What is your favorite PCB software?

Just curious about what everyone uses. I've been using Orcad PCB editor.

Reply to
Joel
Loading thread data ...

On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:19:52 -0500, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and "Joel" instead replied:

formatting link

Brilliant! Easy to learn and use. Very capable. Don't let the price fool you.

-- Ray

Reply to
Ray Haddad

I use Eagle. It's cheap, and it runs on both Linux and OSX. I tried open-source gEDA stuff once upon a time, but the learning curve was a bit too tough for me.

--
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! !!  I am having fun!!!
                                  at               
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Grant Edwards

Been using Eagle since about 2000:

formatting link

Considering I now have probably a man*yr of effort into developing my own Eagle device libs, it's unlikely I'll ever change. Unless I have to do something dramatically outside the scope of Eagle's abilities.

I have no complaints about Eagle. It is one of the most stable programs I run. (On Linux).

Consider carefully what software you choose, because if you put effort into package/device design, the longer you do it the more wedded you will be.

--
Good day!

____________________________________
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Chris Carlen

gEDA/PCB exclusively.

I tried Eagle once, but one of the first footprints I used was wrong (common part, subtle but fatal error) and the free version couldn't handle the board I was designing.

Reply to
DJ Delorie

.

formatting link

Leon

Reply to
Leon

GSCHEM and PCB here under FreeBSD

Reply to
Anubis

Easy PC - simple, cheap, stable a bit limited - ie running out of steam on

6 layer design with 256 pin BGAs where you start wishing you had fancy pin-swapping-to-optimise -routing features.

Michael Kellett

formatting link

Reply to
MK

I am using Altium Designer since two years. It had some oddities in the beginning, but they have added some real nice things I've been wishing for in the latest versions.

--
Best Regards,
Ulf Samuelsson
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Ulf Samuelsson

fancy

Well you have got some pin swapping, which should be fine on an FPGA or the like, where the IOs are (mostly) equivalent. It's definitely not fancy though- it can't warn you if you blithely swap with some power or special purpose pin, and it doesn't know about groupings, so gate or opamp swapping needs a bit of care. And it's not automatic at all, and you end up with a lot of schematic tidy-up when you've finished.

But I'd concur that it's a very good low- end package.

JS

Reply to
sprocket

Has anyone here looked at Vutrax

formatting link
and if so, what did you think of it compared to the alternatives ?

(I'm not associated with them, I have just used the free version occasionally in the past.)

Thanks,

Simon.

--
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980's technology to a 21st century world
Reply to
Simon Clubley

I use it and am pretty happy with it.

Pros: Does what I need, runs on linux and windows. (I use the linux one). It is pretty flexible and complete. Scriptable. Free version up to n pins (256?). Stable, no problem reading files I did 15+ years ago. Still actively supported and updated. Good technical support. Buzzword compliant, e.g. Heirarchical schematics, forward&back annotation/modification, 3D view, autoplace, autorouters. DXF import(?)/export. Design rule checking. Gerber RS274X, drill file generation. Export of parts lists, pick and place files. Extensive control of plotting and on-screen display.

Cons: It has a steep learning curve and unfamiliar interface. Development has slowed in recent years. The best autorouter is 3rd party (Elektra), windows only(?) although quite good and reasonably priced IMO. Some lack of integration with operating system, more so on linux.

--

John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

I use FreePCB. It is an open source package under Windows only.

I looked at Eagle and found it to be incredibly arcane and difficult to learn. I find it interesting that one person says that gEDA was too hard to learn, but didn't find Eagle to be awkward.

FreePCB is fairly capable although there are some features that are lacking. Many of them are being added as we speak. The main thing I like about it is the high level of support available. It is better than I have seen with nearly *any* software package regardless of the price.

Reply to
rickman

It will run under WINE (Linux) and on Macintosh computers under VirtualPC.

