PCB Design Software - NO FLAMES PLEASE

Community PCB Design
1

People,

I DO NOT WANT TO START A FLAME WAR.

I tried to read the other thread, but it got too confusing (and vitriolic) for me.

What is the current state of play with PCB design software?

My first design will be for a board that just under 160mm x 96mm {thus it’s too big for the free version of Eagle).

I have no $ (well none to spend on PCB design software yet - even if I did, the budget would be more like $200 than $2K).

I have looked at a couple of the free packages (ExpressPCB and Pad2PAd) but these seem to be based on going to a particular supplier for manufacture. None of the manufacturer specific packages seem to be able to export the file to anything other than the manufacturer’s web site (So I couldn’t draw up a board, and say, export the Gerber file to the local board etcher).

Most (all?) seem to allow schematics to be done within the same package. This is an excellent feature.

Auto routing is a good bonus, but I wouldn’t be heartbroken if I had to hand route.

Libraries would be nice - I hate having to re-invent the wheel.

I have used AutoCAD over the years, so ‘arcane’ ways of doing things doesn’t particularly scare me {annoy yes, scare no}

Predominately I’m working in Windows XP but would like to move to 100% Linux one day. I run several Vendor specific packages (not wine compatible) so that day is still probably some time aways.

Are there other packages I should be looking at? (AutoCAD with the “design PCB module”?, Microsoft’s “MS-PCBdesigner”?, “super easy PCB designer that does everything for free and makes coffee”?)

Are their other tricks I should try? Draw the schematic in Eagle, and ask nicely if someone would be prepared to place/route the board for me? Get a board manufacturer to design the board based on my schematic?

PLEASE don’t get into a pissing contest with “Mine’s better than yours”.

Thanks in advance…

2

The Homebrew PCB Yahoo group has a listing of PCB packages (some are free):

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Home … 007845685/

You might have to join the group to use it.

Leon

3

I currently use the non-profit version of [Diptrace and have produced a few boards. It has a more familiar windows environment than Eagle, and is much faster on big schematics due to its hardware acceleration. It makes exporting gerber files simple and has built in preview software. The autorouter is pretty decent as well. The new version, 1.5, is great imo.

I have previously reviewed the old version (1.4) [here](Todds Spot: Diptrace PCB Design Software Review)](http://diptrace.com/)

4

Hi,

You might want to try Kicad which is free and is easy to learn.

5

Even though you said you don’t have money currently, Eagle has a non profit license for $125 that would allow you to create that size board.

6

The_Todd:
I currently use the non-profit version of [Diptrace[/quote]

Diptrace looks pretty nice. I’m going to download the demo and try it out.](http://diptrace.com/)

7

ttabbal:
Diptrace looks pretty nice. I’m going to download the demo and try it out.

Also, make sure to look over the diptrace Tutorial, which I found very helpful in explaining the functionality at http://diptrace.com/help/

8

Since the OP mentioned Linux, here are some pcb cad that surely work on it:

  • Eagle (works great on Windows, Linux and MAC, new GUI is based on QT) I use it and when I switched to Linux I didn’t have any problem.

  • Kicad, free and open source, for Linux and Windows (wxWidgets portable GUI), 1-16 layers, no limitations, but unfortunately not as high quality as Eagle

  • Geda, free and open source, but for Linux only (no Windows version, as far as I know), looks very difficult to use, but some people did amazing 4 layer boards with it.

9

I am a Linux user who has used both Kicad and gEDA in the past.

Kicad:

I tried this first. It has the advantage of being readily available for both Windows and Linux. IMO it also does a better job of unifying the tools (schematic capture, PCB layout, etc) than gEDA. It does have a learning curve, and I find that the interface is very inefficient for certain operations. It is usable, though I had a hard time producing anything with it (but I did manage). I have looked at it recently and do not feel that it has made significant progress in this area. Kicad also has a few (minor) known bugs. This can cause problems if you are trying to do something tricky. YMMV

(Note: I REALLY want to see the Kicad project grow. I think it has lots of potential just waiting to be realized.)

gEDA:

This is what I currently use. It has a somewhat goofy interface, but I’ve been able to learn it and it doesn’t get in my way very often. I feel that I am usually more productive than I was in Kicad. My biggest complaint is that drawing custom footprints can be (and usually is) a painful process. In fact, it can be troublesome enough that sometimes it is easier to edit the footprint file by hand in a text editor! The gEDA project also has rather weak Windows support – you’ll have to build it from source yourself as far as I can tell.

Anything:

No matter what you use, you will probably need to draw a lot of your own footprints and schematic parts, especially if you are using a free package. I draw all but the most basic footprints myself. This isn’t just because the footprints aren’t in the library – some of them are there but incorrect. Sometimes hole sizes are wrong, sometimes pad placement is just a little bit off. Sometimes a part with an apparently standard footprint will subtly deviate from what the library designer expected (and maybe the standard too). I always double/triple check any footprint that I use from the software’s library (I guess I check my own footprints a lot too :-P). Once you’ve done a few boards and built up your own library of footprints this will become less of an issue.