Homebrew PCBs

Having spent a great deal of time looking for, downloading and trying PCB layout programs I am trying to find one that simply presents a user set board with a 0.1" dot grid. On this you place pads and lines. There used to be programs like this but now they all seem to have things like netlists, auto routing, multi-layer etc.  Is there a simple program still available?

Thank you 
Ray

This is about the simplest program that i have used:  http://www.lupinesystems.com/easytrax/#system
It's probably not able to support surface mount


--- On Tue, 11/1/11, Marchnites <marchnites@...> wrote:

From: Marchnites <marchnites@...>
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Simple PCB layout program
To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 4:37 PM
















 



  


    
      
      
      Having spent a great deal of time looking for, downloading and trying PCB layout programs I am trying to find one that simply presents a user set board with a 0.1" dot grid. On this you place pads and lines. There used to be programs like this but now they all seem to have things like netlists, auto routing, multi-layer etc.  Is there a simple program still available?



Thank you 

Ray





    
     

    
    






  










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How you describe what you are wanting is how I use eagle.  But, it does have a weird workflow, so you can use it in a simple manner, but you kind of need to understand it a bit to use it simply.  I know this sounds crazy, but it is due to the workflow that Eagle chose to follow.  Eagle does have the advantage of a decent following so decent libraries are around and donated to the community.

bob

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, KeepIt SimpleStupid <keepitsimplestupid@...> wrote:

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> This is about the simplest program that i have used: Â http://www.lupinesystems.com/easytrax/#system
> It's probably not able to support surface mount
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> --- On Tue, 11/1/11, Marchnites <marchnites@...> wrote:
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> From: Marchnites <marchnites@...>
> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Simple PCB layout program
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 4:37 PM
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>       Having spent a great deal of time looking for, downloading and trying PCB layout programs I am trying to find one that simply presents a user set board with a 0.1" dot grid. On this you place pads and lines. There used to be programs like this but now they all seem to have things like netlists, auto routing, multi-layer etc.  Is there a simple program still available?
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http://www.the-meiers.org/services/easytrax/easyxtnddoc.html has what
appears to be a SMD library. (Page in German)
"Eine geZIPte Version der Bauteil-Bibliothek EASYXTND.LIB kann hier
heruntergeladen
<http://www.the-meiers.org/services/easytrax/easyxtnd.zip> werden."
<-the link is the file

Installation instructions are also on the page. It appears you need to
replace the standard library with this new library. Google Translate may
help

Best regards,

Bill Laakkonen

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 7:30 PM, KeepIt SimpleStupid <
keepitsimplestupid@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> This is about the simplest program that i have used:
> http://www.lupinesystems.com/easytrax/#system
> It's probably not able to support surface mount
>
> --- On Tue, 11/1/11, Marchnites <marchnites@...> wrote:
>
> From: Marchnites <marchnites@...>
> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Simple PCB layout program
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 4:37 PM
>
>
>
> Having spent a great deal of time looking for, downloading and trying PCB
> layout programs I am trying to find one that simply presents a user set
> board with a 0.1" dot grid. On this you place pads and lines. There used to
> be programs like this but now they all seem to have things like netlists,
> auto routing, multi-layer etc. Is there a simple program still available?
>
> Thank you
>
> Ray
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>  
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I would recommend Autrotrax, instead of Easytrax (you can open Easytrax files from Autotrax).  Both products come from Altium (based on DOS, and originally produced by Protel, then Altium) and you can download them from this link (please choose from the left menu and then accept the license agreement):
 
http://www.altium.com/community/downloads/altium-freeware-end-user-license-agreement/en/auto-trax.cfm
 
You can also explore this page, and you will find another insteresting versions in Windows (Protel 99, Protel 98 and much more in download section).
 
All of them have SMD libraries or can get them searching with Google.
 
