Homebrew PCBs

I guess it boils down to different strokes for different folks.  I've 
done boards using FreePCB,  KiCad, PC Express, Eagle, and early ORCAD.  
I just don't do boards very often.  So pgms with large learning curves 
get a personal negative from me, no matter how good they are.   So, 
although FreePCB doesn't have a print capability, it does just fine with 
its Gerber generation. And isn't it the point of a PCB pgm -- generate 
the CAM files, not a printout?   I'd much rather have the Gerbers than 
the printer function.  As the program has been around for awhile, and 
the print function has not been implemented, I assume other people 
pretty much felt the same way.  So:

Eagle -- bad for a large learning curve and crippled to boot - bd size, 
number of components and layers.  Money to un-cripple.

PC Express -- simple to use, but limited to one board house -- that 
makes it hard to get competitive bids and thereby unacceptable to me.

KiCad -- bad for a large learning curve, other than that it seems to be 
quite capable.

FreePCB -- Simple to use, as I have said, it's free, it's not crippled, 
and I find the ASCII  file structure of the data saves rather easy to 
understand without any manuals about it.  This enables me to use the pgm 
as is, or to go into the file structure and tweak items such as add 
additional menu items such as different grid spacings. I can go into the 
file and with a text editor paste in a multi-thousand point NC file to 
get around the rather simple, limited geometry capability.   (After all, 
it's a simple PCB pgm, not a SolidWorks, or major drafting pgm.)  The 
lack of direct printing is not a problem, as I always just dump the CAM 
files and use GC-Prevue, a less than one minute process.  I concede that 
the schematic editor is the worst problem, but as I said, there are at 
least two ways around that, too.  Using the Suigyodo 
(http://www.suigyodo.com/online/e/index.htm) schematic editor,  I found 
I could easily make a simple board.  This pgm is in early development, 
so a bit rough around the edges, but again, it's simple, a big plus in 
my book.   I will also admit that I personally use an old version of 
Orcad because I have it and I've used it for years, so I don't forget 
quite so quickly on it.  But if I was starting from scratch, I think I 
would probably shy away from it due to some of its complexities.

So in summary, if a person intends to do boards every day to every week 
(?), surely something like KiCad would  be a good choice -- but if 
months or years will go by between boards, I'm not so sure that it is 
the best choice and I would lean to the simple FreePCB.

Regards,
Charles R. Patton


On 2/19/2011 12:21 PM, Andrew wrote:
>
> Okay -- no schematic editor, no way to print out directly from the 
> program ... I don't mean to be rude (well, maybe just a little! :)), 
> but why would anyone use FreePCB??
>
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:Homebrew_PCBs%40yahoogroups.com>, Charles Patton 
> <charles.r.patton@...> wrote:
> >
> > Free editors I suggested earlier are:
>
> <snip>
>
> > So do your schematic and simulations in LTspice, then export the netlist
> > and make it compatible to FreePCB.
> >
> >
> > On 2/19/2011 8:09 AM, Randy S. wrote:
> > >
> > > I would but .. sorry for ignorance here .. dont see a schematic 
> editor
> > > with
> > > FreePCB ??
> > > Do I import it form another program?
>