> What PCB design software   you use and why
> What PCB design software you would suggest to start with
> Are there any GOOD tutorials for that kind of PCB design software
> Are there any support forums for that kind of PCB design software
> ?
>
> Thank you for your help

For hobby use, I am finding Diptrace to be a much more intuitive and
streamlined PCB program to learn than EAGLE. The company provides some
nicely written tutorials, Videos, and community forums on their
website. In my experience EAGLE is somewhat "clunkly" and must be
learned. (If you go for it you *must* set up keyboard shortcuts too
for it to be usable)

Although I am still am evaluating Diptrace for myself, I have been
very pleased with it thus far. For me Diptrace requires far less
learning to carry out all of the normal operations involved with
making a design than eagle. Diptrace like eagle has a free version,
but should it be too limiting the commercial versions *seem* to have
much better pricing than eagle (that is a very application dependent
statment). The free version does not limit the physical dimensions of
the PCB instead it limits the total pin count. There is a 300 and a
500 pin limit for hobbyists, and students respectively.

I find Kicads UI hard to use effectively (no panning by default!!).
Without ranting, I'll just say that almost every aspect of the UI has
a long way to go before it becomes comparable to a commercial program.

As far as open source programs go I prefer the gEDA suite (Linux only)
and designed and manufactured several several boards with it. It has
less UI to be poorly implemented. It is simple, solid, and usable.
However, the documentation is somewhat spread out across the wikis and
related websites. Unless you are familiar with Linux/UNIX and its way
of doing things I would not recommend it to a complete beginner.

Go with a commercial package and you will be happy.

--=20
Jason White
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