Best Circuit Design Software

[thakidd]

Hey EEV Forum!

I am wondering what good circuit design applications are out there. I have a list of criteria I would like to meet...the closer to first one, the better.

1) I prefer open source
2) If open source fails, I hope to find an application that does not cost over $300
3) Anything commercially available over $300 :-(

Definition of App

• The application I seek will allow me to easily draw schematics.
• Hopefully has a knowledge of mainstream parts enabling me to drag and drop components into the schematic.
• I am most interested in my computer testing my schematic design programmatically to discover design flaws.
• It does not have to create circuit board layout files, although this would be a plus.

Thx in advance for all of your suggestions.

[Zero999]

Altium designer will do all of the above but it's to expensive.

Proteus is another package which should do all of that.  I think is cheaper but I've only used Altium (at work) so I don't know.

LTSpice is good for simulation but the schematics often don't look very nice and it doesn't do PCB design.

Many people use Eagle for PCB design but its user interface is horrible, it has a steep learning curve and the PCB and schematic have to be done simultaneously; one can't simply draw the schematic, then do the PCB.

KiCad is open source and quite good but is just a schematic and PCB program.

[Feanor]

I use Circuit Maker 2000 and PSIM for simulations, Ultibum for PCB layout and drawing pretty schematics for reports and reference charts, etc. There are "student versions" of all this stuff around.

No software is going to tell you what the design flaws in your circuit are. You have to run a simulation, check the voltages and currents that result, and see if you are getting what you want/expect. If not then get debugging.

Check out "Express PCB" as well for free PCB software. You must order your PCB from them though. But in a way this is good to because the whole order process is built into the software which saves messing around trying to get the correct files for your PCB to be fabricated.

[Simon]

Express PCB is nice and easy to use, not an advanced program but very useful for simple stuff.

[bound]

Hi ,
Eagle software is nice too .
http://www.cadsoft.de/

[TheDirty]

... and the PCB and schematic have to be done simultaneously; one can't simply draw the schematic, then do the PCB.

Not certain where you got that from, but it's not true. You can draw your schematic and then create your PCB without any issue.

[Zero999]

Not certain where you got that from, but it's not true. You can draw your schematic and then create your PCB without any issue.

How do I do that?

Suppose I want to create a PCB from the attached schematic. There doesn't seem to be a command to create a PCB from a board and if I create a blank PCB with the same file name Eagle whines about the PCB and schematic not being consistent. I've spent ages Googleing for an answer but the most common advice is to start again so if you could help, that would be great, thanks.

[Hideki]

File menu -> Switch to Board or click the fifth icon from the left that says Board. Eagle will ask if you want to create a board from the schematic.

[TheDirty]

Stolen from the Sparkfun tutorial.

[Zero999]

Thanks, I'll remember that!

[jahonen]

Please correct me if I am am wrong, but more difficult problem with Eagle is that if you make changes to the schematic in way how it is usually done in professional environment, i.e. you make substantial changes to the schematic, which has corresponding existing layout (without keeping the layout simultaneously open) and then try to transfer the changes to the layout.

More expensive software usually handles those situations quite easily by having the ECO operation (or similar). That works quite well even if changes are really substantial. But with Eagle you must then make corresponding changes to the layout manually. That can be quite tedious if you have several hundred changed pins etc.

Regards,
Janne

[EEVblog]

Hey EEV Forum!

I am wondering what good circuit design applications are out there. I have a list of criteria I would like to meet...the closer to first one, the better.

1) I prefer open source

I have a video coming up tomorrow that shows off gEDA, an open source EDA package. The other open source one is KiCAD.

I also have an extended interview with the developer of gEDA, hopefully out tomorrow also.

Dave.

[DJPhil]

I have a video coming up tomorrow that shows off gEDA, an open source EDA package. The other open source one is KiCAD.

I also have an extended interview with the developer of gEDA, hopefully out tomorrow also.

That is the one I was trying to remember! I'd seen it in a wiki somewhere as I was adding Kicad, but forgot to bookmark it to check it out later.
I'll definitely have to play with it. I'm always ready to try out a new tool.

Edit: gEDA link for quick reference

[TheDirty]

Please correct me if I am am wrong, but more difficult problem with Eagle is that if you make changes to the schematic in way how it is usually done in professional environment, i.e. you make substantial changes to the schematic, which has corresponding existing layout (without keeping the layout simultaneously open) and then try to transfer the changes to the layout.

More expensive software usually handles those situations quite easily by having the ECO operation (or similar). That works quite well even if changes are really substantial. But with Eagle you must then make corresponding changes to the layout manually. That can be quite tedious if you have several hundred changed pins etc.

