On 14-Jun-11 14:12, David Bley wrote:
> I have not used Diptrace, however, over the years I have used many differ=
ent PCB design packages including Protel 99SE, Altium Designer, AutoCAD (wi=
th DXF to Gerber conversion), FutureNET Dash PCB and have worked with peopl=
e that have used Eagle, Telesis, Orcad SDT, and PADS.  Right now I am using=
 Kicad.  There is no size limit, it has the features that I need, Gerber ou=
t, schematic capture, netlist transfer, pcb layout, pretty good manual rout=
ing, dxf out, dxf in, a users group on yahoo and the price is right.  I wou=
ld compare it favorably to the Protel/Altium products for my needs.  Right =
now I am designing simple boards with few parts and only two layers, but in=
 the past I have designed boards with up to 1000 parts and six layers.  The=
se boards are mixed analog and digital and I generally do not use an autoro=
uter, but I have used them and never use autoplace.  I usually do a mechani=
cal drawing of the board in CAD (EasyCAD) and export the outline
>   as DXF and import it into Kicad.  I also get placement coordinates from=
 the CAD drawing for components whose mechanical placement is critical.  I =
typically use an iterative place and route strategy to do the boards.  I ha=
ve found that with the boards that I do it is quicker and I get a better jo=
b to hand route the boards.  Any PCB design program beats red and blue tape=
 on mylar.


     Call me an old timer, but I'm still using Tango PCB 2.3 for DOS.
     It runs ok on Windows XP using DOSBOX.
     Have tried several 'modern' layout programs but went back to Tango.

     Mark Jordan PY3SS



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