<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Hi Dana,<div><br></div><div>I'll suggest just photographing them, and tweaking the brightness-level curves for readability. </div><div><br></div><div>Transcribing them to a CAD package might be error prone, a lot of work, and dependent on parts libraries. And photographs preserve the historical context and all.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm sure folks here will provide all sorts of recommendations based on their experiences... </div><div><br></div><div>One metric I would use is: Can it produce publication quality art? Because I care a lot about that.</div><div><br></div><div>I use the Gnu gEDA gschem package, with my own parts libraries, and it can provide publication quality art.</div><div><br></div><div>(I've never seen a KiCad schematic that doesn't look like crap. But hey, I'm persuadable; maybe someone has a counterexample.)</div><div><br></div><div> -- Don<br><div><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">--<br>Donald Tillman, Palo Alto, California<br>https://www.till.com</div></div>
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<div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On May 12, 2024, at 1:39 PM, <tamedogs@wildcats.com> <tamedogs@wildcats.com> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><meta charset="UTF-8"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Hi,<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">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.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Using search engine, I see a number of freeware schematic and PCB layout packages available.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Is the any consensus here as to what is the best software to use?<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">I downloaded the first package I came across (KiCad). I wonder if something else might be better.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Any thoughts?<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Dana</div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></body></html>