Yes, this is the case.  Once you create the PCB you have to have the PCB file open at the same time in order for changes to travel across without getting the two files out of sync.

Obviously there is a price difference between Eagle and upper tier design packages.  Whether the above is a deal breaker really depends on the environment.  There are many smaller businesses that do not have a problem with that requirement.

This issue doesn't relate at all to the OP, which 1. can't afford a package that can merge changes and 2. doesn't even really care if it can make PCB's.

[sonicj]

dip trace

30 free trial and 300 pin free versions available.

[sonicj]

http://www.osmondpcb.com/ <==mac only freeware

[Simon]

is gEDA available for windows ? I checked up the website and there seems to be no window version. I'm planning a Linux installation (Ubuntu) sometime but prefer cross platform software

[baljemmett]

is gEDA available for windows ? I checked up the website and there seems to be no window version. I'm planning a Linux installation (Ubuntu) sometime but prefer cross platform software

When I was playing with gEDA recently I had a look.  Apparently someone did once build a Windows version (of at least some of the apps in the suite) but I think it was pretty old; the prevailing attitude in discussions I read about it was "you Windoze users shouldn't be allowed to use it anyway, use a real operating system" so I gave up researching Windows support and stuck to trying it out on Linux.

Unfortunately in the end I found I couldn't get a good HP-GL plot out of it (in traditional Unix fashion it generates Postscript, which you then try running through several different filters to try and get HP-GL but fail miserably) so in the end I went back to EAGLE, since I already had it installed and it drives the plotter nicely.

[Simon]

so are the plot problems under linux as well ?

it looks like KiCAD is the way then, to exclude windoze users deliberately when it can be done is a bad idea and for me makes the project look like a game being played by some crackpots that just want to be different, I install my schematic and pcb software on a number of PC's among which my work one so I can work on stuff during my lunch break, so if they think I'm too unworthy to be able to do that then stuff them.

I did offer to help translate KiCAD to Italian but have not got much of a reply back, anyone know how to get into this (I know someone on here helped with the spanish side of it). the more people that can use it the more chance of it being developed.

[baljemmett]

so are the plot problems under linux as well ?

Yeah -- sorry, I was a bit unclear there I think -- I never did find the elusive Windows version that someone had built once (some people did provide links instead of just speaking of it in hushed tones, but the links seemed to be dead at the time).

it looks like KiCAD is the way then, to exclude windoze users deliberately when it can be done is a bad idea and for me makes the project look like a game being played by some crackpots that just want to be different

That's pretty much what I figured as well.  OK, some people have strong feelings about their software ideologies, that's fine; but I'm in no hurry to spend loads of effort compensating for it, especially if I'm going to be insulted in the process.  I'd rather just find something else that does what I want with less of the attitude from the developers, especially since I'm only messing around at this point so "just don't bother" is also an option!

[Simon]

well KiCAD is cross platform, so I can use it on windows now, use it at work and when I install linux use it on linux too. I'm not sure if you can put custom parts into a separate folder but I've not looked into it yet. with expresspcb I have my custom parts folder on a portable disk so where ever I go I just plug the disk in and I have my own library without copying parts all over the place as I make them and move around

[djsb]

I did offer to help translate KiCAD to Italian but have not got much of a reply back, anyone know how to get into this (I know someone on here helped with the spanish side of it). the more people that can use it the more chance of it being developed.

I set up a yahoo group about three or four years ago to get together a bunch of people to translate the original french documentation into english. The project was very successful and I feel this contributed to the use of Kicad taking off. Got my name in the credits for my trouble. If you go to the main kicad site you can still see the yahoo group listed even though it no longer exists. I was amoderator for the Kicad developer yahoo group for a while before everything moved over to Launchpad (a Ubuntu developers site/resource at https://launchpad.net/kicad). If you need any ideas please ask.

[Simon]

well i think I have joined the team on launchpad and I think I've emailed the group asking what I should do to get translating. I think one thing that does KiCAD no justice is having the project spread all over the place: it's own website, launchpad and sourceforge, it does not exactly inspire confidence

[TheWelly888]

^^^
I agree about the website, the Windoze version download of KiCad took quite a bit of finding.

Anyway after downloading 109Mb, I've sucessfully installed it on my Windoze 7 lapdog and it runs quite well.

BUT it doesn't feel intuitive and I wanted a tutorial to get me started on KiCad with a simple example design and where is it on the website?

And unnecessary error messages kept springing up! Such as something about no schematic file being available before saving it!

[djsb]

Yes, you have as I've just got a copy of your email. I agree the project needs a bit of tidying up and streamlining.Maybe you could ask Jean-Pierre Charras about this. Problem is they will say that they are spending all their time coding which I suppose is fair enough.