PCB Design Software

BrianDonegan · 5th January 2005, 09:16 PM

I'm looking for some good PCB design software.

What are people using?

What's the best/cheapest/most popular out there?

tia-
WAH

Nisbeth · 6th January 2005, 12:00 AM

Eagle Light is pretty popular

Freeware from www.cadsoft.de

/U.

Centauri · 6th January 2005, 12:19 PM

I use Protel - very powerful but definately NOT the cheapest !! Eagle seemed a little user unfriendly to me, and looked strange on schematics.

Cheers
Graeme

thomas997 · 7th January 2005, 03:00 AM

I used the free one from http://www.expresspcb.com/

I had some problem with the Eagle where it wouldnt let me load my file after saving it... :/

BrianDonegan · 7th January 2005, 03:25 AM

I agree the Express PCB stuff is easier to use, but it doesn;t seem to want to let me print my PCB images without a grey/grid background, making them pretty useless for photo transfer. I assume this is because it's really a tool to get you to use them for producing the boards. Unless I'm missing something...

I also have tried PCB123, which also seems pretty good.

audiorasp · 7th January 2005, 05:24 AM

Take a look at Sprint-Layout 4.0 here: http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/

It may not be as powerfull as other commercial software, but I find it easy to use and not too expensive. Give the demo version a try.

George

thomas997 · 8th January 2005, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by WorkingAtHome
I agree the Express PCB stuff is easier to use, but it doesn;t seem to want to let me print my PCB images without a grey/grid background, making them pretty useless for photo transfer. I assume this is because it's really a tool to get you to use them for producing the boards. Unless I'm missing something...

I also have tried PCB123, which also seems pretty good.

What I did was turn off grid, background, silk screen, etc. and took a screenshot (Prt Scrn button).

Then pasted it into photoshop and used Print Preview to size it exactly to the board size. Came out well, but I guess thats a bit of a hassle.

They just want to make it so you buy the boards off them, not DIY

jackinnj · 8th January 2005, 04:06 AM

if you are really tight-fisted and have a lot of time you can use MSPaint -- it can be made to work. The US magazine "Nuts N Volts" had a series of articles on how to implement MSPaint to do PCBs a couple years ago...you get the point.

i would start with Eagle -- note that there are a couple of use-net support groups for eagle and the answers from their techs are very prompt.

i have both the full blown version of Eagle and the full blown version of Ultiboard -- for no other than the human condition of laziness I wind up sending the stuff which goes to production from Ultiboard7.

VS · 8th January 2005, 04:10 AM

Not a recent software....but have you tried Traxmaker (Circuitmaker) ?

sivan_and · 13th January 2005, 03:34 AM

jackinnj Wrote:

Quote:

Not a recent software....but have you tried Traxmaker (Circuitmaker) ?

currently my Fav...No problem and Rock solid stable..

5th January 2005, 09:16 PM	#1
BrianDonegan diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Rock Ridge	PCB Design Software I'm looking for some good PCB design software. What are people using? What's the best/cheapest/most popular out there? tia- WAH

7th January 2005, 05:24 AM	#6
audiorasp diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Sacramento, CA	more pcb software Take a look at Sprint-Layout 4.0 here: http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/ It may not be as powerfull as other commercial software, but I find it easy to use and not too expensive. Give the demo version a try. George

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6th January 2005, 12:00 AM	#2
Nisbeth diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Denmark	Eagle Light is pretty popular Freeware from www.cadsoft.de /U.

6th January 2005, 12:19 PM	#3
Centauri diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Newcastle, Australia	I use Protel - very powerful but definately NOT the cheapest !! Eagle seemed a little user unfriendly to me, and looked strange on schematics. Cheers Graeme

7th January 2005, 03:00 AM	#4
thomas997 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Vancouver	I used the free one from http://www.expresspcb.com/ I had some problem with the Eagle where it wouldnt let me load my file after saving it... :/

7th January 2005, 03:25 AM	#5
BrianDonegan diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Rock Ridge	I agree the Express PCB stuff is easier to use, but it doesn;t seem to want to let me print my PCB images without a grey/grid background, making them pretty useless for photo transfer. I assume this is because it's really a tool to get you to use them for producing the boards. Unless I'm missing something... I also have tried PCB123, which also seems pretty good.

8th January 2005, 04:06 AM	#8
jackinnj diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Llanddewi Brefi, NJ	if you are really tight-fisted and have a lot of time you can use MSPaint -- it can be made to work. The US magazine "Nuts N Volts" had a series of articles on how to implement MSPaint to do PCBs a couple years ago...you get the point. i would start with Eagle -- note that there are a couple of use-net support groups for eagle and the answers from their techs are very prompt. i have both the full blown version of Eagle and the full blown version of Ultiboard -- for no other than the human condition of laziness I wind up sending the stuff which goes to production from Ultiboard7.

8th January 2005, 04:10 AM	#9
VS diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Lisboa	Not a recent software....but have you tried Traxmaker (Circuitmaker) ?

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