2 big ones: As it doesn't have an integrated Schematic Capture capability. back-annotation is non-existant (as was mentioned recently).

...and no one has mentioned about EAGLE:

**NEVER USE SOMEONE ELSE'S LIBRARY COMPONENTS ** until you have learned how to defeat the DRM that Cadsoft added.
Reply to
JeffM

I believe that was me. What I couldn't figure out how to do was to get the gEDA/PCB stuff to work together: how to export a netlist from the schematic editor and then auto-route it, then modify the layout and back-annotate the schematic.

In Eagle, all that stuff "just works". I've heard people complain about the Eagle UI. The library-related stuff is a bit clunky, but the basic schematic capture and board layout stuff seemed fine to me.

--
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! I want the presidency
                                  at               so bad I can already taste
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Grant Edwards

formatting link

You want the "blinker board" tutorial.

Sorry, no back-annotation yet. Forward annotation is pretty easy though. What I do is use pcb to determine the changes I need, then make them in gschem and forward annotate.

Reply to
DJ Delorie

I'l go further and say I found it very straight forward, even easy. Their non-rectangular group selection is unusual but I find it better than the standard windows convention (which they also have). The biggest thing I find missing is the lack of hiearchy in the schematics, a rather curious blind spot on their part.

Robert

** Posted from
formatting link
**
Reply to
Robert Adsett

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, it's free up to 256 pins.

The steep learning curve and unfamiliar interface is what keeps me from using it more often, especially, since this is for hobbyist use, I am not using it every day.

I do find some of the other free packages easier to pick up again when I haven't done any circuit design for a while.

As you have noted, it does appear to be feature rich however.

Simon.

--
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980's technology to a 21st century world
Reply to
Simon Clubley

"Joel" a écrit dans le message de news: pOidnUGOS6oVsGfanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

Proteus

formatting link
for its very good mixed signal simulation tools as well as its solid PCB design features, well adapted to complex manually routed boards (rf, etc). Moreover I like the look of its schematics, far more pretty on a customer report than Eagle's I think.

Robert

Reply to
Robert Lacoste

Disclaimer: My company sells EAGLE online to customers in North America (see sig below). But I'm also an engineer and I use EAGLE for _real_ work on a daily basis.

I like EAGLE. Version 4 and previous did take some getting used to the UI. This is a stumbling block for some people. The main reason is that EAGLE's motif was to pick your function, then pick your object. The idea being that you typically will perform the same function on multiple objects. And in reality I find this to be true, thus this i/f is generally the optimal way to go.

However, Windows and other modern UI's are all object based: pick your object then your function. Anyone who is used to this will find EAGLE's old UI a bit obtuse at the start. But trust me, once you use it a lot you see the brilliance of it all.

That all said, version 5.0 (due out soon) has the best of both worlds. You can use it like 4.1 if you're used to that or want to use it, and you also right-click on any object and then pick your function. So this should satisfy most complaints about the UI. It is also based on QT4 which means it runs natively on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X with file compatibility between all platforms.

The real reason I like it is that the schematic and PCB are coming from the same database (other s/w has this to, PCB123 from Sunstone is one example). Thus there is no forward or back annotation--all modifications are applied to both simultaneously. This is a big bonus and seriously cuts down on chaos when things change.

To some degree you can get used to any tool, but I have used pretty much every major tool out there and when its my money on the line (like it is in my business) then I'll choose EAGLE every time since it provides the best value for the dollar that I've ever seen. This argument is coming from a professional point of view where things like unlimited, free support forever and the cost of crashes and other quality issues have a real cost associated with them. For hobbyists the value equation is different so using it for complicated design may not make as much sense if you count your time as worthless or can make due with something that is completely free.

That all said, I like gEDA from the point of view that it seems to be getting to the point that it is a viable option for some and as it gets better it is going to force commercial products to get better too. That helps us all.

Cheers,

James.

--
James Morrison
www.eagletoolkit.com
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
James Morrison

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.