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What program do you use to design schematic and board?

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bluesam

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What program do you use to design schematic and board?
(Eagle, Orcad, KiCad, Camcad, Multisim, etc)

I know there are many out there.
But since the electromaster (admin) think this is an important question, I made this new thread.
I use the eagle for ubuntu, but it's quite uneasy since it's blurring the screen.

Please feel free to comment yours. I think that will be helpful for others too.

Thanks
bluesam
 
yeah i use the ubuntu eagle that i found when i was surfing the internet/google, but i'm not satisfied with the output, it may have some bug on the appearance.
 
If you want a real package for Linux, and you don't have the money for Eagle (for a non-crippled version) - check out gEDA - note: The learning curve for gEDA is VERY STEEP (waaay steeper than Eagle, which is already non-trivial). But worth it in the end...
 
@crosh: thx, i'll try it as long as it doesnt have bugs ^^

btw do u know another software beside eagle that running free on Windows?
 
@crosh: thx, i'll try it as long as it doesnt have bugs ^^

Show me a "bug free" piece of software, and I'll show you a dishonest programmer. I can't guarantee that gEDA components don't have bugs; I can't guarantee that Eagle doesn't, either. Once a piece of software gets over a certain number of lines of code, bugs are almost guaranteed to be a part of the package. Give it a shot, see if you like it, or can tolerate it. Like I said, it has a steep learning curve, and part of that is due to the fact that it isn't quite as polished, though it is very powerful when used properly, from what I have seen and read.

btw do u know another software beside eagle that running free on Windows?

First, there's this for schematic capture:

TinyCAD - The open-source schematic capture program for Windows

...and then this for PCB layout:

FreePCB: freeware PCB layout software

I don't know how well either work, or if they can work together, but if you could get them to import/export each others stuff, and they have enough parts (or ways to make them), it could be an interesting solution. I just looked, and it looks like you might be able to use them together; TinyCAD export PADS for board netlists, and FreePCB can import that format, so maybe...? It might be worth checking.
 
thanks cr0sh for sharing your info, it's good to see those

Show me a "bug free" piece of software, and I'll show you a dishonest programmer. I can't guarantee that gEDA components don't have bugs; I can't guarantee that Eagle doesn't, either. Once a piece of software gets over a certain number of lines of code, bugs are almost guaranteed to be a part of the package. Give it a shot, see if you like it, or can tolerate it. Like I said, it has a steep learning curve, and part of that is due to the fact that it isn't quite as polished, though it is very powerful when used properly, from what I have seen and read.

wow you are quite a serious person here. i know that bug stuff too. i was just joking there ^^.
 
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thanks cr0sh for sharing your info, it's good to see those

You're welcome - I hope you find them useful...

wow you are quite a serious person here. i know that bug stuff too. i was just joking there ^^.

That's the problem with textual communications mediums; lack of context, lack of universality, lack of body language (not that I have a good sense it). I have a problem as it is picking up on sarcasm, etc even in the "real world". I apologize for not understanding...

:)
 
@cr0sh: nevermind, apology accepted, just let's enjoy this forum

@all: it's kind out of topic (partially), but there is a software called National Instruments "LabView" that might be helpful to inspire you of what kind of device or tool that u may want to build. i have some introduction here (i forgot where it came from)
 

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Show me a "bug free" piece of software, and I'll show you a dishonest programmer. I can't guarantee that gEDA components don't have bugs; I can't guarantee that Eagle doesn't, either. Once a piece of software gets over a certain number of lines of code, bugs are almost guaranteed to be a part of the package. Give it a shot, see if you like it, or can tolerate it. Like I said, it has a steep learning curve, and part of that is due to the fact that it isn't quite as polished, though it is very powerful when used properly, from what I have seen and read.

Just lean back and relax.

I made an Eagle design with a PCB size of 410X320mm, populated with 130 ICs and lots of passive components error free.

The images printed out of Eagle are 100% to scale and can be printed on any carrier material like paper or transparencies.

If Eagle has bugs they can be found between the ears of the user. :)

Those bugs are created easily by changing grid sizes at odd numbers, e.g. changing from grid size 0.05" to 0.024" (instead of 0.025") you'll have a self made bug with nets that never join.

Boncuk
 
I have been using express schematic and pcb. It is simple to learn and easy to use. I have downloaded eagle but couldn't use it without reading a lot so I still use express. Just lazy I guess. I have only had a few boards made by express but i was happy with the results.
 
Just lean back and relax.

I made an Eagle design with a PCB size of 410X320mm, populated with 130 ICs and lots of passive components error free.

The images printed out of Eagle are 100% to scale and can be printed on any carrier material like paper or transparencies.

If Eagle has bugs they can be found between the ears of the user. :)

Those bugs are created easily by changing grid sizes at odd numbers, e.g. changing from grid size 0.05" to 0.024" (instead of 0.025") you'll have a self made bug with nets that never join.

Boncuk

First off, the guy was apparently being sarcastic when I made that comment; but I wasn't sure at the time. All complex software has bugs, some more serious than others; I doubt that gEDA or Eagle is any different. Its nice to hear from an Eagle user, but I would really like to hear from a gEDA user. I've only used gschem from gEDA; it handled my simple h-bridge design with no problems, but I wouldn't mind knowing how people have faired with a real design, all the way thru to manufactured PCB. One of these days I intend to find out myself. I think Eagle is a nice software package from what I have seen, and I applaud their release of an up-to-date Linux version, but I can't (as a hobbyist) stomach the price to go beyond the limits they put in place otherwise.

:)
 
... , but I can't (as a hobbyist) stomach the price to go beyond the limits they put in place otherwise.
:)

That's why I'm still using version 3.55. It cost €1,850 for the full professional version (16 layers, unlimited sheet numbers and max board size of 800X800mm).

Newer versions have proved to be more handy in some respects (e.g. setting junction dots automatically) , but omit rather important features like "grid last" to switch between grids back and forth without having to type in the new grid size.

This feature is important to have when cleaning up the schematic to have part numbers and values not being overdrawn by the part itself, making the the schematic look like junk with unreadable part numbers and values.

Good mechanical work requires precision up to 1/1,000mm. Good electronic work should be accurate to 3/10 of a mm at least though.

Boncuk
 
hi

i use protel DXP for schematic & pcb. it isn't free but it is so power full. i think it worth it.

but for pcb, i think that there is no program that do a good auto routing.

i always do it manually. i have work whit orcad and proteus. but orcad is good for analysing analog circuits. proteus is good for digitall circuits and DXP for pcb.
 
I using 3 programs. Thay are Proteus, Multisim, and Altium Designer. Short guess about them:
Proteus is most simple, easy, for noobs, animation in realtime. But it has ****. Example: osciloscope has no ground node. If i need use 2 different GROUND, i sucking((
Multisim is old style interface. A little bit slow usability. But osciloscope has "+" and "-". It calculate more correct. Sometimes it crashing simulation...
Altium has newest interfece. But it for a VERY LAGRE project, you need to study it, only for professionals, no animation (even of oscilloscope!).
So my desigion beetwen Multisim and Proteus.
 
but for pcb, i think that there is no program that do a good auto routing.

I don't think there's a piece of software yet out there that does perfect auto-routing (of course, maybe there's some profession multi-thousand dollar package that can?) - I think all of the auto-routing tools are more meant for "getting you close", so that you can manually clean up things to "perfect"; its really an AI pattern recognition problem, I think. Although I wonder about a particular auto-router; I was reading over the Kicad wiki, and they mentioned that this auto-router was possibly better than the one in kicad:

**broken link removed**

I wonder how true it is...?
 
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