EasyEDA is definitely not only for just beginners.
I wouldn't use it for highly professional multiple team billion layer board projects.
But anything audio/microcontroller/dsp/Class-D related 4-layer boards is fine.
A lot more than just "good enough"!!
I have actually used it for a few projects, and often still use it just to tinker.
The interface is so much better and far more intuitive than KiCad (based on some interns I had to coach) and especially the direct part/footprint library with LCSC makes it very easy.
It has its quirks, but even programs like Altium has some weird quirks.
There are no google ads (or my adblocker just blocks them lol)
It is cloud based, which works always just fine.
@jan.didden I don't know how long you want to run this course?
Because keep in mind that EasyEDA is a Chinese based company and program.
So god knows how long that still will be available.
It's a bit of a tricky call to make, maybe try both for a while yourself.
KiCad is luckily finally doing something about their GUI, but before that, I could NOT stand that program at all.
Being said from a PCB designer perspective, there was to much (quasi) coding and scripting involved.
I am an acoustic/electronics engineer, not a programmer.
edit: Diptrace is also reasonable.
For home users Eagle is now part of Fusion360 and is also free!!
Not really fan of Eagle, but the combination with Fusion360 makes it very powerful!
I wouldn't use it for highly professional multiple team billion layer board projects.
But anything audio/microcontroller/dsp/Class-D related 4-layer boards is fine.
A lot more than just "good enough"!!
I have actually used it for a few projects, and often still use it just to tinker.
The interface is so much better and far more intuitive than KiCad (based on some interns I had to coach) and especially the direct part/footprint library with LCSC makes it very easy.
It has its quirks, but even programs like Altium has some weird quirks.
There are no google ads (or my adblocker just blocks them lol)
It is cloud based, which works always just fine.
@jan.didden I don't know how long you want to run this course?
Because keep in mind that EasyEDA is a Chinese based company and program.
So god knows how long that still will be available.
It's a bit of a tricky call to make, maybe try both for a while yourself.
KiCad is luckily finally doing something about their GUI, but before that, I could NOT stand that program at all.
Being said from a PCB designer perspective, there was to much (quasi) coding and scripting involved.
I am an acoustic/electronics engineer, not a programmer.
edit: Diptrace is also reasonable.
For home users Eagle is now part of Fusion360 and is also free!!
Not really fan of Eagle, but the combination with Fusion360 makes it very powerful!
Autodesk are discontinuing Eagle, so forget that.
https://www.autodesk.com/support/te...sk-EAGLE-Announcement-Next-steps-and-FAQ.html
https://www.autodesk.com/support/te...sk-EAGLE-Announcement-Next-steps-and-FAQ.html
EasyEda looks attractive.
I've been a Proteus user for a decade and a half so don't really know what to expect.
Proteus has it's quirks but I know it so well that I can almost do a layout while asleep!
Jan
I've been a Proteus user for a decade and a half so don't really know what to expect.
Proteus has it's quirks but I know it so well that I can almost do a layout while asleep!
Jan
I wrote my own in around 1990 after getting frustrated with EasyPC's bugs.
500,000 lines of assembler.
In 2023 its now 1,000,000 lines of C#.
I have done over 500 pcb designs with it and rarely find a bug.
There are numerous free packages out there now.
What works for Fred doesnt always work well for Bill.
Try some and see how you get on.
500,000 lines of assembler.
In 2023 its now 1,000,000 lines of C#.
I have done over 500 pcb designs with it and rarely find a bug.
There are numerous free packages out there now.
What works for Fred doesnt always work well for Bill.
Try some and see how you get on.
I used KiCad to send some simple PCB designs to a fab... and they worked. Now, for something completely different, I play with VeroRoute. It features an autorouter and provides several different views of a layout in progress.
I would go with KiCAD. I agree that the learning curve can be a bit steep, but there're tons of videos available to help beginners get started. Knowing KiCAD would be a marketable skill. Knowing EasyEDA or other beginner tools would probably not.
That said, a much more basic tool is ExpressPCB: https://www.expresspcb.com/ I seem to recall that you can get it to spit out manufacturing files. It's Windoze only, unfortunately.
Tom
That said, a much more basic tool is ExpressPCB: https://www.expresspcb.com/ I seem to recall that you can get it to spit out manufacturing files. It's Windoze only, unfortunately.
Tom
Actually no... It's not free. Fusion360 is free for personal use for three years. Then you have to pay. The Startup licence is free for one year.
Tom
Jan:
My first and primary recommendation is KiCad. The time/effort to suffer through the learning curve is unavoidable with any tool. So, best to invest in a tool useful for the long haul.
DIPtrace has a shorter learning curve for sure and is a great tool, but would only
be my distant second recommendation. The KiCad user base makes it a better choice to me for long term.
My first and primary recommendation is KiCad. The time/effort to suffer through the learning curve is unavoidable with any tool. So, best to invest in a tool useful for the long haul.
DIPtrace has a shorter learning curve for sure and is a great tool, but would only
be my distant second recommendation. The KiCad user base makes it a better choice to me for long term.
