I started with Eagle and am now migrating to KiCAD.
First a comment on the UI as it is a pain point for newbies - and it was for me:
Eagle's UI actually makes a lot of sense for CAD type operations. First you select the Tool or operation and then apply it to the object - standard MS Windows UI is the opposite, i.e. you select the object and then select the tool.
The Eagle way means you can - for example - select a drill size and then just run around clicking each via you want to apply it to.
The Windows UI way would mean you have to multi-select all of the vias first and then select the tool. It would work fine but the Eagle way is just neater and much faster.
Secondly why I am migrating to KiCAD:
I decided to pay for Eagle so I could create 4 layer boards, it was a bit of an impulse purchase. Annoyingly I didn't realise there was a discount deal on until _just_ after I paid for it - if I had known then with the discount I would have only had to pay a little more to get the next license up.
I contacted Eagle straight way, and then again a few days later, asking them for the discount and they just ignored my emails.
I also realised that the area limitations of the license would quickly become an issue. Coupled with the personal use only limitation I concluded that I had screwed up by going with Eagle, despite the investment in time and money I'd made.
So I thought I'd give KiCAD a serious go, I had dabbled with it before but never really got stuck in.
KiCad is tough to learn, and several times I almost binned it. I'm glad I didn't though as despite it being well seriously funky in some places, ultimately it is very usable and worth investing time in.
A few key points for getting started with KiCad:
* Drawing a schematic is pretty straightforward - the pain comes later
* You need to allocate a footprint to each of the parts in your schematic - google it.
* Libraries in two parts and are configured separately - the schematic part (Component Libraries) and the PCB footprint part (Footprint Libraries which must live in directories named *.pretty).
* Export the Netlist from the Schematic editor and import it into the PCB editor.
* The 'Canvas' selection options in the PCB tool are _not_ just rendering options - they are completely different PCB layout engines and change the way the PCB tool works. Read this:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/kicad/default-opengl-and-cairo-what-are-these/* Create a via component you can use like in Eagle for stitching ground planes without having to route to all of the vias. Google this.
* Before you can select a specific track width or a drill size first you need to define it in the Design Rules.