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PCB design software

I have been using an old MSDOS based printed circuit board layout program for many years, and the time has come to upgrade to something more up to date and windows based. I am a retired professional in electronics and want this for my own private use, hence I am looking for something of reasonable standard, but not costing so much that it will break the budget. It has to be capable of creating PCB's at least 200 mm wide so as to cater for a small ongoing development project which I am working on, and as I do not have a photoplotter, it must be capable of good quality output to a laser printer

I would welcome any suggestions as to programs which are available at present Thanks

Harry Pfeifer

Reply to
Harry Pfeifer
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Hi Harry,

have a look at ExpressPCB at

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. It might do what you want, and it's free.

regards Barry

Reply to
Baz

  1. he EAGLE Light Edition can be used for free! Limitations

The following limitations apply to the EAGLE Light Edition in general:

a.. The useable board area is limited to 100 x 80 mm (4 x 3.2 inches). b.. Only two signal layers can be used (Top and Bottom). c.. The schematic editor can only create one sheet.

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  1. Kicad - Open source (free)

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  1. gEDA Opensource (free)

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Joe

Reply to
Joe G (Home)

The ones mentioned, plus I'll add Novarm Diptrace. Versatile, easy to use, freeware (not for profit) edition available limited to 2 layers / 250 pins but no limit on board size. Higher layer / pin count versions relatively inexpensive. Even freeware edition has full support for Gerber export (and other formats).

Of course it's all a matter of personal preference, download the trial / freeware edition of a selection and have a play.

Regards James

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Reply to
James

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