AC power plugs and sockets are devices that allow electrically operated equipment to be connected to the primary alternating current (AC) power supply in a building. Electrical plugs and sockets differ in voltage and current rating, shape, size and type of connectors. The types used in each country are set by national standards, some of which are listed in the IEC technical report TR 60083, Plugs and socket-outlets for domestic and similar general use standardized in member countries of IEC. The scope of IEC TR 60083 states: "The report only contains systems for which standard sheets have been published in a National Standard, which may be a National Standard of the country itself or any other IEC member country". Plugs and sockets for portable appliances started becoming available in the 1880s, to replace connections to light sockets with easier to use wall-mounted outlets. A proliferation of types developed to address the issues of convenience and protection from electric shock. Today there are approximately 20 types in common use around the world, and many obsolete socket types are still found in older buildings. Co-ordination of technical standards has allowed some types of plugs to be used over wide regions to facilitate trade in electrical appliances, and for the convenience of travellers and consumers of imported electrical goods. Some multi-standard sockets allow use of several different types of plugs; improvised or unapproved adaptors between incompatible sockets and plugs may not provide the full safety and performance of an approved socket and plug combination.

Altium Limited (formerly known as Protel) is an Australian owned public software company that provides PC-based electronics design software for engineers who design printed circuit boards. Founded in Tasmania, Australia in 1985, Altium now has regional headquarters in Australia, China, United States, Europe, and Japan, with resellers in all other major markets. The company was known as "Protel" until 2001.

Altium Designer is a PCB design software, an electronic design automation software package for printed circuit board, FPGA and embedded software design, and associated library and release management automation. It is developed and marketed by Altium Limited of Australia.

An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , is an integrated circuit (IC) customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficiency Bitcoin miner is an ASIC. Application-specific standard products (ASSPs) are intermediate between ASICs and industry standard integrated circuits like the 7400 or the 4000 series. As feature sizes have shrunk and design tools improved over the years, the maximum complexity (and hence functionality) possible in an ASIC has grown from 5,000 gates to over 100 million. Modern ASICs often include entire microprocessors, memory blocks including ROM, RAM, EEPROM, flash memory and other large building blocks. Such an ASIC is often termed a SoC (system-on-chip). Designers of digital ASICs often use a hardware description language (HDL), such as Verilog or VHDL, to describe the functionality of ASICs. Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) are the modern-day technology for building a breadboard or prototype from standard parts; programmable logic blocks and programmable interconnects allow the same FPGA to be used in many different applications. For smaller designs or lower production volumes, FPGAs may be more cost effective than an ASIC design even in production. The non-recurring engineering (NRE) cost of an ASIC can run into the millions of dollars.

AutoTRAX is the name of one of the first ever professional printed circuit board CAD apps available for personal computers. It ran on DOS on an IBM or compatible PC. AutoTRAX was sold widely throughout the world in the mid 1980s and early 1990s until Protel International Pty. Ltd. (the proprietor) ported the app to Windows 3.1 to create the first Windows-based PCB CAD tool, Protel 1.0 for Windows. Since then Protel International became Altium Ltd. after a successful IPO and later on made AutoTRAX a freeware download on their web site. It will run in a DOS window under Windows 9x and Windows NT up to XP. It does not run on Windows Vista and later, but can be run successfully using generic VESA video drivers in a DOS virtual machine.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. is an American multinational electronic design automation (EDA) software and engineering services company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc. The company produces software, hardware and silicon structures for designing integrated circuits, systems on chips (SoCs) and printed circuit boards.

CADSTAR is a Windows based EDA software tool for designing and creating schematic diagrams and printed circuit boards. It provides engineers with a tool for designing simple or complex, multilayer PCBs. CADSTAR spans schematic capture, variant management, placement, automatic and high-speed routing, signal integrity, power integrity, EMC analysis, design rule checks and production of manufacturing data. Originally developed by U.K. PCB vendor Racal-Redac, CADSTAR has been part of the Zuken product portfolio since its acquisition in 1994. The software is developed at Zuken's Technology Centre, ZTC in Bristol, United Kingdom. The basic features of CADSTAR can be tested with the free version of CADSTAR Express or Schematic and PCB files produced by CADSTAR can be reviewed using the free CADSTAR Design Viewer.

CircuitLogix is a software electronic circuit simulator which uses PSpice to simulate thousands of electronic devices, models, and circuits. CircuitLogix supports analog, digital, and mixed-signal circuits, and its SPICE simulation gives accurate real-world results. The graphic user interface allows students to quickly and easily draw, modify and combine analog and digital circuit diagrams. CircuitLogix was first launched in 2005, and its popularity has grown quickly since that time. In 2012, it reached the milestone of 250,000 licensed users, and became the first electronics simulation product to have a global installed base of a quarter-million customers in over 100 countries. CircuitLogix was developed by Dr. Colin Simpson, an electronics professor at George Brown College, in Toronto, Canada, and John (Bud) Skinner, a computer programmer. The electronics program has won awards including the Award of Excellence from the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC). The professional version of CircuitLogix (CircuitLogix Pro) includes over 10,000 device models, as well as 8 virtual instruments. It also includes 3DLab, which is a software product that combines an interactive 3-dimensional learning environment and electronic devices and tools to enhance the user's comprehension of electronics. 3DLab virtual components include batteries, switches, motors, lamps, resistors, inductors, capacitors and instruments including oscilloscopes, Signal generators, and frequency counters.

CircuitMaker is electronic design automation software for printed circuit board designs targeted at the hobby, hacker, and maker community. CircuitMaker is available as freeware, and the hardware designed with it may be used for commercial and non-commercial purposes without limitations. It is currently available publicly as version 1.3 by Altium Limited, with the first non-beta release on January 17, 2016.

Comparison of Electronic design automation (EDA) software