PCB CAD software (was: Re: press-n-peel: any experiences?)

[Michael Scherr]

>* something for PC
>* solder pads must be printable with holes, otherwise it's impossible to
>drill by hand (years ago I had a look at some pro package which couldn't
>do that)


Do you want to etch your pcbs by yourself or do you need professionell
results?

Some years ago I've worked with Protel Easytrax (DOS). It's just a easy tool
for
making simple pcbs. It has no schematic package. AFAIK you can download a
freeware version at www.protel.com . It has a very limited library! There's
also
a commercial version with a simple autorouter called Protel Autotrax (Part
of
the Protel DOS-Pack with Protel Schematic). I've a such a complete package
at home. If you want to get one let me know by private mail.

Later I changed to Ultimate ( www.ultiboard.com ). It contains a complete
package for DOS and Windows. I've one commercial licence (limited to 500
pins) and one uncommercial license (unlimited pins, no gerber / photoplotter
output). The commercial programm is a very good programm. It's easy to use,
good manuals, nice support, big library. The uncommerial version is also
very
good to handle but the file-format is scrambled so that you can't load them
with
the commercial license. But with some programming skills it's easy to
descramble it by yourself. Look at the webpage for details and prices.

However, because of the missing gerber-output of Ultiboard I'm thinking
about
changing to EDWinNC-32 (NC means: No Commercial use - Homepage at
 www.visionics.a.se ). It seems to be a very profesional and powerfull
programm
with a lot of nice features and plugins (simulation, thermal, emc...) for a
very
good price. But in the last newsletter the german distributor (Sinformatix
at
www.sinformatix.de ) said, that there's no uncommerial license. But that's
wrong!
The uncommerial version is still avaible in all other countrys. So it seems
I've to
order it in UK, NL or somewhere else. At the moment this is my favorite!

Something about Eagle: It's IMHO a nice toy - but nothing more. There's only
one
reason for Eagle: It's not very expensive and there are lots of board-houses
which
accept the Eagle BRD-files direct. Our engineers are using Eagle and they
want
to change to another system. If you compare Eagle to other EDA software,
there
are a lot of missing, usefull functions (missing library-browser, hard to
change
components and pads in an existing board...). The freeware version is very
limited. But if you are looking for a cheap and small solutions for small
pcbs - get
it at www.cadsoft.de .

Ok, enough for today. Feel free to reply.

Bye,
  Michael