PCB Package

[tomg]

I am still trying to upgrade from EasyTrax. Most of the
pcb software out there just makes me mad however I
like TraxMaker Pro. This makes a lot of sense if you
know that TraxMaker is the Windose version of 
EasyTrax. 

Cool Stuff...........
It's fast and easy.
It's familiar
Unlimited Pins
Unlimited Libraries
Prints to system printers.
You can print holes in the pads!!
Outputs DXF and Protel PCB(text)
Links to CircuitMaker

Bad Stuff.........
Does not recognize EasyTrax PCB files.
No Postscript output.
No Gerber input
The DXF output leaves the pads hollow!!
(you have to fill them manually)

These are my first impressions. I will use this for 
homemade boards because it makes drilling all 
those holes much easier if the center is etched
out. The crap DXF output makes publishing a 
pain. 

I understand that Protel sold it off years ago 
but bought it back. They bundled CM and
TM together for about $400.00 taking the
$200 version of  TraxMaker off the market.
If you can't beat 'em buy 'em? 

Somewhere out there I found a NASA page
that describes a method used to make
one-off boards using TraxMaker. I would
think that if it's good enough for NASA it
might be good enough for DIY.

CircuitMaker looks nice and it's a lot cheaper
than EWB. They say it's 100% spice compatible.
Maybe this is the DIY package we are looking for. 
Comments?

Tom