Printed Circuit Board CAD

Protel Users FAQ

CadsoftUSA Eagle CAD new user notes

OrCAD

Software and Services

• http://kicad-pcb.org/ is simply unbelievable open source electronics CAD software. Many users report that it is better than Eagle. It runs on Windows and Linux.
    
• http://www.cadsoftusa.com EAGLE. Linux and DOS and Windows PDB Cad software including a freeware version called Eagle Light CAD with the following Limitations
  • The usable board area is limited to 100 x 80 mm (4 x 3.2 inches).
  • Only two signal layers can be used (Top and Bottom).
  • The schematic editor can only create one sheet.
  • Support is only available via email or through our forum (no fax or phone support).
  • Use is limited to non-profit applications or evaluation purposes.

  Apart from these limitations the freeware EAGLE Light Edition can do anything the Professional Edition can do. You can even load, view and print drawings that exceed these limits! Registration is $49. Seems to jump up in price pretty fast if you wanted to make a little bigger board. The user interface is... less than intuitive and the parts librarys are hell to find anything in. Windows users should read some notes from a new user which are sort of a quick start.
   
  The librarys provided with the program are less than stellar. Probably the biggest problem is the lack of standardization of which layer the legend (aka silk screen) symbols go into. Not to mention the messed up legends for SMDs. You can find a number of user posted libraries in the forums at cadsoft.com but beware, many are sloppy and some are just wrong! Wrong pin outs, wrong part names and wrong land patterns. And there is no standard in how to draw the schematic symbols so some may look quite odd.  Also, there is considerable duplication of effort.
   
  At least one library that you can be confident in is the PIC library (pic.scr)  created by Olin Lathrop of EmbedInc.com. Mr. Lathrop is a highly paid, professional consultant, who, from time to time, shares his valuable work in the hopes that it will be a good advertizement for his business. It contains device definitions for 16C773, 16F876-?, 16F877-?, 16C622A-?, 16*F628-?, 12F629-?, 12F675-?, 18F452-?, 18*F1320-?, 18*F252-?, 16F630-?, 30F2010, 18*F6520-?, 30F6010-?, 16*F648A-?, 10F206-*/?, 30F4011-?, 10F204-*/?, 10F200-*/?, 10F202-*/?, 30F4012-*/?.
   

• http://www.expresspcb.com The ExpressPCB Windows layout software makes designing PC boards simple for the beginner and efficient for the professional. Its standard Windows user interface uses all the familiar commands such as copy, cut, paste & dragging. PC board manufacturing service delivers boards in 3 business days or less. Often orders for two boards cost under $100. They keep changeing the program and old files may not work (due to increased limitations on the placement of objects) in the new versions without some rework. See TCI which is just about the same and prints or outputs to Gerber / Excellon files.
   
• http://b.urbani.free.fr/pagetci/tci.htm Simple, basic and clear... and free. Print or generates Gerbers directly. VERY NICE! Here is a local translation to English:
   
• Protel  Altium ( http://www.altium.com/ ) sells the Protel CAD system (schematic design, PWB layout, circuit simulation, FPGA design, autorouter, etc.) for US$ 7 995.00
   
• http://www.holophase.com/dleval.htm Circad's DOS layout Demo is free for non-commercial use.
• http://www.cia.com.au/rcsradio/index0.htm
• http://www.geda.seul.org/ xNIX Electronic Design Automation project has Schematic capture with PCB CAD on the way.
• http://www.redac.co.uk/cadstar/ CadStar for Windows
• http://www.vutrax.co.uk/pricing.htm Vutrax for Windows - free for under 256 component pins
• http://www.ivex.com/ WinDraft/WinBoard - free for under 100 component pins, CAM service. Some find it buggy.
• http://www.interactiv.com Electronic - Workbench * ( Interactive Image Technologies Ltd.) $ 400 for 500 pins. Includes schematic capture and simulation, virtual instruments , and PCB layout. Said to be stable.
• http://www.ibfriedrich.com/english.htm
• http://bach.ece.jhu.edu/~haceaton/pcb/ absolutely free (GPL'ed) PCB program which can work under any POSIX compliant operating system (eg. Linux) and can produce Gerber or PostScript files.
• http://www.kagi.com/alain.michel/ WinCircuit98 and WinSchema 98 very pretty Win98 GUI PCB and Circuit drawing software. Not a serious solution. Manual and (simple) Auto Route.
• http://www.labcenter.co.uk/ They have a lite version "pic bundle" aprx. $149.00 includes schematic/simulation/pcb layout. You can write pic code for your pic schematic design and simulate. Even multi-pic,keypad,lcd display (really cool). Right now it can only simulate PIC1683/1684 (lite version limited to 1k program code), but it really works. They are working on more pic modules now. Will not produce Gerber/Excellion drill files only dxf, bmp, hpgl, tiff.
• http://circuitmaker.com Seems to be a very fully featured package. Good price. Cool macro package for creating your own sim modules including sub circuit modules. Direct import of spice modules too. Downloaded demo, interface seemed clunky.
• http://www.ivex.com/ Winboard PCB Layout;
• http://www.holophase.com/ Circad
• http://www.illuminated.com.au/ Draftcad
• http://www.mentala.com/ SuperPCB
• http://www.winqcad.com/ MicroCad
• http://www.mccad.com/ McCad
• http://b.urbani.free.fr/ a very nice set of free software in French.

