[sdiy] PCB Design Software

[ASSI]

On Monday 07 July 2003 05:19, Glen wrote:
> Is anyone familiar with AutoTRAX EDA?

The previous version was free (with promises that it would continue to 
be free - even though from the website it was obvious that this wasn't 
the game plan for later version) and it better had to because I found 
it to be mostly unusable. It crashed far too often to try anything of 
real-world complexity. YMMV.

You might try Eagle Freeware, http://www.cadsoft.de/ - what you get is 
(aside from restricting the board to two layers and 100x80mm size) 
exactly the same program that you can buy various other licenses for 
from as low as EUR49. As an added bonus it runs under Linux, even a bit 
better than it does under WinNT. The autorouter doesn't work for me, 
but then I've yet to see an autorouter that does a board I'd like, 
especially if it is analog.

There's an old DOS version of Protel that works well in the DOS box of 
Win98 if you're after that retro feel and/or have old Protel files to 
give some new life to.

Various PCB shops give out demo programs or versions that are locked to 
produce only output for that PCB shop. You might not want to be locked 
in, but this is a great way to see if you like the program enough to 
buy.


Achim.
-- +<[ Q+ & Matrix-12 & WAVE#46 & microQkb Omega sonic heaven ]>+ --

SD adaptations for
Waldorf Q V3.00R1, Q+ V3.53R1, microQ V2.20R1 and rackAttack V1.04R1:
http://homepages.compuserve.de/Stromeko#WaldorfSDada