[headfone]

I've seen some excellent PCB artwork as well as electronic schematics done by DIYers on this site as well as others (such as Tangent's).

What specific software are DIYers using and are there any favorites? I prefer open-source becuase it's usually free. But I would like to know about the better commercial software as well.

Thx for any info you can provide!

 

[Ace o' Spades]

I have made 1 or 2 very simple PCBs with ExpressPCB. It is really simple and powerful, and its free.

 

[pddjsteve]

I think most people here use Eagle, from a company called Cadsoft. There is a free version but it is size-limited to 100x80 or something along those lines.

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

2nd vote for Eagle.

You can upgrade from the free version to a 100mmx160 version for $125.

I've never needed a larger board.

http://www.cadsoft.de/nonprofit.htm

 

[j4cbo]

EAGLE is excellent, but note that the free and $125 version are for noncommercial use only.

 

[threepointone]

*bump*

Just wondering, does anyone have suggestions for pcb software other than eagle, including ones that aren't free? I've been trying to do some stuff in eagle, and so far their library editor is an absolute pain in the arse.

I was trying to put in a new relay device, and I simply gave up entirely on using their "interface" for drawing packages and made everything in their scripting language with coordinates. Then, after finishing the package, I tried to stick it in the schematic, only to find that everything was labelled G$1 and all sorts of nonsense. Spent an hour or so tracking the problem down, and figured out that there was some combination of addlevels that eagle messes up on. Then I spent a whole lot of time having to mess around with the weird scrollbars/zoom, duplicating packages, file management, nonstandard keyboard shortcuts, and all sorts of other things that simply don't make sense at all to me.

I do a lot of non-electronics work on adobe/macromedia authoring programs, like flash and photoshop. Is there a pcb design package that is actually on par with the interface/flexibility of these programs? I just feel that I'll be spending far too much time getting around all the little quirks in eagle.

 

[Nisbeth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threepointone I do a lot of non-electronics work on adobe/macromedia authoring programs, like flash and photoshop. Is there a pcb design package that is actually on par with the interface/flexibility of these programs?

IMO, no. Eagle isn't perfect, but its great value and it is widely used in the DIY-community which is a big plus. Unless you plan on doing major commercial projects, I'd stick with Eagle and learn to accept the quirks. One thing that will help is to find alternative tutorials for the functions such as the package editor (which I haven't gotten the hang of yet either), as the documentation is a bit lacking in that respect. I think the only real alternative would be ExpressPCB, but as that effectively limits you to using ExpressPCb for board fab as well it wouldn't be my first choice.


/U.

 

[Alf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threepointone /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is there a pcb design package that is actually on par with the interface/flexibility of these programs?

PADS and Altium Designer.

 

[rfbrw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threepointone /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do a lot of non-electronics work on adobe/macromedia authoring programs, like flash and photoshop. Is there a pcb design package that is actually on par with the interface/flexibility of these programs? I just feel that I'll be spending far too much time getting around all the little quirks in eagle.

Depends on what you want to spend. If price is no object, try
Cadence, Mentor and Zuken.

 

[jcx]

I've looked several times over the years for a good freeware package, although I haven't actually tried setting down to evaluate all of them by completing designs in each

I look for 2 things

– the ability to do 4-layer board layouts –The extra layout freedom of gnd and pwr layers is too “cheap” in added pcb cost for the number of boards I’ll ever have made vs the superior performance and layout time savings to pass up

-usable part libraries are absolutely critical for getting a project done, yes you will likely have to edit/create 1 or 2 new parts so that process has to be usable but a good library of standard parts is essential

ExpressPCB - a fatal flaw for me is the lack of "rubber banding"; the live connectivity lines showing the (nearest) pins that are connected, and that stretch, move, reorder to new nearest connection while you arrange the parts - absolutely critical for finding the part placements that minimize sensitive nodes, reduce coupling and make for a superior layout

Vutrax – commercial but with a attractive sounding 256 pin free version limit, I was unable to “get it” about the user interface, even went to the extreme of reading the documentation and trying the tutorial! But 20+ hrs of nite/weekend poking at it left me without the 1st clue about how the design flow was intended to work

KiCad is a relatively new open source tool with a promising level of activity, but while the user interface and documentation seem better than Vutrax the “friction” was still too high for me

gEDA and PCB are older open source projects that some claim work but I haven’t found active user forums/dev “buzz” that makes me trust that they are supported and generally usable, I use Windows PCs so a requirement to build the current version of the doc is a non-starter for me

When I wanted to design a pcb in finite time with high probability of success I just bought the standard version of Eagle, the interface is “quirky” but somehow fits my expectations enough better than Vutrax and KiCAD that it was tolerable, the forums and 2 support phone calls let me generate schematic, BOM, 4-layer board layout with 200+ parts in ~1 week from first trial – with only 2 layout errors in the 1st board

I am deliberately not providing links, If you can’t find these and their user forums with google you haven’t much chance of successfully completing a project with any of them

My opinions may be out of date or reflect my own search incompetence, please weigh in with any useful info – I would be happy to ditch Eagle if a clearly superior alternative was available