Hi all. I am new to electronics and am very interested in power amplifiers. I have bought several books on the subject from the likes of Randy Sloan, Douglas Self, and Bob Cordell. I am at the point now where I would like to start designing and making my own printed circuit boards. Obviously starting with simple stuff like DC speaker protection circuits would be a good idea as designing an amplifier is a bit out of my reach at this point in time.
In one of Randy Sloan's books (Understanding Electricity and Electronics) he recomends the use of Multisim and Utiliboard to turn schematic into PCB artwork, however National Instruments wants about 5 grand for the full version of the software. Eventually I would like to get to the point where I could design, tinker, and test my own amplifiers however I can't justify spending that sort of money for something that at this stage is still just a hobby.
I have downloaded diptrace however I couldnt get it to work. (I found the instructions to be not all the usefull either).
Does anyone have any recomendations for a good program that wont cost me the world to buy, that will turn a schematic into PCB artwork?
In one of Randy Sloan's books (Understanding Electricity and Electronics) he recomends the use of Multisim and Utiliboard to turn schematic into PCB artwork, however National Instruments wants about 5 grand for the full version of the software. Eventually I would like to get to the point where I could design, tinker, and test my own amplifiers however I can't justify spending that sort of money for something that at this stage is still just a hobby.
I have downloaded diptrace however I couldnt get it to work. (I found the instructions to be not all the usefull either).
Does anyone have any recomendations for a good program that wont cost me the world to buy, that will turn a schematic into PCB artwork?