Affordable PCB Layout Software ???

"James Arthur" <bogusabdsqy@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:xRqkk.518$aA5.243@trnddc05...
> john@jjdesigns.fsnet.co.uk wrote:
[...]
>
> You'll like the Footprint Wizard then.  Specify or design a pad,
> enter horizontal and vertical spacings, number of rows and cols,
> hit 'go', and the program generates the pattern, with perfect spacing.
>
> Select the lot with the mouse, store it as a macro, and you've got
> a new footprint.
>
> Great for BGAs, SMD ICs, connectors, etc.
>
> > For the sake of an hours work with the PC, printer and some etchant I
> > can have a prototype in hand.
>
> Yep.  For that use and this price it's hard to go wrong.
>
> Cheers,
> James Arthur

Yep. Bought one.
Did an adapter PCB. Pleasure to not need the help file.
Methinks Sprint and I will be friends.

"Blackwater" <bw@barrk.net> wrote in message
news:489081d0.15733031@news.east.earthlink.net...
> Is there any hope ? Something I've missed ? Winders ? Linux ?
> Address of the "Society For The Prevention of Software Rip-Offs" ???


CIRCAD Version 5 (OmniGlyph)
http://www.holophase.com/index.html
One of the easiest to learn.  I was laying out boards after a few mins.
Logical user interface.  Eagle V4 it drives me nuts, tried it several times
and gave up each time.  The user manual and tutorial also crap.

On Aug 3, 10:44 am, "john jardine" <john.jard...@idnet.co.uk> wrote:
> "James Arthur" <bogusabd...@verizon.net> wrote in message
>
> news:xRqkk.518$aA5.243@trnddc05...
>
>
>
> > j...@jjdesigns.fsnet.co.uk wrote:
> [...]
>
> > You'll like the Footprint Wizard then.  Specify or design a pad,
> > enter horizontal and vertical spacings, number of rows and cols,
> > hit 'go', and the program generates the pattern, with perfect spacing.
>
> > Select the lot with the mouse, store it as a macro, and you've got
> > a new footprint.
>
> > Great for BGAs, SMD ICs, connectors, etc.
>
> > > For the sake of an hours work with the PC, printer and some etchant I
> > > can have a prototype in hand.
>
> > Yep.  For that use and this price it's hard to go wrong.
>
> > Cheers,
> > James Arthur
>
> Yep. Bought one.
> Did an adapter PCB. Pleasure to not need the help file.
> Methinks Sprint and I will be friends.

I'm curious, what does this package do that FreePCB doesn't?

Rick

On 2008-08-03, Alt Beer <example@example.com> wrote:
>
> "Blackwater" <bw@barrk.net> wrote in message
> news:489081d0.15733031@news.east.earthlink.net...
>> Is there any hope ? Something I've missed ? Winders ? Linux ?
>> Address of the "Society For The Prevention of Software Rip-Offs" ???
>
>
> CIRCAD Version 5 (OmniGlyph)
> http://www.holophase.com/index.html
> One of the easiest to learn.  I was laying out boards after a few mins.
> Logical user interface.  Eagle V4 it drives me nuts, tried it several times
> and gave up each time.  The user manual and tutorial also crap.

At least Eagle isn't a "windows-only" product.  Even if it
takes a bit longer to learn Eagle, it's certainly nothing in
comparison to the time/money one would have to waste installing
Windows and learning to use and maintain it. :)

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  If I had a Q-TIP, I
                                  at               could prevent th' collapse
                               visi.com            of NEGOTIATIONS!!

On Aug 3, 2:33 pm, Grant Edwards <gra...@visi.com> wrote:
> On 2008-08-03, Alt Beer <exam...@example.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > "Blackwater" <b...@barrk.net> wrote in message
> >news:489081d0.15733031@news.east.earthlink.net...
> >> Is there any hope ? Something I've missed ? Winders ? Linux ?
> >> Address of the "Society For The Prevention of Software Rip-Offs" ???
>
> > CIRCAD Version 5 (OmniGlyph)
> >http://www.holophase.com/index.html
> > One of the easiest to learn.  I was laying out boards after a few mins.
> > Logical user interface.  Eagle V4 it drives me nuts, tried it several times
> > and gave up each time.  The user manual and tutorial also crap.
>
> At least Eagle isn't a "windows-only" product.  Even if it
> takes a bit longer to learn Eagle, it's certainly nothing in
> comparison to the time/money one would have to waste installing
> Windows and learning to use and maintain it. :)

There are any number of better options that run under other operating
systems.  My understanding is that there aren't many programs that
won't run under MacOS or Linux using available tools.  I am told that
FreePCB works just fine on both of these systems.

Rick

Grant Edwards wrote:

>At least Eagle isn't a "windows-only" product.  Even if it
>takes a bit longer to learn Eagle, it's certainly nothing in
>comparison to the time/money one would have to waste installing
>Windows and learning to use and maintain it. :)

Alas, there are still a number of important CAD packages that
run only on Windows (I am looking at you, AutoCAD) so I run 
windows in a VMWare virtual Machine under Linux.  With a
stripped-down version of Windows (using XPLite) and only one
application that loads full-scree from the startup folder,
you hardly have to think about the fact that the application
is running under Windows.  And the VMWare snapshot feature 
lets you go back when Windows becomes corrupted or flaky.


