CAD software

Do it. :-)

Altium is alive and well (altium.com).

Cadence does have various other schematic capture and PCB offerings (e.g., Virtuoso/Allegro) depending on your needs. Some of the other popular commercial packages out there are Pulsonix, Eagle, and CADSTAR. For open-source needs, there's Kicad and geda.

Only when moving from employer to employer.

Eagle is inexpensive (less than four digits). Altium and Pulsonix are some of the very-few "mid-range" offerings available (high 3-low 4 digits). CADSTAR and anything from Zuken or Cadence is pretty expensive (4-5 digits).

Google can find many others; those are just some I'm vaguely familiar with.

That seems to depend largely on what you've used previously and how sophisticated your need are. :-)

Yes, most packages will import some competitors' libraries. How well this works varies all over the board, though -- you really need to try it out with the package you're interested in with your own libraries. (There's a huge variation in the complexity of libraries -- many companies don't do anything at all "fancy" with them, whereas others get very fancy, adding lots of special atributes and linking parts to multiple symbols, footprints, etc.)

Honestly, while I think the import ability is good for when you need to get things done ASAP, over time you're better off just building new parts and design "snippets" anyway.

---Joel

Have a look at Proteus from

What are your requirements, really?

I like Eagle, but I only do little stuff, mostly for proof of concept. It's certainly capable of moderately complicated boards, but not Really Big Stuff. I'd say that if the schematic fits onto no more than four B sized sheets then Eagle is fine.

One of my clients so consistently rides the bleeding edge that an eight layer board with a six-page schematic is a "simple little thing"; the average board probably has over a dozen layers and over a dozen schematic pages, they have one board with a 100 page schematic (but not

_They_ would be foolish to use Eagle: they used Mentor until recently, which they needed to handle the big boards.

Read this to mean: $$$$$$

Last time I checked, the Tyco facility near me was maxed at out 64 layers.

I don't consider $4K to be that bad, not for a professional package that includes everything...

Charlie

The kiddies don't realize that you have to pay for good tools. I'm trying to remember now, but, IIRC, I paid around $5K for MicroSim PSpice v8. I believe it was listing for about $8K, but a reseller made me a deal :-) ...Jim Thompson

That sounds about right. DesignLab was around $10K, contained everything including PCB and FPGA design...

Just like Altium Designer... ;-)

Charlie

Terry Porter doesn't haunt this group any more but there was a time he would post links to hi-res photos of what he produced with gEDA. You couldn't tell his stuff from the stuff that the guys using multi-kilobuck packages were turning out. (Terry has lost several providers over the years and those links are now all Error 500s.)

DJ Delorie (a gEDA devel>Eagle is inexpensive

...until you miss a deadline because Cadsoft tied up your work product in its stupid DRM.

Jorge hasn't posted yet, but he typically reminds us that EAGLE doesn't do hierarchical schematics.

...then there's

Apparently, RS are doing a free 'full' package...... not looked at it though,

Actually there is a lot of free software that does better than most paid tools. The gnu-compiler (gcc) is a good example. And how about the Apache webserver?

If you need/want all the options included.

I have used Protel for years, still do.

But all I want is Schematic and PCB, ala carte.

For CAD? Only if you do not perform hardcore analog design.

... including being booted off the island a few years later unless you keep paying da man :-)

The way that typically works is that they make the file formats incompatible between newer and older versions. And for added sting they might disallow storing in formats deemed "too old".

IIRC it is called DesignSpark. Never heard of that one before, so no idea how good it is. Has anybody used it?

Oh, and what's the catch?

If you're designing using Linear Tech's devices, LTspice is excellent.

But, if you have to earn a living with this stuff, PSpice is awfully hard to beat (avoid Capture, use the native PSpice Schematics). ...Jim Thompson

A tool that supports 46 architectures is SO cool.

Don't forget the Berkeley Internet Name Daemon. When you compare the number of exploits against BIND to the number against Microsoft's DNS software, the relative quality quickly becomes obvious.

Same deal with Apache vs M$'s Internet Information Server.

Malware is "Malicious Software"