Hi everyone,
I am starting to dabble in PCB design. As a total newbie to that field, this is quite overwhelming. Even just starting with what software to use seems like an unsurmountable task sometimes.
By now, the only package I have actually done something in, is Diptrace. Since that one follows established windows usability somewhat closely, it was surprisingly easy to get into. If you know hoe to use Microsoft Visio, you essentially know how to use Diptrace (at least the basics)
KiCad, on the other hand (which I tried about a year ago) was such a complex beast in functionality and usability that I could not get anything done. To be honest, that put me off the topic of PCB design for a while.
Regardless of how much I like Diptrace, I have the feeling that I need to look at some of the other packages out there as well. What are recommendations by the community regarding that?
I have a couple of prerequisites that any software I use should follow:
- A free limited version, or at least a free trial available
- If not free, reasonably priced, max 400 euro (I would not really like to pay more for the software than I did for my 'scope)
- No subscription or online only software, free or paid. I do not want to be taken hostage by my software
- For the forseeable future I very much doubt that I will need more than four layers
KiCad is definetly on the list, but I hope that Version 5 comes out soon. I am not really comfortable using a nigthly version of such a software, since I do not know enough about PCB design to spot possible subtle bugs that might appear.
OrCad is on the list as well, there was a interesting promo linked in another tread a few days ago.
What others should I look at?
EDIT: Typo in the title...