Free/Cheap PCB Design Tools?

I'm starting up a PCB projects with some engineer colleagues -- some signal sources that we've had cobbled up in the lab for a while. We don't have any project funding yet, and are currently doing our proof- of-concept work prior to looking for some funding.

Understandably, we can't use the PCB tools provided by our respective employers (conflict of interest and all), and given that even an affordadable design tool costs as much as a good used car, we're looking for some pointers on shareware or really-low-cost tools.

Which ones have you found to be effective? Which design tools have you found to be capable of real commercial projects? Which ones should I steer away from?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Reply to
NoJo
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EAGLE . Capable of normal commercial usage. The free version is more than adequate for experimentation (though the license forbids commercial use). Upgrading to the full version is reasonably priced.

I haven't found a viable competitor in the same price bracket.

Reply to
larwe

Ah. A question that has never before been asked. Oh, wait.

If only there was a "Usenet Archive" that could be searched. Oh, wait.

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Reply to
JeffM

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I was going to mention gEDA, but I see you have that covered ;-)

Reply to
DJ Delorie

...if you ignore their recent foray into DRM:

**The Downside of EAGLE** by Markus Zingg
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*-*-website+reuse+paying.*+*-I-will-switch+cracked-*+*.would.not.help.*+zzz+after-*-*-version-*+copied+*.*.unlock.*.designs+*-*-*-*-exchange-*-*-*-*-third-party+reused+qq+*-*-single-bit-*-*-*-*+useless+*-*-*-projects-could-no-longer-be-openednews: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com
Reply to
JeffM

EasyPC is much easier to use and costs about the same:

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Leon

Reply to
Leon

In article , NoJo writes

Try

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starts off inexpensive and is upgradable as you go. There are also evaluation versions.

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Reply to
Chris Hills

Costs about the same? AFAICT, it starts at 654 USD (including the entry-level auto-router). Eagle starts at Free for non-commercial use and 49 USD for commercial use.

[And numberon products don't seem to be available for any OS other than MS Windows.]
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Grant Edwards
grante@visi.com
Reply to
Grant Edwards

The free version of McCAD tools at

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is limited to a fairly small design but still quite useful.

I like the way McCAD tools work like a Macintosh. See an object, trace or network, grab it with the mouse and pull to move. Have not found the same ease in traditional PC ecad tools.

PC and MacOS versions are essentially identical.

Reply to
David Kelly

JeffM wrote:

NoJo responded via email:

No sweat. In the future, please respond to Usenet posts in the newsgroup.

Reply to
JeffM

That's not recent at all. I think 4 years ago? (something in that ballpark) when I acquired my professional license for EAGLE, I read a lot about this in the Cadsoft newsgroups - and it's pretty clear that the vast majority of people there were using cracked copies. The error message given is quite obscure, intentionally so.

I only use libraries and schematics I have made myself, or downloaded from the Cadsoft ftp server. While I agree this particular issue is very annoying, and Cadsoft could/should have handled Markus's problem more effectively, it is still on the whole better than the other options, which are:

  1. use really mavericky open-source software with no significant peer userbase,
  2. use outrageously expensive, heavily copy-protected (dongle, GUID lock, MAC lock, or live Internet registration verification) proprietary software, oftentimes with inbuilt expiry dates if "maintenance" fees are not paid, or
  3. use marginally functional, utterly proprietary tools from pissant vendors who try to lock you into using their fabrication services by squirrelling away your design data in unreadable binary files.

Don't get me wrong - if there was an open-source tool that had the same critical mass of users, and reasonably effective support, plus the same features I need out of EAGLE, I would of course prefer and recommend the open-source route for design re-readability in future epochs, and I would quite happily reinvest whatever time it takes to rebuild the libraries I've generated for EAGLE. Sadly, there is no credible open-source PCB CAD package yet.

Someone needs to do for CAD what OpenOffice.org did for desktop productivity software. Unfortunately, this someone doesn't have any time to work on such a project.

Reply to
larwe

JeffM wrote:

larwe wrote:

Evades the point. Markus said he was FULLY LICENSED--and still got spit on.

THAT is the point. Punishing someone for the misdeeds of another someone is a really LOUSY business model.

Cadsoft's not flagging a cracked component WHEN AN ATTEMPT IS MADE TO INSERT IT then **LATER** locking the legit user out of his work product is sleezy on Cadsoft's part.

Like all DRM, it hurts the innocent legit customers the most. Bad-mouth Open Source if you will, but this crap doesn't happen in that realm.

Reply to
JeffM

I wouldn't really classify this as DRM, because it doesn't protect the IP in the file at all.

What it appears to boil down to is that when you save a file from EAGLE, be it a component, a schematic or a PCB layout, the serial# of your copy (or more likely a hash) is embedded in it. There isn't really a crack per se for the 4.0x EAGLE versions; there's simply a widely-circulated serial number/installation key. 4.1x EAGLE versions recognize that key and won't load files that contain it. [Actually I thought the flag date for this issue was 3.xx to 4.0x but it was so long ago I'm probably misremembering].

Older versions of EAGLE didn't know to look for this blacklisted serial number. Therefore they don't complain when loading files containing "crackomatic" components. So you can continue to work on "poisoned" designs using the old version. It's only newer versions that have a problem.

For some time, Cadsoft was helping people out with this problem - they have some kind of stripper/converter there. I don't know the specifics of Markus' case, but it seems unusually unhelpful of them. I haven't dealt with the European arm of the operation, only the Florida-based US distrib - if that makes any difference.

I did exactly the opposite, if you'd care to read my post again. It is /always/ my policy to use open-source software wherever possible, for a variety of reasons - mostly the need to be able to access my data again in ten years' time.

Unfortunately, in this particular space there is no viable open source product.

Reply to
larwe

By the way, speaking of evading the point - I notice you handily snipped my summary of the alternatives. No matter how evil this particular case might be, it still appears to me to be the least of four evils.

Reply to
larwe

Kicad (open source)

Reply to
Stef Mientki

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