Homebrew PCBs

Charles,

A very good answer. I have not found the learning curve on KiCad to be that steep, nor the re-learning curve either -- I tend to do a couple of boards, and then have many months before touching it again, but picking it back up has not been hard. However, I have not used FreePCB; it sounds like, from your description, that it must be significantly easier / more intuitive to use.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Charles Patton <charles.r.patton@...> wrote:
>
> 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?
> >
>