Electronics Forum / CAD / July 2007

Is there a way to get the PCB trace from FreePCB to AutoCad?  I was
hoping that I would get lucky and just be able to copy and paste but
that hasn't worked at all.

I just gave CDNEX a shot too but without any luck.  CDNEX is supposed
to be able to take the gerber files and translate them into .dxf.  I
don't know anything about gerber files and when I try to run CDNEX I
get an error 20 after giving the layer number.

I could also possibly settle for being able to print from FreePCB but
although I see the option to print, it is always grayed out and won't
allow me.

I've been struggling my way through various free programs trying to
accomplish a goal and pretty much going with whatever programs I've
been able to figure out.  Right now I am using:

LTSpice - for circuit simulation and netlist export.
FreePCB - for netlist import and component placing.
fpcroute - to export .dsn files.
freerouting.net - to do autorouting and export .ses files.
FreePCB - again to import the .ses files and do some final editing.

I would prefer to be able to get the graphics on to AutoCad so that I
can have full control of the PCBs appearance.  I also like the way the
vector graphics print.  I need to print so that I can produce the
occassional Gootee board.

Any suggestions on a suite of programs to accomplish all of this?
These are all free of course so I would prefer suggestions for free
programs but I might be willing to spend a total of about $200 to be
able to accomplish all of the above tasks.  Also, I'm running
windows.  I would love to run Linux but it is not an option for me
right now.  Also, the last time I tried to use Cygwin I found it to be
a lesson in futility.  In other words, the gEDA package sounds great
but I probably won't touch it unless it comes in a windows friendly
package.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
ll