[Coco] Motorola Parts Missing in ExpressPCB

[Louis Ciotti]

Yea it will be an uphill battle I think.  But really there are not
many alternatives for the hobbiest out there that have a full feature
set.

I would try Eagle, but I don't like the "you cannot sell anything you
make from this" restriction.  Will I ever sell a PCB design I make...
probably not, but hey you never know and $800+ for a just in case is
waaayyy too steep.

I personally like the OrCAD suite that used its own PCBEditor rather
than the allegro stuff.  For simple designs it was quick.

I really wish companies would opensource some of their older versions,
and offer pay as you go support, or at least deep discount the older
versions.


On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 7:02 PM,  <jdaggett at gate.net> wrote:
> Louis
>
> good luck on the learning curve on KiCad. After several hourson the scematic entry I totally
> removed it.
>
> I guess I am still partial to the old Cadence Software. Concept for schematic entry and
> Allegro for layout. We also had the Spectra router. That was the best that I have ever used.
> You could manual or auto route with Spectra and it was so nice.
>
> Eagle is okay. Once you get to know it. In after thought, just about any schematic entry/pcb
> layout tool can be learned and become quite usable. Maybe the very old Cad4X would be an
> exception to that. Then also some of Mentor Graphics early programs were not much better
> than Cad4X.
>
> enough of my rants.
>
> james
>
> On 14 Aug 2012 at 10:24, Louis Ciotti wrote:
>
>> I have used ExpressPCB, PCB123, OrCAD, and I am now learning KiCAD.
>>
>> I used OrCAD for work, and it is $$ for a hobbiest usage.  ExpressPCB is
>> nice, and simple to learn, but it has its limitations, one being you have
>> to order from them and no autorouter.  They will sell you the Gerber files
>> after you buy at least one run from them.  PCB123 is more powerful and has
>> an autorouter, but the schematic capture program can be painful, but I
>> have not used it in at least 3 years, so it may have improved.  Again with
>> PCB123 you have to order from them.  I am just now learning KiCAD, and it
>> is pretty powerful, but it has a learning curve.  Have not gotten into
>> doing a layout with it yet, but it does have a large user base with plenty
>> of libraries.  I ahve a simple design I am going to run through batchpcb
>> and see how that goes.  For the cost if the results are OK, it is worth
>> the wait.
>>
>> I am sure others have different thoughts.
>
>
>
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