[Coco] Free / Open Source Schematic / CAD SW (Was: Re: Electronics Newbie question)

[jdaggett at gate.net]

On 18 Dec 2011 at 14:01, Joel Ewy wrote:

> On 12/18/2011 10:47 AM, gene heskett wrote:
> > On Sunday, December 18, 2011 10:05:35 AM Andrew did opine:
> >
> >> Paulo,
> >>
> >> This should probably be a separate thread, but anyhow...
> >>
> >> ...
> >> If you wanted something more "open source", then there are options like
> >> KiCad:
> >>
> >> http://kicad.sourceforge.net/wiki/Main_Page
> > Which ATM, has some real show stopper bugs.  Skip it.
> >
> 
> Care to elaborate so's we can decide if they're show stoppers for all 
> purposes?  I've played around with some versions of it in the past, but 
> not done any real work with it.
> 


I am not so sure about the bugs though I tried Kicad for a while and personally did not like it. I 
think my issues primarily were in library development. 

Of the low cost versions and free software, ithink eagle is about the best. There are a few 
proprietary ones like ExpressPCB that you have to deal directly with that board house with 
that particular software. ExpressPCB is not all that bad either. No autorouter. 

Speaking of autorouters, Casdsoft wants $500 for their autorouter and personally they can 
have. I would not tpay for it. Far to difficult to set up and their ripup and retry algorythim 
sucks. 

I have tried several of the low cost schematic capture layout tools for windows and by far 
Eagle is about the best. The free version limits you to one page for schematics and pcb  size 
of 80mm x 100mm and two layers. 

By the way there are UNIX packages that I think are or at one time a bunch of crap. Mentor 
Graphics in the 90's unto the early 2000's was the biggest overpriced junk software ever 
made inmy opinion. It wa almost as bad as Cad4X. The best UNIX based softwre I have 
used was Cadence Allegro. I have used version 2.0 to version 13 of the layout tool. Version 
13 was a real fine piece of software. Their schematic editor and library tools were as good as 
any on the market. The autorouter with that package was a CC(Cooper Chin) shape based 
router. It could route manually or automatically. By far that was the best router I have ever 
used. 

just my opinon. though I was site librarian for schematic and pcb layout for the facility that I 
worked at for ten years. Also I have yet to try any of the Linux software because I do not have 
Linux installed on any of my computers. Just a matter of preference. 


james


> > ...
> >> Finally - a "fun" option (not sure what the status of it is; last I
> >> played with it, it was still "buggy", but showed a lot of potential):
> >>
> >> http://fritzing.org/
> >
> > This one looked interesting, but when I went to dl it, the 32 bit linux
> > choice shown was reported as not available.  Try again later...
> 
> Just downloaded fritzing-0.6.4b.linux.i386.tar.bz2, so you might try it 
> again.
> 
> JCE
> 
> > The
> > realtime autorouter was a nice feature, if you can tell it the mounting
> > holes for the board can be in totally arbitrary positions, likewise the
> > actual part mount location s/b completely arbitrary.  Much such pcb
> > software is very tightly constrained to a pre-defined grid pattern, and for
> > such as opto-interrupters where you need 2 looking at the same circle of
> > holes in the encoder disk, to get truly quadrature performance, the opto's
> > must be individually position adjustable to get the proper detection
> > sequence which multiplies the accuracy by 4 as all 4 hole edges are used,
> > so a 90 hole disk can give 1 degree accuracy.
> >
> > Anyway, I was willing to download it to check this out, if I could have. I
> > will certainly go back and retry.
> >
> > gEDA I have had, but not on this pclos install so I've not looked at it in
> > about 18 months.  Development of gEDA was quite active though.
> >
> >> Something to keep your eye on, anyhow...
> >
> > Yes, definitely.  The fritzing starter kit seems pretty arduino oriented,
> > nothing wrong with that, but may be a profit center for them at 69 Euros.
> > Current dollar conversion I don't know but likely about 100 bucks.  Most of
> > that stuff is available at reasonable prices here in the states.
> >
> > I should also mention HeeksCad/HeeksCNC, which is incomplete and users are
> > encouraged to look at FreeCAD now, but the emphasis there is on mechanical
> > fab&  electrical is not well supported.  But one can do, from what you see
> > &  compose on the screen, exactly in metal or ?? with those apps to an
> > accuracy exceeding your machinery's ability to carve.
> >
> >> -- Andrew L. Ayers, Glendale, Arizona
> > Cheers, Gene
> 
> 
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