Re: Affordable PCB Layout Software ???
- From: James Morrison <spam2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:56:28 -0400
On 2008/Jul/30 11:35 AM, in article g6q1nv$5bk$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
"Rüdiger Leibrandt" <quitex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Cadsoft: EAGLE
For free in use for private, noncommercial and with limited capabilites in
PCB-size and layers. I use it professionayl at work in a payed-for version
able to do bigger PCBs and more layers than the outer two.
I'd agree with EAGLE as a good option. It is true the UI takes a bit of
getting used to. That has been greatly increased with the upgrade EAGLE 5.
It is still different, but in a good way I would say. Before we distributed
EAGLE, we used it for serious design work for many clients (and still do).
We often have to use our customer's tools and I can honestly say that I
normally come out of that still preferring EAGLE.
PROS:
1) Various licenses to match our need (free, Light, non-profit, standard,
pro, educational, student, ...)
2) And you can upgrade and only pay the difference (exception upgrade from
light). That fact alone will save $1000's if you have plans to scale.
CadSoft doesn't advertise this enough, IMHO. Upgrades are a very minimum
cost. The highest license cost $280 to upgrade to EAGLE 5. A paid upgrade
cycle is about 3 years. Currently full new license is about $1500US. So
all in all it is quite reasonable for what you get.
3) Common database between schematic and board--no forward and backward
annotation. If you use the tool correctly the two are always in sync. This
saves no end of headache and time.
4) Fully documented access to all design info through their own User
Language Program. Very powerful. Hopefully it will be extended even
further, but it is certainly pretty useful. We have a suite of tools in the
process of being released for EAGLE that are based on this.
5) Are you used to certain shortcuts? Modify all the shortcuts in EAGLE to
whatever you like. They still need to allow use of Page Up/Down and arrow
keys, but what is currently available is very flexible. Anything you can do
in the tool can be scripted and anything you can script can be assigned to a
key sequence.
6) Binary file compatibility across Windows, Linux, and MacOSX (all native
applications).
7) Free support for life. If you pay for a real license that includes
phone support. And it's actually pretty good. And an involved community
existed for further support.
I'm not saying it's better than the big boys. But for about 80-90% of PCB's
that are designed it is more than adequate. And another 5% can be done if
you know what you are doing. Sure there are some boards that it can't do
but I doubt very many people will hit that limit.
EAGLE 5 was released a few months ago and they are still working through a
few bugs that caused.
Sales pitch: if you want to purchase a license you can do so at
www.eagletoolkit.com
Cheers,
James.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ ~
~ James Morrison ~~~ Stratford Digital ~
~ ~
~ web: http://www.eagletoolkit.com ~
~ ~
~ Online EAGLE Dealer for US and Canada ~
~ EAGLE Design Experts ~
~ EAGLE Enterprise Toolkit ~
~ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Affordable PCB Layout Software ???
- From: RST Engineering \(jw\)
- Re: Affordable PCB Layout Software ???
- Prev by Date: Re: An interesting view on how 'green' CFLs really are:
- Next by Date: Re: www Needed in URL?
- Previous by thread: Re: Affordable PCB Layout Software ???
- Next by thread: Re: Affordable PCB Layout Software ???
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
