Schematic Software

[Gene]

I was wondering what software members of this forum use to draw schematic diagrams. Any suggestions?

 

[bogdanfirst]

orcad9.1 form caddence.com(orcad.com) and eagle form cadsoft.com

 

[Pilot]

Ultiboard, Protel 99 & Powerpcb used to develop circuits here.

:lol:

 

[Paprika]

Yeah, I use Eagle. At first its very duanting btu then I got ahold of a full Tutorial on using it and now its pretty easy to use for me. I reccomend Eable because there is a free version avalbile for downloa d & there are a few tutorials for the software.

 

[john1]

Hi Gene,

Paint,
or Pbrush.

You can keep little BMPs,
and paste them in as required.

( cant afford that sophisticated stuff )

John

 

[Gene]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I found a copy of Electronics Workbench on the web and am trying to work with it. It seems to react slowly and, if I get going too fast, it crashes. PATIENCE! :x

 

[john1]

Hi Paprika,

I found this,
is this the 'Eagle' you mean?



Those sizes, 5 and 6 megs are a bit big
for dial-up 56k

John

 

[Paprika]

they are not really that big man, go get download accelerator plus, it can induse your download speeds dramaticly - I'm on cable and it dose wonders for me! But yeah, anyway try that but the software is worth it, after you read the tutorial that is -- that way you can take full advantage of the software. but if you don't want to take the download and just wait a few more minutes, maybe hours, than usual then thats ok too.

 

[kinjalgp]

If 5-6 MB seems big to you, just try to download Demo of Protel99SE :lol: ~49MB

 

[hantto]

Or Protel DXP 182Mb... :wink:

 

[bogdanfirst]

some sites offer instead of the download, a free cd...
i asked for one with orcad and i got it in a couple of weels(im not from us), but i never got the cirucuit maker cd....

 

[arcom]

or DirectX 8.0 SDK ~ 150MB over 56K. I took me two weeks to download this monster...and worst of all...shortly after that my hard drive has gone to heaven :cry:

to john1: I recently downloaded Eagle. It took me only 20 minutes without all those (questionable) "accelerators" :lol:

 

[bogdanfirst]

well if we are talking about software, i have POWER PCB, but i dont know what to use to make the schematic and then to make it's pcb.
also i am interested what software everyone around here uses to design there pcb.
please give me an advice....

 

[Paprika]

just as I said before, Eagle + Tutorial = nIceness

 

[bogdanfirst]

i agree with eagle. it works fine, but it doesnt have simulation and it is limited.....to the size of the pcb and it doesnt have autoplace.

 

[john1]

Hi y'all,

Since everyone seems to think that Eagle is the one to get,
i took a chance and decided that i did have the right one,
"Eagle Layout Editor 4.09r2"
Which is the Freeware version, with limited options.


So i decided to download it.
It took over an hour, the Kb/sec varied a little but was
mostly around 3 Kb/sec.
It took two attempts, Freeserve is not shy about
dropping connections if they feel like it.

I have downloaded it now, it wont run on screens that are
set lower than 800 x 600, which is annoying for me, my
favourite PC is set at 640 x 480, so i have to re-set to
use it, then re-set it back after.

It seems to be more for circuit boards than schematics, in
fact i havent found a decent schematic on it yet, but i'm
still looking.

ARCOM, if i had spent the time and trouble downloading any
program of that size, i think i would have cut a CD 'just
in case' and i am sorry to hear that your HD packed up and
took your download with it. I have made a copy of this free
Eagle download on my laptop, just in case, but i am not so
bothered as to make a CD. I am surprised that you were able
to download it in twenty minutes, maybe you were lucky on
that occasion. I am thinking of getting a V92 modem, i am
told they do download a bit faster. They dont have any band
width improvement, the V92 page says they handle it a little
differently.

PAPRIKA, you say it = niceness, whats nicer? does it draw
things better? wheres the schematic section? is there a
schematic section? i'm still looking through it, but i havnt
found a schematic section yet.
Maybe its just for laying out printed circuit outlines.
I'd like to read through the tutorial, is it on-line?
Could you give the address for the tutorial you mention?
I hope its not too big, my download times seem awful when
compared to some of these here.

BOGDANFIRST, whats autoplace?

KINJALP, i dont think i would even try to download anything
over 10 MB on my present system, it would take too long,
and probably have to be re-started a few times anyway.
For a large dowload like that, i would probably ask around
until i found someone willing to get it over a fast internet
connection such as cable, and put it on a Re-Writeable CD or
allow me to retrieve it direct to my laptop.

Regards, John

 

[kinjalgp]

Click the File Menu-> New -> Schematic.
The will open up schematic editor window. You'll have to spend some time getting used to it but let me tell you that this software is awsome. Very powerful and easy-to-use.

 

[bogdanfirst]

well, by aoutoplace i understand that it also puts the components on the board, you give the dimensions of the board and it places the components in the right place. you can also fix some components so they wil not be placed on other areas, for example connectors. it is much easier like this because it finds the best place for the component.
the way i works, if i dont pace the components at the right place i get a board with lots of jumpers.

 

[kinjalgp]

i agree with eagle. it works fine, but it doesnt have simulation and it is limited.....to the size of the pcb and it doesnt have autoplace.

I think you havn't heard of B2 SPICE. Its a newly developed simulation software which accepts EAGLE schematics.

 

[bogdanfirst]

where can i get that from...?
is it free?