Any cheap layout software?

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#12
raul_77 said:
DipTrace, 300 pin, freeware:

DipTrace - Schematic and PCB Design Software
Click to expand...

I love DipTrace. For me it was by far the most intuitive. additionally, now the 500-pin 2 signal layer (unlimited ground and power layers) non-profit license is free. Which is good for MOST hobby projects.


If FOSS is important KiCAD is outhere and very capable. It's very frustrating and difficult at times but it's true FOSS with many professional level features being integrated.
 
#13
See the comparison of free PCB CAD software at PCBShopper.com/cad. It includes open source software and restricted versions of commercial software. The nice thing about the list is that it tells you in what ways the commercial software has been limited.

When you board is ready to be manufactured, go to the main PCBShopper.com page. It's a price comparison calculator where you enter your board's specs and immediately see prices from over 20 PCB manufacturers in North America, Europe and Asia.
 
#19
The key to success in any EDA endeavor is that you need to think like the program thinks, not necessarily how you think or how you think it should think.

The disparity between what UX people call the "user model" of how something should work and the "programmer model" of how things are actually implemented tends to be pretty high for EDA programs. This is for various reasons, some based on inertia from a time before GUI conventions were established, some from ignorance of GUI conventions, some for good reasons that aren't immediately obvious, and, alas, some from just bad design decisions. Don't be disheartened. It's not you. It's the program(s). All of them. They don't think the same as you. And each in different ways.

Learn the way of <insert name of program here> and enjoy the process as much as you can. Learn to speak its language and learn its use models. Learn the workflow it assumes, and use it. Take your time. Let it become your quirky friend who always surprises you. Learn as much as you can, especially about the workflow, before trying to start your work. If you're using a well-supported open source product like KiCad, help from an enthusiastic community is usually only a <del>Google</del> DuckDuckGo away when you get stuck.

The alternative to this is that you get annoyed and just want to stop. And that's no fun, is it?
 
#20
lauda said:
. . . The disparity between what UX people call the "user model" of how something should work and the "programmer model" of how things are actually implemented tends to be pretty high for EDA programs. This is for various reasons, . . .
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Excellent! There's a LOT of wisdom in your post and people need to study it carefully. (The whole thing, not just what I quoted.)

I don't consider myself a PWB layout engineer, though PWB layout has been an incidental part of my work for the last 20 years or so. Over that time I've used about half a dozen professional-grade PWB programs, including some pretty big names in the EDA field. My experience with particular programs has ranged from a bit less than a day, to several hundred hours and a couple dozen boards.

I'd be hard pressed to say that one PWB layout program was truly "better" than the others. They ALL have their quirks and idiosyncracies and inscrutable ways to do things. If I was doing specialized, leading-edge, designs perhaps I'd recognize the superiority of one program over others, but for the run-of-the-mill designs I worked with any of the PWB programs could have produced acceptable results with about the same degree of effort.

After being quite familiar with one program it was never easy to move to another. I'd allow half a day to a day just to produce a usable result from another program, and a week or more to become proficient.

I must register one slight disagreement with your comments. Where there are long-standing, fairly enforced, "house rules" for what constitutes a good PWB layout, how it's documented, and the organization's design process, it's important that the software tool should be in compliance with the established rules, procedures, and practices - or at least, readily configured to comply. These rules and procedures also have a history behind them that you, as an individual EDA user, must respect. As the line in the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" says, "Regardless of your uniform, when you are in Sheik Ali's tent, your orders come from Sheik Ali."

Dale
 
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