Does Sprint also offer the schematic capture or is it straight to the PCB design phase? I'm thinking of moving from Eagle to something else. I've been using Eagle for years but still find the UI archaic and annoying. Other options I'm playing with at the moment are KiCAD and gEDA, but the folks who make Sprint also have other neat software which I'm considering purchasing (LochMaster, FrontDesigner, etc).
The list of tools that do PCB layout is amazing. That is good for choice but bad for collaborative efforts or sharing.
I can understand people not wanting to use Eagle but going to anything without schematic capture would be, at least for me, very wrong. One of the nice thing Eagle has done in the Beta version is that you can mark specific instances of errors as exceptions in the DRC.
If I were to jump ship it would be for an open source tool.
Hmm. I don't want a package that doesn't have schematic capture and schem export to board--if I ain't getting paid, I don't want the extra work of making sure my board actually reflects what the schematic shows. Yeah, I'm lazy that way.
The list of tools that do PCB layout is amazing. That is good for choice but bad for collaborative efforts or sharing.
I can understand people not wanting to use Eagle but going to anything without schematic capture would be, at least for me, very wrong. One of the nice thing Eagle has done in the Beta version is that you can mark specific instances of errors as exceptions in the DRC.
If I were to jump ship it would be for an open source tool.
Don't get me wrong--I love just about everything about Eagle, except for the bizarre editing UI, and the attitude displayed by the Eagle team when anyone requests that it be brought into the 21st century. I was *so* hoping that Eagle 5 would address things like the fact that it takes a ridiculous number of clicks to move or copy a group of objects and that tools reset after one use.
Oops. Rant mode off. Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, I'm definitely looking at open-source alternatives first. I've managed to replace just about everything else I use on a daily basis with OSS so I'm hopeful. And it's been a while since I've contributed to an OSS project in a meaningful way so maybe I'll get motivated to help out.
Hmm. I don't want a package that doesn't have schematic capture and schem export to board--if I ain't getting paid, I don't want the extra work of making sure my board actually reflects what the schematic shows. Yeah, I'm lazy that way.
Torben
I do not see that as lazy, but rather as a desire to remain sane. Why do the work yourself when you are using a computer. It is one less thing to worry about, and you end up with a nice schematic when you are finished.
In a while you get used to the huge libraries. They are a positive feature if somewhat painful. A smaller set of libraries is a pain too, you end up making more parts. You can make a personal lib and save commonly used parts in it.
Have you tried the ERC and DRC checking tools or looked at the supplied User Language Programs?
I have no problem with you using any program you want. My point is that Eagle is a very powerful toolset. It took a few boards to become comfortable with it, and I still have things to learn. That is a good thing.
EDIT: Sparkfun has an Eagle Library that has a lot of the parts they sell.
I have found 2 easy ways to do that. 1) Put common parts in your own library. Then Start with that. 2) Make a blank schematic with common parts on it. Open, save as (new name) and continue.
Right now, I use a combination of the two approaches. The blank schematic includes the very most common (a resistor, capacitor, cap. polarized, diode, ground, Vcc, etc.) that are in almost every schematic, and my personal library has devices that are common, but not in every schematic.
Having a huge librairy is certainly not a bad thing. I will start to learn Eagle. I already printed the 240 +/- pages manual plus the 70 pages tutorial plus another 10 pages tutorial.
I will make a personal library. Thanks!
Here is the kind of PCB I make. Simple with big trace.