I’m sticking with eagle because it has more people like me using it than any other package. That means I can get tons of help, tutorials, plug-ins, ect.
I agree, i am told that Eagle has the best on-line help forums and support of any PCB Layout Package.
I have certainly found a wealth of helpful info for Eagle.
Do any of the “professional” or “other” packages have such a good support network as Eagle.?
Pulsonix has an excellent forum:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/PulsonixUG/
I run it so I suppose that I am biased. It doesn’t get a lot of activity because the product is very easy to use, and is relatively problem-free.
Pulsonix customer support is pretty good, also.
Leon
Personally, I think Eagle is the best package I have ever used. Having said that, I fully realize there is a big learning curve with the program. After using it for about 8 years, I am no expert, but I have managed to get myself to the point where I feel very comfortable with it. I get just about any job I need to do completed without any trouble.
I will say, there were some simple things that I simply could not figure out when I started and it took lots of Googling and reading to find answers. I have compiled many of those things and created a series of tutorials on Eagle. They are all posted to my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/rpcelectronics
I hope they will go to help others getting started and diverge people from giving up when they can’t figure out a simple function. Eagle is too good of a program to give up on, over simple problems.
Ha! That’s you! Hey Jayson - thanks for the videos - good work!
rpcelectronics:
Personally, I think Eagle is the best package I have ever used. Having said that, I fully realize there is a big learning curve with the program. After using it for about 8 years, I am no expert, but I have managed to get myself to the point where I feel very comfortable with it. I get just about any job I need to do completed without any trouble.I will say, there were some simple things that I simply could not figure out when I started and it took lots of Googling and reading to find answers. I have compiled many of those things and created a series of tutorials on Eagle. They are all posted to my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/rpcelectronics
I hope they will go to help others getting started and diverge people from giving up when they can’t figure out a simple function. Eagle is too good of a program to give up on, over simple problems.
Jason,
After a year, I was fed up. I hate to say it, but the interface for Eagle was just too much for me to handle. I switched to DipTrace, and haven’t looked back. Now two more years have pasted, and I am very pleased I made the move. I can draw and route about twice as fast in Diptrace as I ever could have imagined in Eagle. That includes making footprints and components.
But Eagle does offer a lot for the cheaper packages. I won’t ever say Eagle is a bad CAD package, because it is not. It’s interface is just strange to use. I just didn’t prefer it’s methods so I changed.
I am glad others find it easy enough to stick with it. But when it came time for me to plunk out some cash, it wasn’t my first choice, although it was on the decision list. I looked at a number of different software packages, and deduced which one by the price, functions, ease of use, and my opinion while playing with the free version.
I know your youtube videos are a huge help to everyone learning Eagle.
James L
propellanttech:
After a year, I was fed up. I hate to say it, but the interface for Eagle was just too much for me to handle. I switched to DipTrace, and haven’t looked back. Now two more years have pasted, and I am very pleased I made the move. I can draw and route about twice as fast in Diptrace as I ever could have imagined in Eagle. That includes making footprints and components.
How good is the gerber file generation in DipTrace? Does it require lots of tweaking to generate files that result in working boards, or does it work well with the built-in defaults?
SodaAnt:
propellanttech:
After a year, I was fed up. I hate to say it, but the interface for Eagle was just too much for me to handle. I switched to DipTrace, and haven’t looked back. Now two more years have pasted, and I am very pleased I made the move. I can draw and route about twice as fast in Diptrace as I ever could have imagined in Eagle. That includes making footprints and components.How good is the gerber file generation in DipTrace? Does it require lots of tweaking to generate files that result in working boards, or does it work well with the built-in defaults?
There is little to do to generate gerbers. That is one option that always worked extremely well since I have owned the program.
There has been some small tweaks here and there with some other issues, but it has a nice export system for the gerbers and drill file.
Basically, you click export>gerbers. Then select the options you want, and which gerber layer you want to output. I usually just export all of them, even though I don’t use them all.
I can export gerbers in a matter of seconds and not worry about if they are correct.
James L
It should be noted that Diptrace’s autorouter is not even close to Eagles. Eagles does a much better job.
This is one thing the makers have been working on for some time. I do all my routing by hand, so I’m not sure how well the new version does in this area.
James L
george graves:
Ha! That’s you! Hey Jayson - thanks for the videos - good work!
Yep, I am the same guy. Just no “y” in Jason 
propellanttech:
After a year, I was fed up. I hate to say it, but the interface for Eagle was just too much for me to handle. I switched to DipTrace…
About a year ago, I was going after a PCB design job with a company in Blacksburg, VA. They preferred experience with Pads, so I downloaded a free copy and started to play with it. I figured if I could get a working knowledge of the program, that would give me a fighting chance at the job. After about 3 hours of frustration, just to get a project started, I gave up. I hated it.
To make matters worse, because I made the mistake of tacking my email address onto their lousy sign-up process just to download the demo, I had a rep hounding me daily to find out what I thought of it and buy the basic program. I told the rep what I thought about it and all he said was “Let me send you some good tutorials.” The tutorials were worse than the help guide that came with the program.
Short story made long, I never got a call for an interview, so I guess it was a waste of time, but I did learn that Pads was never going to be an option and it only made me love Eagle even more 
propellanttech:
It should be noted that Diptrace’s autorouter is not even close to Eagles. Eagles does a much better job.
I get alot of sh*t from old timey PCB guys that say autorouting is cheating and Eagle’s sucks, blah, blah, blah.
The autorouter is only as good as you are working with it. For example, NEVER let the autorouter deal with your crucial runs on it’s own, they will never be what you expected. Two, always place parts with the shortest runs as possible. The ratsnest tool is a Godsend for this
rpcelectronics:
propellanttech:
It should be noted that Diptrace’s autorouter is not even close to Eagles. Eagles does a much better job.I get alot of sh*t from old timey PCB guys that say autorouting is cheating and Eagle’s sucks, blah, blah, blah.
The autorouter is only as good as you are working with it. For example, NEVER let the autorouter deal with your crucial runs on it’s own, they will never be what you expected. Two, always place parts with the shortest runs as possible. The ratsnest tool is a Godsend for this
Funny, because I used the autorouter all the time when I used Eagle. Now I don’t use it at all. When I started using Diptrace the autorouter just didn’t really function, so I was forced to hand route (probably a good thing). Now I can’t imagine not hand routing.
Keep up the good work. The more help people get, the better off they are.
James L