What0s the best pcb design program ???

What do you use to design schemo and pcb's ???
I'm wasting my time with PCB123, but it is a buggy software and the library is really poor...

I'm waiting for your suggestion....

Neeeeeeeeno

EasyPC?

Protel DOS
CM 2000 .. (compatible with Protel DOS)

Eagle.... except for the pcb size restriction on the freeware version.

For Mac users, my favorite by far is Osmond.

I like it better than Eagle running in X11 on Mac OSX.

Rimu...
http://www.hutson.co.nz/

Best $124 I've ever spent.

Rimu PCB
ooo !
it's from New Zealand

OFF TOPIC a little but -
I'd like to see a program with a more comprehensive import and export list. I have never been able to get a PCB or Schematic from one package to another without re-drawing it. These are computers and we shouldn't have to do that !!!!
.. more jpg and bmp and other graphics files for web publishing and the ability to import these images onto both PCB and Schematic for the purpose of logos and reverse engineering ... needs to have a scale feature.

I'd also like to see PCB to Schematic drawing ... Auto-routers take from Schematic to PCB BUT I make many PCB's BEFORE any schematic is drawn.

[quote author="Kev"]Rimu PCB
ooo !
it's from New Zealand[/quote]Is that good? Bad? Indifferent?

I think Tommytones was going to get it. Might get another opinion from him...

Maybe we should start a PCB program features wish list thread, then send a link to all the vendors and see who listens.

Personally, I would like to have a simpler way to trace existing PCB designs, then generate gerber files from them. A friend of mine asked me to clone the boards in his Flickinger console, because the company has long since been out of business. I've been doing it graphically, resulting in vector artwork, which works fine for making boards manually, but it sure would be nice to make gerbers and send them to a cheap boardhouse for the benefit of a solder mask, plated holes, etc.

I'd love to be able to place a high resolution scan of the board in the background and simply trace it.

[quote author="electronaut"]I'd love to be able to place a high resolution scan of the board in the background and simply trace it.[/quote]

That's what I suggested above with the jpg and bmp import and scale feature with transparency.

CIRCAD has this now but I have emailed them a few times with questions but have never had a answer.
Their price is to strong for me to buy this program blind.

Rimu PCB looks to be a new program and from a small company.
Julian Hutson may be the owner of this single person company and so may be interested in developing some specific features for us ... If we were to group purchase some copies then it may be worth his while.

I have emailed Julian and given a link to this thread.

you never know where things can lead.

[quote author="Flatpicker"][quote author="Kev"]Rimu PCB
ooo !
it's from New Zealand[/quote]Is that good? Bad? Indifferent?

I think Tommytones was going to get it. Might get another opinion from him...[/quote]


all of the above

when it's Rubgy or Cricket we love to beat the crap out of the All-Blacks but when it's cool stuff like this we love our NZ brothers.
Haven't you noticed when New Zealanders like Russ Crow and Sam Neal get some good press we love to adopt them as Australians. Actually I've meet Sam briefly a few times (in the lift at work on the way to lunch usually) and I must admit he is a pretty special bloke. yes I am a fan and trust me that doesn't happen often.

If we are lucky Julian Hutson may just drop by and be interested enough to write some software specific to our needs. Hopefully this would result in some good sales to our NZ brother.

Maybe I'm a dreamer but I think something like that could be a real coup for the LAB.

has anyone used the ordcad pcb program? i think its called unison and is bundled with some other stuff. i ask because i've got orcad pspice 9.2 and i figure they would talk to each other well.

davidW.

Hi David,

I use Orcad Unison Suite 9 to draw my schematics and simulate them, with very good results (see thread http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=2892 for sim examples). However I never succeeded in making PCB's with Orcad because I didn't take the time to go thru the tutorials. This program can do anything you need, but it's complex to learn. I will try to make some Orcad boards in the near future.

Greetz,


Rogy

[quote author="electronaut"]I'd love to be able to place a high resolution scan of the board in the background and simply trace it.[/quote]
I have made a simple converter for converting 200dpi scans to gerber format. It works OK as long as you're not trying to convert a computer motherboard with a lot of thin traces...

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen

There is a danger with scanning boards. The board "artwork" design is copyrighted, so scanning it and selling it or sharing it here could possable cause problems. If you make your own layout you should be fine.

I like this place that why I post things like this . I don't think it would be wise to share stuff like a scanned PCB to make a new PCB in a PUBLIC place.

[quote author="Gus"]There is a danger with scanning boards. The board "artwork" design is copyrighted, so scanning it ....[/quote]

yeah and I've got hundreds of PCB's in various formats. I've also got PCB designs in old tape-up format and not even in the computer.

Waayyy back when the Word Processors were at war with each other their would be the constant battle within the company that I worked for, to swap files and OCR and re-type memos and letter to and from the various programs.

Finally the companies saw the light and allowed in port and export of the basic text and latter came the full layout and fonts. Small issues still exist but generally you can move you documents around.

In PCB layout the moment you chose a program you are stuck. Even upgrading to the later program could cause grief. Protel DOS will load to Protel 98 and SE but you can't go back. We own all Protel softwares but continue to use AutoTrax for PCB layout. We do use the latter Win Protels for schematic and other eng drawings.

There are many pieces of equipment here that has had the lid off and been modified. Parts, connectors change and get damaged and requirements can change and sometimes things are not available anymore. We have been know to remake a main PCB and move the bulk of the components across. This is in equipment that the parent company no longer exists OR more likely does not support the product anymore.

Whether software is or is not available and as long as I live and breath I will continue to do this type of work.

I DIY
therefore I am

Hey folks,

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to receive an email from Joe Chavez, maker of Osmond PCB. He just released an updated version of Osmond, with the handy new feature allowing users to place a PDF file as a dimmed graphic in the background. Now it is a simple matter to save a scan as a PDF, import it into Osmond, and trace away...

remember, this is the diy crowd, so the only software we are interested is free!
right?
:razz:

Hey electronaut thanks for the heads up on Osmond. Just installed Osmond Quartz for osx.

"During the public beta testing period...its free trial basis & fully functional"

so it has the diy free stamp of approval CJ :thumb:

I have been evaluating these things too long without decision.
- Rimu: nice and easy but cannot export schematics or layouts to a graphical format.
- Eagle: everything is backwards in this program. Library management blows bad.
- WinQCAD: so far this is my favorite. Easy to use and no board size limit even in the low cost 500 pin version.
- CircuitMaker2000: like it a lot, but I don't have a thousand bucks for it.

Tamas

[quote author="tk@halmi"]I have been evaluating these things too long without decision.
- Rimu: nice and easy but cannot export schematics or layouts to a graphical format.
- WinQCAD: so far this is my favorite. Easy to use and no board size limit even in the low cost 500 pin version.
- CircuitMaker2000: like it a lot, but I don't have a thousand bucks for it.

Tamas[/quote]

I've been messing with Rimu, and am printing eps to file ( using an HP laserjet driver), and converting to pdf using ghostscript ( all free), with good results.

ju