Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Leon Heller" <leon.heller@...>
wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Alan King" <alan@...>
> To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 9:22 PM
> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: New Scematic capture & PCB software

Well, Eagle has libraries with most of the parts I've needed. When one
is missing, I've just made the devices myself, such as Mini-Circuits
SBL-1, TUF-1 and ADE-1 mixers (might get Leon's attention with
those!), and a few toroid transformers in various configurations, and
most recently, MAR-6 and MSA0385 MMICs.

It seems the other free competition either doesn't have extensive
libraries; is dated (CirCAD98); requires that you do 2-layer boards to
preclude or make it difficult to burn your own board (several board
houses that provide free development software).  And who else offers
autorouting?

The Eagle interface is non-intuitive, which lengthens the learning
curve.  I still have no idea ast to the entire feature set, but I
started using it without knowing much about it.  I made many boards
before I realized there was a "polygon gnd" command that could do a
ground foil fill.  I'm basically an ignorant plodder, rather than a
person who must understand completely before I work with something,
many times to my disadvantage.

For final board-making, I export the board as a 300 DPI image file as
a .bmp and edit it in Photoshop (the free program Paint.net, developed
at Washington State U. has layer capability, and might be a good
alternative for those who don't use Photoshop).  I even put the little
drill guide holes in manually, although I realize that if I print from
Eagle, I can print with holes.  There's probably some ulp that will do
it during the export process; I don't know.

So basically, for what I want to do, 3 x 4 inch boards are fine, and
I'm a hobbyist, not doing this for commercial purposes.  I recall on
my last visit to the CADSoft site that they have a $49 registration
fee that allows some type of commercial use; I need to go back and check.

Cheers,
Ted