I'm starting up a PCB projects with some engineer colleagues -- some signal sources that we've had cobbled up in the lab for a while. We don't have any project funding yet, and are currently doing our proof- of-concept work prior to looking for some funding. Understandably, we can't use the PCB tools provided by our respective employers (conflict of interest and all), and given that even an affordadable design tool costs as much as a good used car, we're looking for some pointers on shareware or really-low-cost tools. Which ones have you found to be effective? Which design tools have you found to be capable of real commercial projects? Which ones should I steer away from? Thanks in advance for your help!
Free/Cheap PCB Design Tools?
Started by ●May 12, 2007
Reply by ●May 12, 20072007-05-12
On May 12, 4:14 pm, NoJo <nolan.g.john...@gmail.com> wrote:> Which ones have you found to be effective? Which design tools have you > found to be capable of real commercial projects? Which ones should I > steer away from?EAGLE <http://www.cadsoftusa.com/>. Capable of normal commercial usage. The free version is more than adequate for experimentation (though the license forbids commercial use). Upgrading to the full version is reasonably priced. I haven't found a viable competitor in the same price bracket.
Reply by ●May 12, 20072007-05-12
In message 1179000846.155568.19060@e51g2000hsg.googlegroups.com NoJo wrote:>We don't have any project funding yet[...] >and given that even an affordadable design tool >costs as much as a good used car,Ah. A question that has never before been asked. Oh, wait. If only there was a "Usenet Archive" that could be searched. Oh, wait. http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=free+pcb-layout+gEDA+OR+KiCAD+-PCB123+-Pad2Pad&scoring=d
Reply by ●May 13, 20072007-05-13
JeffM <jeffm_@email.com> writes:> http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=free+pcb-layout+gEDA+OR+KiCAD+-PCB123+-Pad2Pad&scoring=dI was going to mention gEDA, but I see you have that covered ;-)
Reply by ●May 13, 20072007-05-13
larwe wrote:>http://www.cadsoftusa.com[...] >Upgrading to the full version is reasonably priced. >I haven't found a viable competitor in the same price bracket....if you ignore their recent foray into DRM: **The Downside of EAGLE** by Markus Zingg http://groups.google.com/group/comp.arch.embedded/browse_frm/thread/f794e82d26b59e18/d7cf4149edb93ac7?q=*-*-website+reuse+paying.*+*-I-will-switch+cracked-*+*.would.not.help.*+zzz+after-*-*-version-*+copied+*.*.unlock.*.designs+*-*-*-*-exchange-*-*-*-*-third-party+reused+qq+*-*-single-bit-*-*-*-*+useless+*-*-*-projects-could-no-longer-be-opened news:1jisj25b43ucaddcu7sm9n82i8sk98v2ut@4ax.com
Reply by ●May 13, 20072007-05-13
On 12 May, 21:20, larwe <zwsdot...@gmail.com> wrote:> On May 12, 4:14 pm, NoJo <nolan.g.john...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Which ones have you found to be effective? Which design tools have you > > found to be capable of real commercial projects? Which ones should I > > steer away from? > > EAGLE <http://www.cadsoftusa.com/>. Capable of normal commercial > usage. The free version is more than adequate for experimentation > (though the license forbids commercial use). Upgrading to the full > version is reasonably priced. > > I haven't found a viable competitor in the same price bracket.EasyPC is much easier to use and costs about the same: http://www.numberone.com Leon
Reply by ●May 13, 20072007-05-13
In article <1179000846.155568.19060@e51g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>, NoJo <nolan.g.johnson@gmail.com> writes>I'm starting up a PCB projects with some engineer colleagues -- some >signal sources that we've had cobbled up in the lab for a while. We >don't have any project funding yet, and are currently doing our proof- >of-concept work prior to looking for some funding. > >Understandably, we can't use the PCB tools provided by our respective >employers (conflict of interest and all), and given that even an >affordadable design tool costs as much as a good used car, we're >looking for some pointers on shareware or really-low-cost tools. > >Which ones have you found to be effective? Which design tools have you >found to be capable of real commercial projects? Which ones should I >steer away from? > >Thanks in advance for your help!Try http://www.labcenter.co.uk starts off inexpensive and is upgradable as you go. There are also evaluation versions. -- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/ /\/\/ chris@phaedsys.org www.phaedsys.org \/\/\ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Reply by ●May 13, 20072007-05-13
On 2007-05-13, Leon <leon355@btinternet.com> wrote:> On 12 May, 21:20, larwe <zwsdot...@gmail.com> wrote: >> On May 12, 4:14 pm, NoJo <nolan.g.john...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> > Which ones have you found to be effective? Which design tools have you >> > found to be capable of real commercial projects? Which ones should I >> > steer away from? >> >> EAGLE <http://www.cadsoftusa.com/>. Capable of normal commercial >> usage. The free version is more than adequate for experimentation >> (though the license forbids commercial use). Upgrading to the full >> version is reasonably priced. >> >> I haven't found a viable competitor in the same price bracket. > > EasyPC is much easier to use and costs about the same: > > http://www.numberone.comCosts about the same? AFAICT, it starts at 654 USD (including the entry-level auto-router). Eagle starts at Free for non-commercial use and 49 USD for commercial use. [And numberon products don't seem to be available for any OS other than MS Windows.] -- Grant Edwards grante@visi.com
Reply by ●May 13, 20072007-05-13
Grant Edwards wrote:>> EasyPC is much easier to use and costs about the same: >> >> http://www.numberone.com > > Costs about the same? AFAICT, it starts at 654 USD (including > the entry-level auto-router). Eagle starts at Free for > non-commercial use and 49 USD for commercial use. > > [And numberon products don't seem to be available for any OS > other than MS Windows.]The free version of McCAD tools at http://mccad.com/ is limited to a fairly small design but still quite useful. I like the way McCAD tools work like a Macintosh. See an object, trace or network, grab it with the mouse and pull to move. Have not found the same ease in traditional PC ecad tools. PC and MacOS versions are essentially identical.
Reply by ●May 13, 20072007-05-13
In message 1179000846.155568.19060@e51g2000hsg.googlegroups.com NoJo wrote:>>>We don't have any project funding yet[...] >>>and given that even an affordadable design tool >>>costs as much as a good used car, >>>JeffM wrote:>>Ah. A question that has never before been asked. >>Oh, wait. >> >>If only there was a "Usenet Archive" that could be searched. >>Oh, wait. >>http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=free+pcb-layout+gEDA+OR+KiCAD+-PCB123+-Pad2Pad&scoring=dNoJo responded via email:>I gotta admit, your email reads like a FARK.COM headline! >Making myself target for sardonic wit is worth it >for the link you included. >Many, many thanks!No sweat. In the future, please respond to Usenet posts in the newsgroup.
