[sdiy] What's your fav PCB package?

[Rainer Buchty]

> I find Eagle's philosophy a bit quirky. In PCB layout programs I'm 
> used to (and in other apps as well) that you FIRST select something (a 
> component, a trace etc) and THEN decide what to do with it (move, 
> rotate, delete...). In Eagle this is not possible. You FIRST have to 
> select a tool (move, delete...) and THEN click on the thing (trace, 
> component) you want the tool apply to.

It's probably a matter of taste, but I prefer it that way. If I want to 
delete something, then it's usually more than one thing (component, 
trace, bus...) and I'd rather not want to select-delete, select-delete 
etc.

Same if I want to move things.

> To make things worse, the delete tool is also used for something which 
> hasn't much to do with deleting, Eagle's flood fill feature.

AFAIK it shouldn't work with delete (maybe a bug?), but agreed, 
overloading the Ratsnest function is a bit counterintuitive... Even 
worse, I haven't found a way to get it of the flood fill other than 
either load/close/save it or move the flood-area boundaries and resize.

Also the library editor is something which definitely needs work; prior 
to 4.10 (IIRC) it was plain hell, since then it's still horrible because 
each library carries its own packages rather than referring to a central 
package library.

> On the other hand, Eagle has some great features. I like it that one 
> can zoom in and out quickly with the mouse's scroll wheel.

Plus, you get support on Cadsoft's very own NNTP server (and also from 
users in de.sci.electronics). In addition, there's also a dedicated 
Eagle Wiki.

Rainer