ORCAD is nice,
but if you are no student you won't be able to afford it.
ST
On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 22:39:14 -0700, Michael Johnston
<
mike_johnston@...> wrote:
> Sorry about the previous post. I got to clicking a bit too fast in
> Outlook.
>
> I've been evaluating different schematic capture and pcb layout programs
> for
> Windows for the last two months. Of what I've seen, there seem to be
> three
> basic classes of software. (1) Garbage that is not worth the time to
> download, (2) limited usability and (3) ridiculously expensive (>$1500).
> Several programs fall into the first category (I won't list them for
> fear of
> offending someone's favorite program). There is no need to go into the
> third. That leaves the middle category.
>
> Programs like EasyPC are a pleasure to use but are significantly lacking
> in
> functionality. The well thought out user interface allows you to sit
> down
> and actually be productive in a matter of minutes. But limited
> functionality keeps you from going too far. At the other end of the
> scale
> is Eagle. Excellent functionality but totally lacking in a functional
> user
> interface. Now before anyone says "You're crazy, Eagle's great you just
> need to give it a chance" let me say that I will fully agree with you
> that
> Eagle will do just about everything a home hobbyist and many pro's will
> need. BUT, any program that is going to take three weeks of my time
> just to
> figure out how to create new libraries, get them entered into a schematic
> and create a board layout is NOT how I define "functional". It may be
> great
> once you know it, but I would rather spend the learning time actually
> doing
> something productive with another program. With EasyPC I was able to
> figure
> all of these things out (as far as the cripleware version would allow) in
> under a couple of hours.
>
> So, is there anything out there with the usability of EasyPC and the
> functionality of Eagle that doesn't fall into category three that I just
> haven't come across yet? What is the closest I can get to both worlds?
>
> What do the people in this group use?
>
>
>
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Bookmarks and files:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
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