You could also use another one: WinCircuit.  There are a lot of links for downloading it.  You can do by yourself all connections and then use a simple autorouter or you can place the tracks directly without any additional feature. You can define in a simple way, pads for you SMD components. Besides that, it can show you a simple "3D" components placed on it.
 
I hope this information help you.
 
(Sorry but English is not my native language)
 
Best regards.
 
Carlos Castaneda

De: William Laakkonen <worldradiolabs@...>
Para: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Enviado: Miércoles, noviembre 2, 2011 7:46 A.M.
Asunto: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Simple PCB layout program

http://www.the-meiers.org/services/easytrax/easyxtnddoc.html has what
appears to be a SMD library. (Page in German)
"Eine geZIPte Version der Bauteil-Bibliothek EASYXTND.LIB kann hier
heruntergeladen
<http://www.the-meiers.org/services/easytrax/easyxtnd.zip> werden."
<-the link is the file

Installation instructions are also on the page. It appears you need to
replace the standard library with this new library. Google Translate may
help

Best regards,

Bill Laakkonen

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 7:30 PM, KeepIt SimpleStupid <
keepitsimplestupid@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> This is about the simplest program that i have used:
> http://www.lupinesystems.com/easytrax/#system
> It's probably not able to support surface mount
>
> --- On Tue, 11/1/11, Marchnites <marchnites@...> wrote:
>
> From: Marchnites <marchnites@...>
> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Simple PCB layout program
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 4:37 PM
>
>
>
> Having spent a great deal of time looking for, downloading and trying PCB
> layout programs I am trying to find one that simply presents a user set
> board with a 0.1" dot grid. On this you place pads and lines. There used to
> be programs like this but now they all seem to have things like netlists,
> auto routing, multi-layer etc. Is there a simple program still available?
>
> Thank you
>
> Ray
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>  
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

You can probably set pretty much any software up with the right grid
and do what you want.
It's gonna take a little time to figure out how, since you say they
are now made to be much more complex.

ST

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 9:37 PM, Marchnites <marchnites@...> wrote:
> Having spent a great deal of time looking for, downloading and trying PCB layout programs I am trying to find one that simply presents a user set board with a 0.1" dot grid. On this you place pads and
> lines. There used to be programs like this but now they all seem to have things like netlists, auto routing, multi-layer etc.  Is there a simple program still available?
>
> Thank you
> Ray
>

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, KeepIt SimpleStupid <keepitsimplestupid@...> wrote:
>
> This is about the simplest program that i have used: Â http://www.lupinesystems.com/easytrax/#system
> It's probably not able to support surface mount
> 
> 
> --- On Tue, 11/1/11, Marchnites <marchnites@...> wrote:
> 
> From: Marchnites <marchnites@...>
> Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Simple PCB layout program
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 4:37 PM
> 
> Thanks all.  I'll try these and see what happens.

cheers 
Ray

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>       Having spent a great deal of time looking for, downloading and trying PCB layout programs I am trying to find one that simply presents a user set board with a 0.1" dot grid. On this you place pads and lines. There used to be programs like this but now they all seem to have things like netlists, auto routing, multi-layer etc.  Is there a simple program still available?
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you 
> 
> Ray
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>     
>      
> 
>     
>     
> 
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> 
> 
>   
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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PCB (terribly ambiguous name) does what you want. You open it, go to
View->Enable visible grid, View->Grid size->100 mil and you've got what you
want. It's gpl so there's no restrictions. The only downside is that it
doesn't have a windows binary available, though they do claim to have a
simple build script. I've never tried the build script because I'm on linux.

http://pcb.gpleda.org/

P.S. Quick search turned up an older windows build:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcb/files/pcb/pcb-20091103/ . Not sure what
bugs have been fixed/features added since then. It's been fairly stable on
linux since about the 2007-2008 builds.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Crazy Casta <crazycasta@...> writes:
> The only downside is that it doesn't have a windows binary available,

http://www.delorie.com/pcb/geda-windows/