I'll give a second vote for Diptrace. I had suffered through the learnng
curve on EAGLE for over 3 years and reached the point I could make EAGLE do
what I needed.
It took about 2 hours of playing with Diptrace to decide to trash EAGLE and
move over to Diptrace. The learning curve is that much shorter. Creating
parts and libraries is a breeze. The help and response from the Diptrace
Team in Yahoo groups is phenomenal.
The free version is not limited to board size, but rather limited to 250
pins. There are a lot of pricing options, including a discounted advanced
version for non commercial home users.
For anyone suffering through the EAGLE learning curve, give Diptrace a try.
Myc
On 9/6/06, Leon Heller <leon.heller@...> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sander Pool" <sander@... <sander%40tungstentech.com>>
> To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com <Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 8:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: What is your favorite free PCB-CAD
> Designer
>
> >
> > I just installed Diptrace and it was very easy to get started. Without
> > reading the manual or tutorial I was able to construct an easy circuit.
> > I then followed the tutorial and learned how things really worked :) The
> > interface isn't quite MS standard but it's pretty close. Certainly a lot
> > more intuitive than Eagle which I used in the past.
> >
> > I looked at PCB Wizard but couldn't find pricing. I probably didn't look
> > hard enough but I expect that crucial bit of info readily available.
> > Since the free demo is severely crippled I doubt there is a functional
> > free version available. Pulsonix is so horrendously expensive I doubt
> > any hobbyist would buy it for home use. It certainly isn't free like the
> > original poster asked about.
> >
> > I also downloaded and installed Kicad. Looks nice but there were some
> > drawing issues when you move components. Because Kicad lacks an
> > autorouter I'm sticking with Diptrace for now.
>
> Easy-PC is about the same price as Eagle but is much easier to use. It is
> also fully Windows-based.
>
> Leon
>
>
>
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