Comparison - Eagle Pads Altium Diptrace Orcad

[EEVblog]

https://www.sfcircuits.com/pcb-school/pcb-design-software-comparison-guide

[PCB.Wiz]

Interesting link, but pretty thin/shallow comparisons.
I cannot find any mention of Shove Router, or Scripting Abilities,  (but I guess they are touting for business, so have a vested interest in not revealing really useful details ? ) and they have not included KiCad in the lineup.

[vzoole]

Ohh... it's an Altium fan-boy article... in some/many point totally avoid the reality.

First of all how stupid to compare Diptrace and Eagle with Altium and Orcad and Pads. Low-end vs. high-end tools.

Just an example:
In PCB library editor-Costum/irregular shapes:
Eagle: B
Orcad: B
Altium: B

Eagle: there is some pre-defined shape and that’s all. No slots no pads with same name.
Altium: there is slot and same name pad opportunity, so you can use multiple pads to create odd shapes.
Orcad: There is a way to draw any shape and use it for pad. And bunch of settings to create weird things.

So it could be more reasonable scores:
Eagle: C
Orcad: A
Altium: B

[PCB.Wiz]

Ohh... it's an Altium fan-boy article... in some/many point totally avoid the reality.

Yes ...

First of all how stupid to compare Diptrace and Eagle with Altium and Orcad and Pads. Low-end vs. high-end tools.

Not really, as the low end / free tools are improving, which is why I think leaving KiCad off is what is stupid.
KiCad has recently added a very good Shove router, and is adding/testing now a Spice interface.
That means there is no low-high gap anymore and there is actually quite an overlap.
There are web designs now, migrated using Altium to KiCad converters.
PADS to KiCad is possible.

Just an example:
In PCB library editor-Custom/irregular shapes:
Eagle: B
Orcad: B
Altium: B

Eagle: there is some pre-defined shape and that’s all. No slots no pads with same name.
Altium: there is slot and same name pad opportunity, so you can use multiple pads to create odd shapes.
Orcad: There is a way to draw any shape and use it for pad. And bunch of settings to create weird things.

So it could be more reasonable scores:
Eagle: C
Orcad: A
Altium: B

Good example.
I would expand that, as :
PADS is like OrCad, you can have a polygon pad-shape & 
KiCad is like Altium - it supports slots, and has same-pad-name so you can tile-pads to build unusual shapes.

Those scores are then
Eagle: C
Orcad: A
Altium: B
PADS: A
KiCad: B

[nctnico]

AFAIK you can make slotted pads with any program as long as you can have a board outline layer in a pad (or switch a layer to the board outline after placing the component). I'm using this method with the older Orcad Layout (which isn't Allegro / PCB editor)

[Alex Eisenhut]

Not a problem:

[vzoole]

Not really, as the low end / free tools are improving…

Ok, you are right up to a point.
Technical comparison could be useful and able to show in some point the cheap tools are the same or even better than the high end tools.
But…

That means there is no low-high gap anymore and there is actually quite an overlap.

I think there is still big gap but you can see it over a certain complex design.
This gap is mainly the complex design rule setup.

[nctnico]

And the logistics of dealing with the parts in order to re-use data and create bill of materials in a simple way.

[technotronix]

Very Informative. This can really help to choose some one a required PCB schematic tool. Majority of us will go with Eagle and Diptrace, Even this is more useful for beginners.

[DerekG]

Majority of us will go with Eagle and Diptrace.

A nice feature of DipTrace is that both the schematic & pcb design files can be imported into Altium (via the PCAD ASCII filter).

I do this back & forth regularly (as customers often require design files in the Altium format) with great results.

DipTrace is very logical & easy to use, hence my preference to use it over Altium which can be quite convoluted in many areas (& much more difficult to learn).

DipTrace ver 3 has pretty much cured the previous library frustrations. The new component search algorithm is now every bit as good as Altium's.

Interestingly, Diptrace began in the Ukraine where Altium still has some of its best programmers. There has been a gradual shift in DipTrace's operations to the USA (the "war" with Russia probably has a lot to do with this).

A number of frustrated Altium licence holders have been working with the Novarm software programmers to get the best features in Altium reproduced into DipTrace.

At US$1195 for the unlimited version, DipTrace is very well priced for what it has on offer.

[John Coloccia]

Diptrace is so good in many ways, especially if you're not doing anything advanced. They seriously need to fix some core craziness, though. I wish they would concentrate on some of the more important problems, like fixing the grid and cleaning up the library/component interactions.

I keep trying Kicad, but it's crazier, IMHO. Maybe in a few years if their developpers stop being so stubborn.