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AvionicsMaster1
- 21st March 2011, 17:21
Ladies and Gents,
What program do you recommend or use for documenting schematic drawings? I would prefer a free version or extremely low cost program.

I'm not too interested in circuit simulation but I'd like to have PICs included in the library.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
HenrikOlsson
- 21st March 2011, 19:52
I use EAGLE, they have a free version available (with limitations) and then various licenses depending on what you need. It involves a bit of a learnig curve but so does all programs of this kind.

Other popular programs are KiCAD, which is free and open source, and DIPTrace which has various versions available.

/Henrik.
aratti
- 22nd March 2011, 15:09
I use TinyCad simple and complete. It is free and can be downloaded @ http://sourceforge.net/projects/tinycad/

Cheers

Al.
david1800
- 4th April 2011, 09:01
I tried a few free versions but decided that the time investment in Eagle was the way to go for me as it can meet all my forseeable future needs - and appears on the software accepted by many PCB manufacturers.


I use EAGLE, they have a free version available (with limitations) and then various licenses depending on what you need. It involves a bit of a learnig curve but so does all programs of this kind.

Other popular programs are KiCAD, which is free and open source, and DIPTrace which has various versions available.

/Henrik.
falingtrea
- 4th April 2011, 19:07
I have been playing with Dip Trace. They just released a beta version with 3D board modeling.

http://diptrace.com/download.php

Also, here is a link to an open source schematic/board design program.

http://www.freepcb.com/
mackrackit
- 5th April 2011, 14:24
http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=14551
jellis00
- 7th April 2011, 05:03
Ladies and Gents,
What program do you recommend or use for documenting schematic drawings? I would prefer a free version or extremely low cost program.


I have to say that PCB Artist is a very good choice. I have been using it for 4 years and found it to be a very good product....free, stable, large component library, easy to design your own custom components, great documentation, low learning curve, outstanding tech support. I tried PCB123, Eagle LITE and others and came back to PCB Artist.
You can download a free copy from http://www.4pcb.com/free-pcb-layout-software/
mtripoli
- 13th April 2011, 03:18
DesignSpark is looking very good and totally free...

http://www.designspark.com/