On Sat, 22 Dec 2007 13:48:32 -0800, "Carl McIver"
wrote:

So my lab has an EE who uses his own software to work out his own
circuit boards, and I have nothing to draw out all the external interface
and control systems I design and build. A decision was made to find a
single software that he could use for circuit design and analysis, and for
which we could use outside the circuit board. I also do a lot of control
panels and so on for a variety of projects, and have been told by a friend
that Visio Pro works for diagrams, but few that I've talked to have liked it
(I'm also having serious difficulty making it work for me) and it can't
interface with the analysis software.
Any good all around suggestions for software or combinations of software
that will work for us? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this issue.

===============
Much depends on who made the decision == and what it was based
on. == If this was a typical snap managerial "make-it-so
command decision," then let the manager find the software.

Why should the EE have to learn yet another program? There is
the cost of the new program and the learning curve may be steep,
during which s/he can listen to the manager complain about their
reduced productivity.

You don't need a Swiss army knife program that will do
everything. Chose programs that [can] save data in compatible
formats such as comma delimited [csv] files or dxf. By so doing,
you can automate other tasks such as "bill of material"
generation.

What is your volume/complexity requirements? Do you need to be
able to generate Gerber drilling and/or pick-n-place insert
files?

Take a look at some of the free/share ware & low cost programs.
http://www.expresspcb.com/ExpressPCBHtm/Download.htm
http://www.smps.us/pcb-design.html
http://www.tds-net.com/SHAREWARE/CAD.HTM
http://www.oselectronics.com/ose_p53.htm
http://www.devrs.com/e/apps.php

google on program freeware OR shareware "circuit board layout"
for more than 1,600 hits.