[sdiy] PCB/Schematic software

Thu Sep 1 06:25:18 CEST 2011

Hi David,
I've recently become a KiCad user, and I've laid out a few fairly
large boards and had them manufactured. So I can vouch that the whole
program works start to finish, and the Linux compatibility is a big
plus for someone that might want to get away from Windows down the
road.

The manual is good, the layout and workflow are logical although the
UI is a bit dated (very hard to see icons on high resolution monitors,
etc.).

On the other hand, I've never given Eagle much more than a brief, but
frustrating few hours. But there's a lot of people I respect doing
amazing things with Eagle, and it does seem to be a bit of a defacto
for the DIY crowd.

Mike

On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 10:45 PM, David Ingebretsen
<dingebre at 3dphysics.net> wrote:
> I'll second the vote for Eagle. It's an expensive investment, but well worth
> it. I tried KiCad, AutoDEX, Target, and some of the manufacturer specific
> ones, but when I finally bit the bullet and bought Eagle for the Steiner
> Synthasystem project, it was excellent. Easy to add/edit components, I find
> the interface pretty intuitive and straightforward, most board houses take
> the files directly or Eagle outputs Gerber files easily using a script that
> comes with it.
>
> It has great support, too.
>
> My only complaint is it doesn't interface well to any Spice simulators. It
> kind of interfaces with B2Spice, but I think it's easier to just redraw the
> schematic.
>
> Free is always good, but it's my experience (with some notable exceptions
> like gnu emacs, gnu compilers, LaTeX, OpenOffice) free often means quirks,
> and a lot of DIY debugging/programming which takes the fun out of using the
> software to do the really fun stuff I want to do.
>
> David
>
> David M. Ingebretsen, M.S., M.E.
> Collision Forensics & Engineering, Inc.
>
> Office: 801 733 5458
> Cell: 801 842 5451
>
> www.CFandE.com
> dingebre at CFandE.com
> dingebre at 3dphysics.net
>
>
>
>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl [mailto:synth-diy-
>>>> bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of Tristan
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 5:04 PM
>>>> To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>>>> Subject: Re: [sdiy] PCB/Schematic software
>>>>
>>>> About a year ago I looked into this issue and in the end also went with
>>>> Eagle Professional Layout +
>>>> Schematic. I wanted similar functionality to the old Protel Schematic +
> PCB
>>>> I had used in the past and the
>>>> cross platform Win/Mac/Linux compatibility of Eagle was a bonus. Two
> other
>>>> important considerations were
>>>> that Eagle is widely accepted by board houses and the company has been
> in
>>>> business a long time with a
>>>> solid support presence.
>>>>
>>>> In use I have found Eagle to be reliable and I have not struck any major
>>>> bugs or instability. On the
>>>> negative side, I found it has a fair learning curve (but I guess most
> CAD
>>>> tools do!) and some operations
>>>> are not very intuitive. The supplied libraries are also a bit messy and
>>>> inconsistent.
>>>>
>>>> /Tristan
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Sep 1st, 2011 at 6:42 AM, Matthew Smith <matt at smiffytech.com>
> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > 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
>>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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-- 
[mike]