <cheater00social at gmail.com>
> >>> >> >> Sent: 25 July 2026 17:20
> >>> >> >> To: Mike Bryant <mbryant at futurehorizons.com>
> >>> >> >> Cc: Jonatan Liljedahl <lijon at kymatica.com>; SDIY <
> synth-diy at synth-diy.org>
> >>> >> >> Subject: Re: [sdiy] AI code generation
> >>> >> >>
> >>> >> >> Eh, there's no reason to be dismissive of what engineers are
> doing in
> >>> >> >> China, no countries have had the same manufacturing and design
> >>> >> >> capabilities since probably 2000. There were tiny holdout
> niches, but
> >>> >> >> by now that's almost fully gone too.
> >>> >> >>
> >>> >> >> On Sat, Jul 25, 2026 at 4:18 PM Mike Bryant <
> mbryant at futurehorizons.com> wrote:
> >>> >> >>> Imagine, a whole series of AIs that think it is okay to remove
> the opto-isolator from a MIDI input because it still works without it (sic).
> >>> >> >>> ________________________________
> >>> >> >>> From: Synth-diy <synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org> on behalf of
> cheater cheater via Synth-diy <synth-diy at synth-diy.org>
> >>> >> >>> Sent: 25 July 2026 14:17
> >>> >> >>> To: Jonatan Liljedahl <lijon at kymatica.com>
> >>> >> >>> Cc: SDIY <synth-diy at synth-diy.org>
> >>> >> >>> Subject: Re: [sdiy] AI code generation
> >>> >> >>>
> >>> >> >>> Honestly I wonder if Chinese models trained on the Chinese
> language
> >>> >> >>> space would be better for electronics design, given how much of
> it is
> >>> >> >>> being done over there and nowhere else...
> >>> >> >>>
> >>> >> >>> On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 10:11 PM Jonatan Liljedahl <
> lijon at kymatica.com> wrote:
> >>> >> >>>>
> >>> >> >>>> I had great help from an LLM (don't remember if it was Gemini
> or GPT) to repair an old shortwave receiver. It guided me step by step
> until we found a faulty transistor, and helped me pick a replacement.
> >>> >> >>>>
> >>> >> >>>> But for circuit design, the results have been mixed, and
> wasted more time than it saved..
> >>> >> >>>>
> >>> >> >>>> /Jonatan
> >>> >> >>>> http://kymatica.com
> >>> >> >>>>
> >>> >> >>>> On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 at 13:30, cheater cheater via Synth-diy <
> synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
> >>> >> >>>>> I see some bad experiences with AI and analog electronics.
> Have any of
> >>> >> >>>>> you tried any of the following approaches?
> >>> >> >>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>> 1. Rather than use an image of a schematic diagram, provide
> it with a
> >>> >> >>>>> plain-text netlist + BOM and have it parse that
> >>> >> >>>>> 2. Use a "research" type AI, which you feed documents. Feed
> it books
> >>> >> >>>>> and papers about the kinds of things you are doing, and then
> ask it
> >>> >> >>>>> questions about your circuits
> >>> >> >>>>> 3. Point the AI to trusted resources such as "better quality"
> forums
> >>> >> >>>>> or even this mailing list's archives in order to get it to
> answer
> >>> >> >>>>> questions
> >>> >> >>>>> 4. People have mentioned giving the thing access to be able
> to measure
> >>> >> >>>>> some signals when they were working on DSP code. When working
> on
> >>> >> >>>>> analog hardware, has anyone tried to give it access to AD/DA
> and a
> >>> >> >>>>> digital oscilloscope, and build your circuits on a board that
> has all
> >>> >> >>>>> (or very many) nodes tied to an i/o multiplexer so it can
> measure
> >>> >> >>>>> things? (I think azonenberg's open source oscilloscope
> software can be
> >>> >> >>>>> helpful here as the oscilloscope interface)
> >>> >> >>>>> 5. I wonder if some form of modular pick and place machine
> would be
> >>> >> >>>>> helpful for building circuits. Put all the parts on DIPs,
> have sockets
> >>> >> >>>>> that can open and close, have the thing connect things...
> basically a
> >>> >> >>>>> big breadboard style thing. Leave it alone in a dark room for
> a month
> >>> >> >>>>> and do other stuff in the meantime.
> >>> >> >>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>> Has anyone tried spending some time on focused learning on
> how to use
> >>> >> >>>>> AI for analog circuits? Maybe other forums might have
> answers, like
> >>> >> >>>>> idk, eev blog or diy audio or gearspace or kvr. It would be
> >>> >> >>>>> interesting to see what others come up with, I think this
> sort of
> >>> >> >>>>> knowledge is going to be shared across silos but sharing
> between silos
> >>> >> >>>>> only happens when someone does that on purpose.
> >>> >> >>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>> On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 11:31 AM Mike Bryant <
> mbryant at futurehorizons.com> wrote:
> >>> >> >>>>>> I didn't think it would need an AI to point out that most
> USB audio dongles are s**t 😄
> >>> >> >>>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>>> ________________________________
> >>> >> >>>>>> From: Synth-diy <synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org> on behalf
> of rrsounds via Synth-diy <synth-diy at synth-diy.org>
> >>> >> >>>>>> Sent: 24 July 2026 08:39
> >>> >> >>>>>> To: Eric Frampton <eric at ericframpton.com>
> >>> >> >>>>>> Cc: SDIY <synth-diy at synth-diy.org>
> >>> >> >>>>>> Subject: Re: [sdiy] AI code generation
> >>> >> >>>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>>> Using Claude to design audio DSP on my Mac Mini, I ran into
> a situation where the audio I could hear was occasionally cutting out, with
> some pretty bad digit-itis squwawking. I wanted to blame the DSP, but
> Claude couldn’t find an error in the code that would likely result in such
> a series of glitches. Since AI is only as good as the questions you give
> it, I carefully described what I was hearing and it was able to discern by
> probing into OS system signals that the USB driver for my cheap AES-out
> dongle (or the dongle itself) was probably at fault. I attached my Yellotec
> PUC-2 in its place, and the problem disappeared entirely. And the audio
> sounded clearer, too, so I guess the dongle was f*cking with me.
> >>> >> >>>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>>> David Reaves
> >>> >> >>>>>> David Reaves Audio.
> >>> >> >>>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>>> Sent from my iPad
> >>> >> >>>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>>>> On Jul 24, 2026, at 6:08 AM, Eric Frampton <
> eric at ericframpton.com> wrote:
> >>> >> >>>>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>>>>
> >>> >> >>>>>>> Also yeah, Claude’s rate for diagnosing hardware issues is
> pretty bad - maybe 10% of the time it gives me something useful, but when
> it is useful, it’s spot-on.
> >>> >> >>>>>>
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