Schematic and PCB design...?

I know I am throwing a lot of questions to the group and will try to cut down after this. lol

What is the best PC program for designing circuits as well as PCBs? A was told there is a program that can convert a schematic into a pcb design (within proper PCB size) and make it printable. Cost is not really an issue but I would like to download a trial version to see if it works.

Thanks in advance for any help

BA Sr.

Reply to
Bryan
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Take a look at the combination of gEDA and PCB. They will not run on M$ Windows, but will run on GNU/Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and most other unix like operating systems. If you try it make sure to get the most recent version (particularly PCB) since features are constanly being added. The licence is the GPL. All file formats are plain text so scripting can be done. There is an active mailing list where other users are very helpful. One time I found a bug and the developers patched it in the same day. One complaint I do have is that the autorouter just makes a mess. I never use it.

I have used gEDA and PCB to design some fairly complex 4 layer boards. An example of one can be found here:

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gEDA:

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PCB:
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Some help getting started is available here:

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Note: some cross posting removed

Darrell Harmon

Reply to
dlharmon

Have a look at Pulsonix:

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and join the Pulsonix users group:

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Leon

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Leon Heller, G1HSM
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller
Reply to
Leon Heller

Hello Bryan,

Also, you could check out Eagle at:

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It does what you want to do and there is a free test version (hobby only) that is restricted to a certain PCB size but otherwise functional. There are even some board houses that accept the Eagle output file so you don't necessarily have to generate Gerber files.

Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

What do you mean by "the best"? That can mean a lot of things.

I use Eagle - as do many others. There is a freeware version available which is limited to 2 signal layers (top and bottom) and the maximum board size is 100 x 80 mm. That is great for hobbyist. I just finished a very good quality RIAA-preamp that I designed 100% with Eagle - including printing the mask for light sensitive PCB board. Designing was easy and the result works - just listened some old Annie Lenox LPs :) The final board size was 40x60mm so there is plenty of room to grow :)

You can find out more here:

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Of course you can buy unlimited versions that don't have board size limitations, that can handle multiple layers and schematic sheets and can be used for commercial purposes.

There are also other very good programs available as you can imagine. Check out this thread and use Google for more:

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Severi S.

Reply to
Severi Salminen

Have a look at Terry Given's list of free ECAD programs

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and do a bit of lurking on sci.electronics.cad - where they used to like Protel when Iast looked. I quite like gEDA/PCB.

-------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

Reply to
bill.sloman

Sorry - got that seriously wrong! My apologies to Terry Pinnell!

-------- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

Reply to
bill.sloman

Has he pinched it off Terry Pinnell?

Reply to
Paul Burke

I recently purchased $49.95 PCB Wizard 3. It's the one I liked the most from the various products that are out there, the Eagle was way more than what I needed. It's not going to do huge projects but I believe is more for the home type user?

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Reply to
Jim Douglas

I think you should reduce your expectations somewhat.

I don't know of any program that will "convert a schematic into a pcb design" automagically. However, there are many PCB layout programs that will take the netlist from the schematic, and assist you in laying out a PC board to match the schematic - but the process is far from automatic.

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Peter Bennett, VE7CEI  
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca  
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Reply to
Peter Bennett

That's OK, Bill. Too much of the dry white last night?

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Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
Reply to
Terry Pinnell

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It looks good on the web page...

I have a preference that many PWB design packages cannot handle. Could you check and see if PCB Wizard 3 can do the following?

Consider the average schematic and PWB.

How often do you start with a component on the PWB and try to find it on the schematic? Not often. Maybe if a part smokes.

How often do you start with a component on the schematic and try to find it on the PWB? All the time. That's how most people troubleshoot.

So you should make things easy to find on the PWB by having R7 right between R6 and R8, even if that makes them far apart on the schematic. Alas, most PWB design packages do the opposite.

To get it right, you need the ability to number the parts on the PWB and back-annotate them to the schematic.

Reply to
Guy Macon

10 years ago Electronics Workbench was very popular, especially among beginners and hobbyists.

And EWB version 5 is still used by some because it has a very good interface to work with.

The EWB company changed the program and it became very buggy, so it has had a bad reputation for some years.

They have a complete system from design-simulation to pcb.

I got a demo CD from them a 3 years ago, but I gave up, it was still too buggy.

We are just waiting for some brave soul who is willing to test the current version and tell us if it works. They cannot be buggy forever, and maybe they will get their act together one day..

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Roger J.
Reply to
Roger Johansson

Wanna bet? :)

Reply to
Guy Macon

[...]

I'm using latest version of Multisim (the schematics-program) on a daily basis. I'm however still a novice in the world of electronics so I bet I haven't even tried 10% of the features in the programs, but I can say this:

  • The interface has got some annoying (but not unresolvable) quirks,

i.e. some of the toolbars are moved around when you maximize/restore the main window

  • The simulator sometimes abruptly quits without giving a understandable error. Example: Connect a 9v-battery directly to a

led and simulate. The program will stop and say something incomprehensible (atleast to me) like "Timestep too small". If you add a resistor of an appropriate value and run the test again, it works like a charm.

There are probably more but these two are the only major PITAs I've seen so far. If anyone wants me to test something else, feel free to send it over.

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Rikard Bosnjakovic
Reply to
Rikard Bosnjakovic

Orcad Layout has a feature to do just this. Make sure to make a full backup of the entire project (schematic and PWB) before doing so, though. Low single digit percent chance that, in the process, it shatters entirely the connection between the two, leaving you to spend two days hand back-annotating (not that I'm bitter).

Reply to
Rob Gaddi

They have a bunch of programs covering the whole process from design to board layout, and maybe that could be an alternative to other ways to do it. But it is probably more expensive than what it is worth.

It would be better to find freeware programs which do the same things.

I just miss the natural way schematics are drawn in EWB, click and drag from point to point. Other programs are less intuitive, like you have to click on one point, let up and move and then click again, or something.

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Roger J.
Reply to
Roger Johansson

I second that. Earlier today I tried Eagle out. Free is nice, ofcourse, but I missed tons of stuff in that programs. Many menus didn't have shortcuts, there were no context menus for the layouts, annoying you-must-click-a-button-before-doing-this-and-that.

Comparing the interfaces, EWB is miles away and way better than Eagle. But ofcourse, its price is miles away too. It's definately not cheap.

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Rikard Bosnjakovic                         http://bos.hack.org/cv/

Anyone sending unwanted advertising e-mail to my address will be
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Reply to
Rikard Bosnjakovic

I think the people who make these programs have never understood the principles of modern computer program interfaces. They have learnt to use old programs like Autocad, and they see nothing wrong in an interface you have to learn for hundreds of hours before you can work naturally in it.

Maybe that is the reason why EWB5 is the most pirated spice simulator in the world. It is usually easy to find in napster type networks and warex sites.

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Roger J.
Reply to
Roger Johansson

In article , Rob Gaddi wrote: [...]

Well at least it didn't rework your schematic so that every point had a wire going to every other point or start silently removing traces from the layout. (not that I'm bitter either)

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kensmith@rahul.net   forging knowledge
Reply to
Ken Smith

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