Re: Circuit Board Layout Program

Hi,
I've evaluated all the software mentioned by others and honestly
found them all to have too steep a learning curve for basic designs.
Each appears to have heritage in workstation or DOS programs and as
such they do not have anything resemling a "standard" Windows
interface.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking these packages overall. They're
each powerful packages used by lots of engineers for years to design
highly complex circuits. What I am saying is that I personally found
them inappropriate for the novice.

After trying these packages, I found two German packages which appear
to have been designed for the Windows environment. Each has a decent
learning curve and provides output capacity compatible with
professional PC board houses (i.e. gerber files etc.).

The first is PCB Editor Pro by Waldherr. Http://www.waldherr.com
This package is limited, but more than good enough for basic designs.
I started with this one, outgrew the freware version, then purchased
the unlimited pin upgrade version. I found it to be very productive
from day 1.

However, I did run into limitations. I'm now designing a board which
contains 8 microcontrollers, several stepper control chips, etc. For
this, I switched to another package: Target3001 by Friedrich.
http://www.ibfriedrich.com
This package is much more like the others, in that it has a full
featured schematic program and an integrated PCB layout program. It
also has very nice features like board checking where it tells you if
you've got short circuits or if your pads are too close together etc.
It's been a complete joy to use and I haven't found it to be at all
limiting. Moreover, it has some tutorials which can help you get
started. It also has a very extensive parts library.

The only quirks with Target3001 come from its German heritage. Some
of the help files (though not the critical ones) haven't yet been
translated. But that's about my only complaint. Otherwise I've found
it to be an absolute gem.

Good luck,
Ted
--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "James \(Jim\) Buchanan" <jambuch@l...>
wrote:

> I am looking for a shareware or demo program that I can use to do a

simple

> one or two sided printed circuit board layout for DRO a board that

I would

> like to build..
>
> Thanks
> ______________________________________________
> James (Jim) Buchanan
> Lexington, Kentucky USA
> Climax Class B Locomotive; Builder and Operator
> Email: jambuch@l...
> Web Page: http://home.infi.net/~jambuch/index.html