• Gerber File Viewers
  • "ViewMate" A free, crippled version of the $500 "ViewMaster" software.
  • www.graphicode.com

Or if you like the minimal approach: A 'Sharpie' permanent marker works great as a etch-resistant pen

Also:

• PCB Mill
• PCB Fab
• Circuit Schematic Editor Applications
• Getting your design information out of one PCB CAD program and into a different one

See also:

• https://easyeda.com/ EasyEDA is a free, cloud-based EDA suite, integrating Schematic Capture, Circuit Simulation using ngspice and PCB layout in a web browser GUI. Work can be kept private, shared or made public. Schematics and libraries can be imported from Altium, Eagle, KiCad and LTspice. Files can be exported in a number of formats including JSON. Low cost PCB fabrication is also offered as an option.
• http://www.ZofzPCB.com ZofzPCB is a 3D PCB Viewer: Grebers, Drills, IPC356, BOM
• http://eng-serve.com/cnc/excellon_gcode.html online drill file to G code converter
• http://www.sunstone.com/pcb123.aspx Intuitive CAD interface lets you create new PCB designs quickly, then edit layout and schematics.
• http://www.onboardcircuits.com/ Accurate, Fast PCB Quotes. OnBoardCircuits.com is the easiest Printed Circuit Board PCB quote site on the internet. We strive to make your purchasing process simple. From quick-turn prototype and ramp-to-volume production boards to full-scale production printed circuit boards, every phase is monitored and managed by highly qualified professionals.
• http://www.freepcb.com Link points to a free pcb tool that is multi-layer, easy to use and very good.
• http://www.winqcad.com/
• Electronic Drafting and printed Circuit Design by James M. Kirkpatrick
• http://www.apcircuits.com/html/cad_program_file_examples.html nice list of PCB cad software with notes on getting them to work correctly with AP Circuits service.
• http://www.geda.seul.org/ GPL Electronic Design Automation (geda)
  runs under Linux.
• http://sourceforge.net/projects/qscad/ Pure Tcl/Tk EDA Package. Schematic capture through to PCB layout. Has Part editor as well as editor for Schematic and PCB Decals.

Archive:

• PICList post "A good schematic software package?"

Questions:

• christakis_john@hotmail.com asks:

  Hi,
  
  I have used Protel DOS version forever and wanted to upgrade to a windows version. I tried Protel 99SE and didn't like it at all, it was so bad as to be unusable. I also tried DipTrace and it's fantastic. I was surprised and dissapointed as I have always considered Protel the best. Now I am finding that PCB makers are going to have more support for Protel and wondering about converting my DipTrace files to a Protel readable format - does anyone know of any converters?
  
  thanks,
  Chris

• http://www.cadstarworld.com/ You may be interested in adding CadStar to your list of PCB software. The company I used to work for used their older revisions exclusively for the last 10 years at a cost of thousands of dollars. And now they are offering a free version up to 50 components or 300 pins, more than adaquate for most PICmicro hobbiest designs.

Comments:

• http://www.freestyleteam.com/en/products/topor/ TopoR is a unique and powerful topological autorouter. Comparing to other autorouters, typically it delivers 100% routing completion, 10% less track length and 50% less via. In many cases it can make layout using lesser number of layers than any other autorouter. TopoR does not use scripts, instead it is controlled interactively via a GUI equipped with a powerful PCB editor. To achieve better layout TopoR can move components automatically. Routed PCBs look unusial because TopoR lays tracks in any direction (as short as possible) and always makes curved bends; this reduce EMC and crosstalk. James Newton replies: That looks COOL!

• might wanna put a warning sighn at winqcad software that they sometimes couynt connections for IC's in their own way
  i mailed them about the config for the lm3914, they said
  and i quote
  "Counting leds upward or downward is unimportant. I prefer counting from top to bottom"
  meaning, 1=10, 9=2 etc
  try making something work by trusting the software!
  
• bryan_at_bmumford.com says:

  I think your caveat about ExpressPCB on www.piclist.com/techref/pcbcads.htm is unfair. I've been using the software for several years and I've never had a file that didn't run on a newer version. The fact that the software changes is a big benefit, not a liability. It means they're active in developing it. For example, it now includes a schematic program that can be linked to PC boards.

  --

• 
  

Interested:

Code:

• mail@novarm.com shares this code:

  http://www.diptrace.com/

  DipTrace is a complete state-of-the-art PCB design system with easy-to-learn user interface. It includes Schematics, PCB, powerful autorouter, 40.000+ standard components and you are able to create your own.

To convert a standard board image to an outline for isolation etch or mill using Photoshop:

1.) Load the board image

2.) select magic wand - make sure anti-alias & contigous is disabled.

3.) click/select the black color (non copper area) this will select all the black color since contigous option is disabled.

4.) contract the selection/marque to 5 pixels. From Menu: Select->Modify->Contract, then choose 5.

5.) Hit del key, to delete the selection/marque.

6.) Now etch the PCB with your favorite solution.

One users opinion:

Frequency	User	Recomendation	Comment
Rare	Hobbiest	Express PCB expresspcb.com	You will not be able to move to another package later and they may upgrade the program and invalidate your files. Other than that, it is the easyist, quickest, cheapest way.
	Pro	Hire out the work	Pay someone to design it for you. Concentrate on what you know.
Regular	Hobbiest	TCI	Most of the features of ExpressPCB, all that you need. Makes Gerbers directly so can be used with just about any board house
	Pro	?	There are lots of options here...
Often	Hobbiest	Eagle cadsoftusa.com	The very strange user interface and quirks will waste a lot of your time at first, but eventually, you will be able to make really nice boards and do just about anything the pro's can do.
	Pro	Protel	All in all, over all, and in general, this is the one...