I recently got up to speed on Kicad, there's certainly a lot to it. For a simple circuit under 10 components like a 555 LED flasher, it should be doable by a beginner with instruction, butime spent seems to go up exponentially with the number of components. There are good Kicad 7 videos (i mostly used this https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn6004q9oeqGl91KifK6xHGuqvXGb374G), but it seems it takes hours to cover everything.
But yes, if people are going to make more complex boards after the class. Kicad is likely the best way to go.
I used that many years ago, before it had schematic entry. It was certainly the easiest thing to get started with. AFAIK you couldn't get manufacturing files. if you can now, that's a welcome change. It was locked into the company's (expensive, even 20-25 years ago, about $60 for 3 small boards of your layout) PCB service, which was IMO worse than it being Windows only. The main reason for going with Eagle, Kicad, or most any other layout software has always been they output standard files that any PCB manufacturer can use.
ExpressPCB "kinda sorta" offers Gerber files.
"You can now request gerber files right from our software when ordering your PCBs!
There is no longer any additional fee to request gerber files with your order.
We do not currently offer gerber files without an order for PCB manufacturing."
"You can now request gerber files right from our software when ordering your PCBs!
There is no longer any additional fee to request gerber files with your order.
We do not currently offer gerber files without an order for PCB manufacturing."
That's awesome!!
As a hobbyist and not very talented self-taught Kicad user that mainly does kind of replacements for vintage stuff and simple layouts, EasyEda is a great and easy tool to start, after that, the natural progression is KiCad.
EasyEda have the advantage that is already designed to work with JLCPCB, and the workflow is extremely intuitive.
KiCad is more powerful, but there is a lot more to learn and that can be challenging/frustrating at the beginning, so if the goal is to get more people to get involved I would say that hooking them up with an easier and more rewarding process at the beginning can be more productive, than trying to hook people with a more complex tool (even if the mentioned tool is more capable)
Plus quite frankly the EasyEDA community is more willing to help people starting than the KiCad community.
Last edited:
I can't remember encountering any steep learning curve using KiCad. Most of the time it's straight forward except for footprint creation which can be a bit tedious.
Any size or complexity limitations? The "Free" Eagle version was restricted small boards
1. Found on the EasyEDA webpage:
Address:
F5, Tianjian Building, No.7 Shangbao Road, Futian District, Shenzen, Guangdong, 518000, China
As a teacher, I would not like to encourage and even force my pupils to have theirs intellectual property hosted in China's clouds. Instead, KiCad ist hosted by Cern.
2. My two cents about steep learning curves vs. shallow learning curves:
Learning by trial and error is a normal process. So stand up an fall down several times until you master stance and even master going. This may sound elitary, but keep in mind that electronics in itself also is a process of trial and error. So if you do not want to subject yourself to this process, electronics is nothing for you. And as a teacher, you may also provide some motivation effort ...
Address:
F5, Tianjian Building, No.7 Shangbao Road, Futian District, Shenzen, Guangdong, 518000, China
As a teacher, I would not like to encourage and even force my pupils to have theirs intellectual property hosted in China's clouds. Instead, KiCad ist hosted by Cern.
2. My two cents about steep learning curves vs. shallow learning curves:
Learning by trial and error is a normal process. So stand up an fall down several times until you master stance and even master going. This may sound elitary, but keep in mind that electronics in itself also is a process of trial and error. So if you do not want to subject yourself to this process, electronics is nothing for you. And as a teacher, you may also provide some motivation effort ...
Thanks for al the views, really useful.
I did look at KiCad some time ago, struck me as a typical government project with all kinds of kludges bolted on as afterthoughts.
I will check out easyeda the coming week.
As to having your projects hosted in a Chinese cloud, we should not be overly concerned.
If someone wants to knock off my phono preamp there is nothing I can do against that, whether it's hosted on a Chinese cloud or any other place.
People post their designs here on diyaudio or any of the other multitude of audio fora; a knock-off guy can find anything they want.
There's a simple way to stop worrying about that - just stop worrying about it.
Jan
I did look at KiCad some time ago, struck me as a typical government project with all kinds of kludges bolted on as afterthoughts.
I will check out easyeda the coming week.
As to having your projects hosted in a Chinese cloud, we should not be overly concerned.
If someone wants to knock off my phono preamp there is nothing I can do against that, whether it's hosted on a Chinese cloud or any other place.
People post their designs here on diyaudio or any of the other multitude of audio fora; a knock-off guy can find anything they want.
There's a simple way to stop worrying about that - just stop worrying about it.
Jan
Not the worst decision, I think. I never tried EasyEda, I am stuck to KiCAD6. Yesterday it took me about 2 hrs to produce an acceptable printout of my pcb - sometimes I really hate it!
early kicad was a set of separate packages, schematic, layout, library, that you had to link together manually. now it is much more integrated. To adress your question, it is important if the person to be taugth has prior ecad experience or not. That mostly determines the learning curve.
Teaching grounding in an analog system goes much farther than some rules of thumbs, and a much deeper knowledge of electronis is needed.
my 2 cents...
Teaching grounding in an analog system goes much farther than some rules of thumbs, and a much deeper knowledge of electronis is needed.
my 2 cents...