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Schematic drawing and PCB design software
Hello all,
I'm looking for some recommendations on schematic drawing and pcb design software... So far I have looked at: o CircuitMaker 2000 (includes TraxMaker) o Electronics Workbench Out of those two, I prefer CircuitMaker 2000... However, even it is overkill for me... I don't need any of the simulation features really, since most of my work is done with PIC microcontrollers and CircuitMaker cant model them anyway... What I really need is just a nice basic schematic drawing and pcb creation software package... Preferrably one that I draw the schematic, and it automatically figures out the PCB layout and routes the wires (like CircuitMaker does) I wanted to see if anyone had any better recommendations? What else is out there? Yeah, I know Protel is out there, but I will barely be able to afford CircuitMaker 2000, let alone Protel. I also know that AutoCAD has a schematic module as well, but once again the price tag on it i'm sure is very high. Thanks in advance! -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
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#2
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Schematic drawing and PCB design software
I have experience with Circuitmaker and I'm not satisfied with it. Even if
it would come for free I would not use it (anymore). Simple things like printing a schematic with border seems not to be possible under windows 2000, although it is possible under windows NT. And if you want any support, then you won't find it. The layout software traxmaker which comes with circuitmaker is simple but to limited. Rotating parts other than 90 degrees is not possible, circle shape PCB's aren't possible. The simulation engine in Circuitmaker also has some sneaky behaviour for instance if a resistor has a value 4k7 then simulation is done with 4000. But this is something you can keep in mind and work around accordingly. I would suggest to buy some Orcad lite version, excelent support plenty possibilities but it costs more. "iLLuSioN" schreef in bericht . .. Hello all, I'm looking for some recommendations on schematic drawing and pcb design software... So far I have looked at: o CircuitMaker 2000 (includes TraxMaker) o Electronics Workbench Out of those two, I prefer CircuitMaker 2000... However, even it is overkill for me... I don't need any of the simulation features really, since most of my work is done with PIC microcontrollers and CircuitMaker cant model them anyway... What I really need is just a nice basic schematic drawing and pcb creation software package... Preferrably one that I draw the schematic, and it automatically figures out the PCB layout and routes the wires (like CircuitMaker does) I wanted to see if anyone had any better recommendations? What else is out there? Yeah, I know Protel is out there, but I will barely be able to afford CircuitMaker 2000, let alone Protel. I also know that AutoCAD has a schematic module as well, but once again the price tag on it i'm sure is very high. Thanks in advance! -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
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#4
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Schematic drawing and PCB design software
need...a nice basic schematic drawing and pcb creation software
package iLLuSioN Free lite version: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:...40azglobal.com http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&...g.goog le.com For simulation (100% free): SwitcherCAD (LTSPICE) from Mike Engelhardt and Linear Technology. |
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#5
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Schematic drawing and PCB design software
I have used Eagle for a few years now. It's not the best but the price is
good for what it can do, (it's always able to cope with our designs) There is a great user group for it to, loads of people use it and are always helpful. Every PCB house I have used can always read the files or you can make boards yourself. eagle.suggest.eng eagle.userchat.eng eagle.support.de The auto router is not that great, it does not ripup and retry and leaves tracks at odd angles as do many low cost routers. (I never the AR in production designs). You can spend a lot of money on this type of software but I think Eagle is a good starting point. It depends a lot on the work you want to do? I think you can use a limited copy free. No gerber generation. Geoff..... "JeffM" wrote in message om... need...a nice basic schematic drawing and pcb creation software package iLLuSioN Free lite version: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:...lang_en&ie= U TF-8&selm=3F5CC364.1B0F27BE%40azglobal.com http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&...&selm=f8b945bc. 0310072126.1aaeca93%40posting.google.com For simulation (100% free): SwitcherCAD (LTSPICE) from Mike Engelhardt and Linear Technology. |
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#6
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Schematic drawing and PCB design software
It looks as though I am looking at the Professional version of Eagle due
