Best PCB Cad Software?

[Chuckt]

I'm wondering which is the best PCB Cad Drawing program. I know there are several like Eagle, Diptrace, etc.

I'd rather be a producer than a consumer and I know there are several PCB packages out there but I'm wondering which one has the cheapest license for me. I probably will be making small boards for a while but I heard the price goes up when you want to make a larger board. I learn by doing and I would rather make rather than buy someone's project all the time.

[Garth]

I can't give you any up-to-date PCB CAD market info, but I can relate my experience. I'm using a very old version of Easy PC from Number One Systems (http://www.numberone.com/easypc.asp), which I like.

There are PC-board manufacturers that have free CAD but it's only good if you have them make your board for you. Myself, I would not go that route at all. If you later want to go to a different board house, you will have to get and learn another CAD, and re-make your special components that don't come with any CAD. (Although the majority of parts on a board will be in the common packages like SO-8, DIP-16, SOT-23, 0603, etc., there will alwyas be ones that you have to make up in the CAD, whether connectors, relays, whatever.)

One of the many demos I tried when I was shopping for CAD many years ago was Eagle, and they said it absolutely will not crash like other CADs. Well, the demo itself crashed. I had gotten very proficient at my previous job with OrCAD but it had more bugs than an ant hill, and I had written up a small book of complaints, at the request of the engineering manager, so I knew OrCAD was out. (What can you expect from a company that after 25+ years still doesn't know how to draw the schematic symbol for a resistor correctly?) After evaluating quite a few packages, I narrowed my choices down to Maxi-PC which was a little under $2K and Easy-PC Pro which was only $375. The cash-strapped company got me the cheaper one. It's not fancy, but I've found ways to do many things with it that it probably was not initially designed to do, partly because it's simple and doesn't try to second-guess my intentions and tell me I can't do this or that. I've done some very dense and complex boards (up to 500 parts and 12 layers) with it. Supposedly it can even do blind and burried vias, although I've never tried that. Easy-PC Pro had a lot of bugs initially too, but Number One Systems listened and cleaned it up pretty well; but then they kept adding more and more features that were of no value to me (like an autorouter that's nowhere near as smart as a human--autorouters are not the way to get good density anyway--, simulation, etc.), and making it somewhat less friendly too, so I quit taking the updates.

I've been thinking I should look into EDA (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_EDA_Software). Actually I do use the gerbv gerber-viewer Linux EDA software to make sure my finished design is really what I wanted. Much of the EDA software is free. What's wrong with my old CAD? Very little actually, which is why I've been hesitant to invest the time to learn a new package and start re-making my ton of special components in it. I may have no choice but to update eventually though.

[brad]

Excellent write up there Garth, I actually hadn't heard of easy-pc before.

As for me, I have been using Diptrace for years. It has served me very well and is really nice to use. It has an extensive component library and you can even draw up your own component if need be (i'm sure other PCB CAD programs offer this though)

You can get a free version limited to 300 pins and for non-profit use.
http://www.diptrace.com/download.php

As for me, I purchased the 500 pin version for $145
http://www.diptrace.com/order.php?en=1

This has been great for all of my designs so far (as they have all come in under 500 pins) the link above shows all pricing options upto $895 for unlimited pins and unlimited layers.

They have recently released a new version aswell and offer reduced prices for those looking to upgrade.