Hi Guys,
I have been doing a fair bit of PCB design work of late, and I always used to use Proteus for schematic drawing, sometimes simulating and PCB design.
I had a requirement to allow other users to see the schematic in raw format and Gerber format, so I naturally suggested GCPrevue under Windows, but then I had an issue with the raw format, as Proteus is of course an expensive licensed application, so I started using Eagle 6, had a panic about a CADCAM error then 6.1 came out and all was fluffy again, and I really liked Eagle, wasn't as "easy" to use as Proteus but once you get back in to the basics and I read the tutorial and watched some videos it was fairly straight forward, I haven't attempted to create a part yet.
What really surprised me was the amount of footprints available for Eagle, Proteus has a good selection but Eagle, WOW!
So my question to all of you veteran PCB designers is:
Had you the choice which package would you favour between Proteus or Eagle and why? The first obvious thing going for Eagle is there is a free version! I did try Easy-PC but went back to Eagle.
Secondly if you know of any other PCB design package that is free (albeit limited such as Eagle 6 in pins and components and board sizes etc), or not too expensive (for trialling), but has such as vast and extensive library / community (for parts / footprints) as Eagle I would like to hear what your suggestions / thoughts are!
Regards
Wilksey
I have been doing a fair bit of PCB design work of late, and I always used to use Proteus for schematic drawing, sometimes simulating and PCB design.
I had a requirement to allow other users to see the schematic in raw format and Gerber format, so I naturally suggested GCPrevue under Windows, but then I had an issue with the raw format, as Proteus is of course an expensive licensed application, so I started using Eagle 6, had a panic about a CADCAM error then 6.1 came out and all was fluffy again, and I really liked Eagle, wasn't as "easy" to use as Proteus but once you get back in to the basics and I read the tutorial and watched some videos it was fairly straight forward, I haven't attempted to create a part yet.
What really surprised me was the amount of footprints available for Eagle, Proteus has a good selection but Eagle, WOW!
So my question to all of you veteran PCB designers is:
Had you the choice which package would you favour between Proteus or Eagle and why? The first obvious thing going for Eagle is there is a free version! I did try Easy-PC but went back to Eagle.
Secondly if you know of any other PCB design package that is free (albeit limited such as Eagle 6 in pins and components and board sizes etc), or not too expensive (for trialling), but has such as vast and extensive library / community (for parts / footprints) as Eagle I would like to hear what your suggestions / thoughts are!
Regards
Wilksey