Changes

Altium allows users to draw circuit schematics and then design the physical layout of the components represented in the schematic. This requires libraries of symbols to represent components, the physical dimensions of those components in real life, and links so that they can be purchased from suppliers. SSI and Stanford Solar Car Project members have designed parts for these libraries over the course of several years, and as an Altium user, you will almost certainly [[Making Parts for PCB Libraries|add parts to the SSI PCB libraries]].  

Altium allows users to draw circuit schematics and then design the physical layout of the components represented in the schematic. This requires libraries of symbols to represent components, the physical dimensions of those components in real life, and links so that they can be purchased from suppliers. SSI and Stanford Solar Car Project members have designed parts for these libraries over the course of several years, and as an Altium user, you will almost certainly [[Making Parts for PCB Libraries|add parts to the SSI PCB libraries]].  

These libraries are shared and synchronized amongst all of SSI's Altium users using a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Version_control version control] technology called Subversion (typically "SVN"). SVN allows a group of folders (known as a "repository") to be shared selectively between SSI's Altium users, while tracking changes between versions of the files and allowing users to decide when they share changes they've made with the rest of the SSI userbase (sharing your changes is known as "committing" those changes). SSI's SVN is hosted on a server in ES3.  

There are three places Altium data lives: 

 

* All new projects are stored on Github. An example of this is [https://github.com/stanford-ssi/ThunderGuppy-EE ThunderGuppy-EE]. All SSI projects should be public on the [https://github.com/stanford-ssi SSI Github], but in order to commit changes, you're going to need to [https://github.com/join create a Github Account] and have someone add you as a member of the SSI Github organization. Ask in {{slack-channel|git}} to be added.

* All components and parts live on the [https://stanford-university-student-space-initiative.365.altium.com/ Altium 365 workspace]. To access this you will need an Altium account connected to your Stanford email, and you will need to be added to the workspace. You should ask for these things in {{slack-channel|altium}}, and tag the {{slack-user|altium-admin}}.

* Templates, Logos, Fonts, and oddball SSI-wide data lives in the altium SVN. SVN ([https://subversion.apache.org/ Subversion]) is the grandfather to Git and Google Drive. To access the SVN you need credentials (ask in {{slack-channel|altium}}) and an SVN client, like TortoiseSVN.  

==A Brief Motivational Note==

==A Brief Motivational Note==