to the size of some of the boards I have in mind (mostly filled with copious amounts of large items such as relays -- no I am not going to become the next x86 motherboard designer  )...So, the price is fairly high for my uses if I get all three modules... I mean, high for a hobbyist... The list price of all three modules at the full retail is about $1,200.00. I did send an email to their sales staff and they were able to bring the price down a bit for me, so now I am seriously considering their product. Not only does it seem to do what I need, but they seem to care about making a sale -- they were able to drop the price a bit... It may not be 'the best', but for a hobbyist who doesnt produce tons of complicated circuits, it will probably suit me just fine... I cannot seem to come up with the $8,000.00 that Protel costs, so when I do get some traces at weird angles with the auto-routing, I will just put up with them. lol. To be honest, I wouldnt know a lower quality router from a higher quality one if it hit me in the head... This is my first delve into this type of software... (Err, I guess I did use CircuitMaker when I was in college, but never did any PCB layout stuff with it.) I have been playing around with Eagle over the past few days... Drawing some basic schematics, trying out the autorouter (since I dont have a clue as to where to begin with manually routing traces), etc... Just getting used to the software to make sure it does what I expect... So far so good... Do any of the other low cost packages have any better routing capability, or are they all sort of in the same class? Thanks! In article , gihackett@ 1michaels.freeserve.co.uk says... I have used Eagle for a few years now. It's not the best but the price is good for what it can do, (it's always able to cope with our designs) There is a great user group for it to, loads of people use it and are always helpful. Every PCB house I have used can always read the files or you can make boards yourself. eagle.suggest.eng eagle.userchat.eng eagle.support.de The auto router is not that great, it does not ripup and retry and leaves tracks at odd angles as do many low cost routers. (I never the AR in production designs). You can spend a lot of money on this type of software but I think Eagle is a good starting point. It depends a lot on the work you want to do? I think you can use a limited copy free. No gerber generation. Geoff..... -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
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#7
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Schematic drawing and PCB design software
Eagle...No gerber generation
Geoff Hackett Look again. CAM Processor. |
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#8
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Schematic drawing and PCB design software
Go try "Autotrax EDA" it,s free for home use! nice program!
Dennis "iLLuSioN" wrote in message . .. Hello all, I'm looking for some recommendations on schematic drawing and pcb design software... So far I have looked at: o CircuitMaker 2000 (includes TraxMaker) o Electronics Workbench Out of those two, I prefer CircuitMaker 2000... However, even it is overkill for me... I don't need any of the simulation features really, since most of my work is done with PIC microcontrollers and CircuitMaker cant model them anyway... What I really need is just a nice basic schematic drawing and pcb creation software package... Preferrably one that I draw the schematic, and it automatically figures out the PCB layout and routes the wires (like CircuitMaker does) I wanted to see if anyone had any better recommendations? What else is out there? Yeah, I know Protel is out there, but I will barely be able to afford CircuitMaker 2000, let alone Protel. I also know that AutoCAD has a schematic module as well, but once again the price tag on it i'm sure is very high. Thanks in advance! -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
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#9
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Schematic drawing and PCB design software
Hello...
Go try "Autotrax EDA" it,s free for home use! nice program! Even if it has got a Windows-compliant user interface and an integrated simulation module, I really don't like that product I have bought a few months ago (discount on the full version for $95) to get rid of the pad number limitation : - it's still in development, with many features not yet implemented and frequent crashes blocking the OS - it relies on graphical API functions not supported on W98, preventing reuse of components downloaded from the Internet sharing system and saved into your database, and preventing the mirror printing feature - when trying to select with the mouse a graphical object covered by other ones, there is no advanced mechanism to select one of your choice (even the "send to back" feature doesn't change the priority for object selection) - The most horrible is the router because the copper lines or their vertices are not treated as real objects and cannot be manipulated as easily as components can (for example you can't select a block of vertices or full lines and move them as a whole), you have sometimes to draw many times over already routed copper lines to reach the pad where the electrical link ends, the default trace width resets to an unwanted value, the vector optimization merges two aligned copper lines even if they aren't on the same side etc... To conclude this, I really prefer EAGLE even if the user interface isn't Windows-compliant (especially the non obvious copy/paste manipulations) because it's really efficient where I found lacks in AutoTRAX. And the only limits for the free version of it is to place all your component pads in a 10cm*8cm board area (and one-sheet schematics, but of unlimited size). For bigger boards (10cm*16cm) in non-commercial projects, the non-profit license costs $125. Dennis -- Thierry C. Pour m'écrire, enlever les mots "spam" et "sucks" de mon adresse E-Mail |
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