[sdiy] PCB/Schematic software

[Matthew Smith]

Quoth Harry Bissell at 01/09/11 04:29...
...
> What does anyone like these days ?

When this was discussed last - which I think is when Neil drew up that 
list - I did a quick re-evaluation. My first criterion was that the 
package had to run on Linux, as I'm an all-Linux shop, here.

I had been using Eagle for quite some time and had upgraded from the 
freeware to the not-for-profit paid version, in order to get a bit more 
board space to work with. But that license was strictly non-commercial. 
I needed something where there would be no license restrictions 
regarding selling stuff created with the package.

My third key requirement was that everything would go through schematic 
capture - there is no way in the world that I would consider laying out 
a boar directly.

At the time, I was looking for Spice integration, but I still haven't 
gotten round to using that - I'd far rather build something and test it 
than sit staring at a computer screen (which I do all day anyway) 
fiddling with simulations.

My shortlist came down to Eagle Pro, Kicad and GeDA/PCB.

After a quick look at Kicad, I decided that it simply wasn't for me - 
didn't suit the way I work/think.

Next off the block was GeDA/PCB. Whilst I wasn't impressed by the 
integration of the tools, I realised the sheer power of it and knew I 
could script a lot of tasks. The two real issues it presented were 1) 
learning curve and 2) no reliable way to turn my rather large Eagle 
components library into the GeDA/PCB format.

I thought about this for a few months and finally worked out that 
forking out a grand for Eagle Pro would actually be cheaper, when 
considered in a commercial context, than having to learn a totally new 
package and then convert a lot of previous work over to the new format. 
  As I'm not *that* happy with parting with my money - even when the 
"me" is "my business," I got onto my distributor - Element14 - and, 
after some negotiation, secured what I thought was a pretty good discount.

So, now I am running Eagle Pro (schematic capture and board layout only 
- no auto-router) and am happy with that. The effort of changing was 
simply a case of adding a new license file - no learning, no conversions.

As regards Spice integration, I believe there may be a ULP (User 
Language Programme) or two that will export netlists in a form that can 
be read by/imported into Spice software. But I haven't tried to do it.

Cheers

M

-- 
Matthew Smith

Business: http://www.smiffytech.com
Blog:     http://www.smiffysplace.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy
Flickr:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/msmiffy
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/smiffy