[sdiy] What's the best freeware schematic capture and PCB layout software

[Ben Bradley]

Actually, Kicad 8 was released in recent months, though I haven't
tried it yet. I'm hoping it's just "upward compatible" with little
change from 7, as I finally learned 7 last year.

I learned with the Kicad 7 video series starting with this one,
they're a total of about 8 hours:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szu8dJoyikA

Like many other tutorials, I already have partial knowledge, so I find
some parts boring, yet other parts have new, crucial information for
me. I found it good to actually be running Kicad while watching the
video, and when a new concept is described, stop the video and go
through it on Kicad.

On Mon, 13 May 2024 at 00:24, Ashlyn Black <ashlyn at ashlynblack.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Dana, welcome to Synth DIY!
>
> I highly recommend KiCAD, it's what I started with and luckily I seem to have picked a winning horse in it, so-to-speak. CERN recently entered into a commercial support contract with KiCAD Services to continue funding its development. As far as I know It's the most popular open-source ECAD with many electronics distributors and hobbyists providing free symbols and footprints for download.
>
> There's a great starter tutorial series available on Youtube called "Getting to Blinky 5.0"
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy2022BX6EspFAKBCgRuEuzapuz_4aJCn
>
> KiCAD is up to version 7 at the moment but most of the content should still apply.
>
>
> I'd also be happy to help with schematic capture if sent photos/scans.
>
> - Ashlyn
>
> On 13/5/24 06:39, tamedogs at wildcats.com wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I have a number of 45 year old blue line schematics that I want to capture on the computer before they disintegrate or fade away entirely from age.
>
> Using search engine, I see a number of freeware schematic and PCB layout packages available.
>
> Is the any consensus here as to what is the best software to use?
>
>
>
> I downloaded the first package I came across (KiCad). I wonder if something else might be better.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
>
>
> Dana
>
>
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