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PCB design Programs

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Since this is the digital realm. I figured I would ask the nagging question. What Design programs are you using? I.e. Altium Designer, Orcad, NI-Electronic Work Bench etc. If there is enough support we can make a repository for libraries.

Discussion started by Mike Burr , on 26 October 11:06 AM

Replies

Prasad Pandit, 2011-02-22 07:59:47

I use ORCAD for now. Its a simple tool to get started with designing PCBs. I am able design 2-layer PCBs with SMD components, ICs and brewing them in home successfully. I also worked on EAGLE but it didnt suited me much. Though it is the most used tool. Talking about Altium designer its simply awesome. And its great software if you are designing Motherboards or any Multilayer boards.

Muhammad Taimour, 2010-09-29 08:40:00

I am using orcad for PCB designing.

Mike Burr, 2009-12-07 07:06:07

Currently at work I'm using Altium Designer, I like the ability to easily reverse engineer a set of gerbers. During school I used EWB/NI and like the ability to visually simulate. For hobby stuff, I'm still on perf-board and wire wraps. ;-) can't beat a soldering iron and coated wire to quickly make a circuit. I've played a little with Eagle and Qucs, yes Linux, but haven't really pushed into doing hobby boards yet.

Jack Olson, 2009-12-05 12:58:50

We use Mentor BoardStation at work (what? UNIX? yeah...) which is outrageously expensive, but for the hobbyist you might want to look at Sunstone's PCB123 which is free at http://www.sunstone.com/pcb123.aspx

A similar package is PCBArtist by Advanced Circuits at http://www.4pcb.com/index.php?load=content&page_id=46 I just recently heard about them so I can't comment, but the comparisons and reviews look pretty good.

My advice would be if you are going to learn something new, pick one that has a fair amount of users in case you need help, and pick one that will has a chance of being around for awhile. (Learning a new tool that dies a year later is the kind of thing that makes people cry)
Also, I think one of those has the complete DigiKey library built in, but I'm not sure

The downside to both of those is you have to send the job to them, but from my experience they are fairly inexpensive, reliable and fast (no, this is not an ad). I think you can get the Gerbers from them if you really need 'em

Jay Dowling, 2009-11-10 14:30:33

I also use Eagle. The schematic and PCB tools have the same user interface that is very simple and not overloaded with features that you don't need. Also, one of my favorite things about it is that the user can write programs in C that have complete access to the schematic and PCB files and libraries so that you can implement custom functions. This has lead to a strong user set of functions that are shared and if something isn't quite like you want you can easily modify it.

Joe Farr, 2009-11-04 11:01:59

Mike,
For breadboards, Matrix board (without copper) and Vero board (stripboard with copper) I use LochMaster 3.0 (Windows only as far as I know).

There are a couple of free tools around including Stripboard Magic, but from what I can see thats no longer being maintained or supported.

One of the things I do like about LockMaster is that you can design your own blank board (or pick from the many pre-supplied layouts).
So for example, in a series of beginner electronics articles I'm working on, I designed a blank bread-board template, I can then lay down components, wires etc over that and include the diagrams for people to follow.

All the other layout packages I've seen just allow you to specify number of holes and tracks.

You can find LockMaster here:
http://www.abacom-online.de/uk/

I'd be interested to hear if people know of any other products out there.

Mike Burr, 2009-10-30 08:22:11

What about breadboard. There is a virtual breadboard built into NI Electronic Work Bench, and also a small Virtual Breadboard application for older Mac's.

Joe Farr, 2009-10-28 01:25:38

I used to use Eagle, but for hobby use it's a little bit expensive if you need larger boards than are offered by their free version.

I've now settled on DipTrace. The supplied libraries arn't that great and it's sometimes difficult and slow to search for patterns in my opinion, but you can create your own, and their product support is fantastic. You can also chat with the programmers via Yahoo and ask for product enhancements and support.

Find them here: www.diptrace.com

They, like most others, have a free version that is only limited by the number of pads you can have on a board.