Circuit Board Cad.

[mixedgas]

Whom uses what for cadding PCBS? I used to use Eagle but its too hard to get good 274x Gerbers out of it!

Steve

[Banthai]

Thanks steve ... you cheerd me up

i spent many years with my head in Gerbtool .... we were one of the first UK companys in the late 80s to have a laser plotter

yes it was only a raster plotter so it was very slow ... but i enjoyed my previous years ... using a photoplotter .... and setting the aperture sizes in software was a bit of a pain .... anyway before i go of on a tangent ..... in the UK the first good bit of PCB design software available for the hobbiest was called EASYPC .... and that was the one that ( even after using gerbtool ) i always fell back on ... it was wonderfull .. all DOS based but .... used minimul keystrokes .... and .... after finishing a design .... i could sit for hours .... watching my Roland pen plotter ( before we had the photo and laser plotter ) bringing it to life

STEVE ... what have you done ... you are digging into my memories

but ..... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ thanks for the flashback

sorry dont know what happening in the PCB design world today .... but someone told me that in the www ther are suppliers that you can down load good design software for free .... but it is tied to the PCB manufactuers ..... so you can not print out copies of the HPGL or Excellon Drill data files ..... but alows you to place he order directly with the internet based supplier





anyway ... again thanks for the memories



all the best ... Karl

[mixedgas]

but it is tied to the PCB manufactuers ..... so you can not print out copies of the HPGL or Excellon Drill data files ..... but alows you to place he order directly with the internet based supplier


Yeah, I have that, it turns out to be a lot more expensive then one might think. The reason why I'm looking for something else is a 44 pin package that will NOT fit into the predefined concepts used in the otherwise nice propreitary software.



"anyway ... again thanks for the memories"

your welcome.

Steve

[weartronics]

If you're genuinely restricted by "the predefined concepts used in the otherwise nice propreitary software", there are alternatives. I'm currently using http://www.gpleda.org/, which is very capable and infinitely flexible. It's especially nice for making prototype boards yourself, because it can export to postscript with features like "drill-helper" (reduce all pad/via holes to a tiny size to center the drill), and "ps-bloat" (expand or contract all traces to compensate for laser printer or press-n-peel effects).

That said, Eagle is widely considered to be better integrated and easier to use. It's vastly more popular, and I would be very surprised if it can't produce good Gerbers or handle some strange package. Some years ago I contributed the package generator scripts for IPC-7351A surface mount parts to Eagle (aluminium electrolytic capacitors, chip resistors, capacitors and inductors, molded body inductors, capacitors and diodes, quad flat pack ICs including QFP, SQFP, TQFP, TSQFP and others, small outline diodes including SOD and others, small outline ICs including SO, SOP, SSOP, TSOP, TSSOP and others, small outline transistors including SOT, SC and others). They're all available on the ULP download page at the CadSoft web site. Is the package you need in there?

Here's a old 44-pin PLCC to DIP adaptor, created using Eagle and an HP-GL router:

[dave]

Protel/Altium DXP for me

[Psi]

same, Protel DXP

[mliptack]

Protel/Altium DXP for me

same, Protel DXP

Ditto... although I have used PCB Express and Eagle for quick items, like breakout boards for small micro-controllers when I am prototyping.

Many times, however, I will export to a PDF and work on it in Photoshop too, that way I can work in custom, detailed images. Or fix weirdness' in trace lines that happen sometimes, that I dont like.

-Max

[mixedgas]

Ditto... although I have used PCB Express and Eagle for quick items, like breakout boards for small micro-controllers when I am prototyping.

Many times, however, I will export to a PDF and work on it in Photoshop too, that way I can work in custom, detailed images. Or fix weirdness' in trace lines that happen sometimes, that I dont like.

-Max

Standard suite of DXP is $3995. Just called.
Are you guys using demo?

Steve

[weartronics]

Another alternative for Windows is http://www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis/kicad/. It looks to have more features than Eagle (e.g. 3D viewer), and no board size limit. I haven't used it personally, but I know of some people who do.

[laseralex]

Whom uses what for cadding PCBS? I used to use Eagle but its too hard to get good 274x Gerbers out of it!

Steve

What specific problem are you having with EAGLE? I generate gerbers with EAGLE all the time, and I've never once had a board shop complain.

-Alex