[sdiy] DesignSpark (was: Proteus software)

[Olav Martin Kvern]

Graham Atkins wrote: "Talking of Eagle, has anyone tried RS Components 
Design Spark PCB yet ?. Apparently you can import Eagle files into it 
but it isn't perfect yet. Also the Design Spark free issue allows you
to build PCB's greater than the 1/2 Eurocard ? in Eagle."

I've totally switched from Eagle (5.1) to DesignSpark. I think it's 
good, even though the Eagle import is poor. It feels pretty much like a 
normal program--selection, copying, pasting, etc., all work the usual 
way. I mention this because Eagle definitely doesn't feel like a modern 
program--it feels more like something designed for early versions of 
MS-DOS and never really updated (a la AutoCad).

You can certainly lay out larger boards--it's supposed to go up to 1 
meter square, though I admit I've never tried that. Output is quite 
good, at least for the photographic methods I use. I don't know about 
output to CNC (I stopped using that method), or whether there's anything 
similar to the g-code converter script for Eagle.

Thanks,

Ole