Electronics Forum / CAD / June 2007

Fernando Peral P?rez MULTI-POSTED:

If you are going to post the *same* question to MULTIPLE groups,
http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=alternatives&enc_author=UK3f8SIAAADbA7c
Cu-NITz4XN4JgdOUj_HYAfxWRjt5HLd1K_d9UJfK4ZR9D55eO8-AGYTffARY&scoring=d&filter=0
do embrace this notion:
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:qHhBKJ-sXKYJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-post
+adequately.answered+corrected+with.commas+individually+Disclaimers+*-*-*-marked
-as-Read-in-ALL-*-groups+Newsgroups.line

Fernando,
   I hope that you realize you are going to receive a lot of different
answers. I would suggest that there is no "best" software, it is mostly what
people find works for them and that which they have become used to using.
Some are bad, simply because of the number of "bugs", some are good for
their features but may still have significant numbers of bugs and
work-arounds, some have few bugs but lack the really productive features.
All comments are bound to be heavily weighted in opinion and shaded by
prejudice.

   So it is really like asking which wine is best? It is mostly personal
taste and what you are familair with. Some people will love one program,
while others will savagely criticize the same software.

   Alternatives to your OrCAD, aren't that many these days at the same
level of software. Protel/Altium, I hear that Pulsonix is approaching the
same levels. For an extensive list, try Terry Pinnel's CAD list at:

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/terrypin/ECADList.html

Terry's list also includes the free versions and where he can he has given
reviews and comments.

Give a try to the Proteus suite (Isis/Ares) from www.labcenter.co.uk. We
have switched to it for all our mid-level complexity designs after
experiences with far more expensive packages, and we will not come back.
Everything is there : complex ground planes, burried vias, good external
autorouter (Elektra), wonderful simulation engine, even 3D PCB view in the
last release, and very good support. Only drawback : supplied libraries are
limited.

Chers,
Robert
www.alciom.com

On Jun 7, 4:03 pm, Fernando Peral P?rez
<fperalNOQUIEROS...@patagonmail.com> wrote:

Hi use EDWinXP, a better tool for Schematic as well as Layout. Go to
www.visionics.a.se to download an evaluation copy.