On Saturday 18 January 2003 06:03 am, Syd Levine \(AnaLog\) wrote: > I have used Ivex WinDraft for several years, and like it OK. But I am > having trouble with WinBoard for doing a PCB layout. > > I do no want to spend thousands, but maybe would fork over a hundred or two > or three if I have to. Any suggestions for a good PCB program? I know this > has been discussed in here before, but I do not remember the outcome.
In my new job I've spent the last week looking at PCB programs. It has to be Windows Based, which leaves out the good ones. :-( http://www.autotraxeda.com/ can't be beat on price, it is *Free*. No limits of any kind. Don't use autotrax-download.com any more, it only has old stuff. I like it my self, easy to use with me coming from a Protel back ground. It may go Open Source and Linux some day. Boss is afraid of support issues because it is free (?). After looking at over a dozzen packages (any thing above $2,000 for three 'seats' was not considered) we are down to two: A): http://www.cadsoft.de/ Eagle. B): http://www.labcenter.co.uk/ Proteus. I do have to say I *HATE* Proteus's web site, it doesn't even load in Opera. You have to have Java just to get it up, I almost discounted them because of that, had it been a home project I would have. Since I was being paid to surf I endured it. Back to the issue at hand: Good: Eagle has lots of support from 3rd parties, easy to customize etc. Bad: Little/wrong/no documentation. Very Bad: The user interface is tough to navigate, compared to some thing like OrCAD or Protel (which is our combined back grounds). Proteus: Good: Excellent documentation. Large Libraries. User interface does what you expect when you click on some thing. Bad: Find very little in the way of third party support, doesn't seem to be well known. Does have a really cool demo of the simulator. There is a AVR driving simulated LCD playing Chess. Doesn't play chess well, actually rather badly, but it is cool to watch the nodes flash as it "thinks". Comments? -- http://www.unusualresearch.com/ http://www.bpaddock.com/ -- Author: Bob Paddock INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB CHIPDIR-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