-- 
Guy Macon
<http://www.GuyMacon.com/>

Didi wrote:

> I use my (own written back in the 80-s) graphics
 > editor, selecting some stuff then repeating it like
 > an array is a basic feature. Then selecting some
> objects and defining that as a block - insertable
 > at various scale factors and angles - is also inherent...
 >
> Like you said you were used to I am doing all the
 > routing by hand, just using the editor. Here is a demo-mess
 > picture I did not so long ago, shows a board and my 20+ years
 > old editor (runing under an old system emulated
> in a DPS window, though - much faster than back then):
> 
> http://tgi-sci.com/dsv/dsvdemo.gif
> 
> Didi
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Dimiter Popoff               Transgalactic Instruments
> 
> http://www.tgi-sci.com

That's very nice artwork Dimiter.  If it's your own
graphics editor, how do you get PCB fabrication information
out of it? (Gerber files, or photoplots, etc.)

Cheers,
James Arthur

rickman wrote:
> On Aug 3, 10:44 am, "john jardine" <john.jard...@idnet.co.uk> wrote:
>> "James Arthur" <bogusabd...@verizon.net> wrote in message
>>
>> news:xRqkk.518$aA5.243@trnddc05...
>>
>>
>>
>>> j...@jjdesigns.fsnet.co.uk wrote:
>> [...]
>>
>>> You'll like the Footprint Wizard then.  Specify or design a pad,
>>> enter horizontal and vertical spacings, number of rows and cols,
>>> hit 'go', and the program generates the pattern, with perfect spacing.
>>> Select the lot with the mouse, store it as a macro, and you've got
>>> a new footprint.
>>> Great for BGAs, SMD ICs, connectors, etc.
>>>> For the sake of an hours work with the PC, printer and some etchant I
>>>> can have a prototype in hand.
>>> Yep.  For that use and this price it's hard to go wrong.
>>> Cheers,
>>> James Arthur
>> Yep. Bought one.
>> Did an adapter PCB. Pleasure to not need the help file.
>> Methinks Sprint and I will be friends.
> 
> I'm curious, what does this package do that FreePCB doesn't?
> 
> Rick

Nothing that I'm aware of, except perhaps Sprint-Layout
has a wonderful, sensible menu system that makes it super
easy to use.  I loathe wasted multi-level clicks,
mode-changes, etc.  I chose Sprint-Layout as being small,
fast, inexpensive, yet professionally supported.  Small,
nimble software that really works is a joy to use.

FreePCB looks cool and has lots of extra features.  That's
enticing, but not always good--I downloaded it for a look
when I've got the time to learn it--but I'm likely to
keep using Sprint-Layout for the time being.  It works,
gets the job done, and it's actually fun.

Cheers,
James Arthur

James Arthur wrote:
> ....
>
> That's very nice artwork Dimiter.  If it's your own
> graphics editor, how do you get PCB fabrication information
> out of it? (Gerber files, or photoplots, etc.)

Thanks, the PCB photos are indeed artworked over a DPS
screenshot - I did it just for ad purposes (my idea for that,
that is :-).

The graphics editor has Gerber, hpgl, Excellon and some other
(long dead) output formats. I remember reverse engineering the
Excellon format by looking at piece of punched tape back then
(the fact that is is so simple did help a lot, of course).
 It used to run on a 6809 based system - during the 80-s, the PC
based PCB stuff was just unusable compared to it. Now the emulated
incarnation is about 20 times faster (than the 2 x 2MHz 6809 it
used to run on) and is still quite good for my layouts, it waits
for me, I don't have to wait for it at all really.

Didi

------------------------------------------------------
Dimiter Popoff               Transgalactic Instruments

http://www.tgi-sci.com
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.flickr.com/photos/didi_tgi/sets/72157600228621276/

Original message: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.arch.embedded/msg/fcf94963a8a59e82?dmode=source

>>>john@ jjdesigns.fsnet.co.uk wrote:
>>>>'Till your mention, hadn't come across it before.
>>>>Just trying the demo'. Seems fast, no fluff. I really like the milling
>>>>and HPGL stuff ,  though can't seem to find any  library items.
>>>>
>>James Arthur wrote:
>>>The library is extensive, and super-easily accessed, extended,
>>>and modified: items pop up in a toolbar on the right-hand side
>>>of the screen.
>>>
>>>Options-->Show Macro-Library.
>>>
>>>(I'm not sure how much library you get with the demo.)
>>>
>>>Oh, it's limited to four trace layers, if that's a problem
>>>for some.  It's not for me. Large boards are fine,
>>>metric or english units, etc.
>>>
>>>I've more than recouped my 39 euros just in the time saved
>>>learning the program and its ease of use -- it's logical and
>>>clean to where I've scarcely needed to check the help files.
>>>Just click the icons, and it does what I want. Fast.
>>>
>>>It really is a sweet program.
>>>
>john@ jjdesigns.fsnet.co.uk wrote:
>>Found it thanks!. Has all the bits I was looking for.
>>My specific needs tend to revolve around knocking up  (sodding!)
>>surface mount chip adapters, with maybe one or two  extra components
>>added for convenience.
>>
James Arthur wrote:
>You'll like the Footprint Wizard then.  Specify or design a pad,
>enter horizontal and vertical spacings, number of rows and cols,
>hit 'go', and the program generates the pattern, with perfect spacing.
>
>Select the lot with the mouse, store it as a macro,
>and you've got a new footprint.
>
>Great for BGAs, SMD ICs, connectors, etc.
>
>>For the sake of an hours work with the PC, printer
>>and some etchant I can have a prototype in hand.
>
>Yep.  For that use and this price it's hard to go wrong.

For all that you guys *did* blockquote in this bit of salesmanship,
you managed to snip out the _name_ of the app
for those who would stumble upon this post:  Sprint-Layout.