DipTrace

[Straylight]

Would love to watch Dave put DipTrace through the paces. 

Just started working with it in the past couple of days...liking it so far.

[EEVblog]

It seems to be getting a good rap in many places, as the "easiest" and most "intuitive" to use package around.
I will endeavor to play with it when I have time.
The plan is to do videos on all the low end PCB packages with the ultimate goal of doing a "shootout" style video to try and compare them. That will require a carefully thought out comparison table to try and do it somewhat systematically and evenly.
Hell of a lot of work...

Dave.

[Armin_Balija]

Just played with DipTrace for a little bit and I'm going to be calling them tomorrow to see if I can get the $125 student version. 4 Layers, 1000 pin. Normally goes for 348.. Here's hoping.

[FreeThinker]

1+ for diptrace. A quick test I use is to produce a pcb without reading the tutorial or help file. Tends to show up any glaring errors in the UI. Looking forward to the review.

[Mechatrommer]

That will require a carefully thought out comparison table to try and do it somewhat systematically and evenly.
Hell of a lot of work...

dont make easy things difficult you seems to take it too seriously.

[amspire]

You may be able to set a simple board schematic to enter and provide an picture of the desired layout. Do a spec of the desired pad sizes, hole sizes, track sizes. Possibly use non-standard values so that no package gets an advantage with pad sizes that already match the spec.

Then ask for volunteers to do screen capture videos as they enter the schematic, layout the board, perhaps try autorouting in packages they know, clean up the layout. etc.

How well the boards are done is not the issue, it is just seeing how easy it is to do the steps. It would have to be kept simple, so that a video is less then 30 minutes. Perhaps also one video of making a schematic part, and one of making a PCB layout part. Require that the schematic gets changes and the PCB has to be updated.

It wouldn't be comprehensive, but could be a good starting point for getting a feel for a new package. It would be really easy to bag a package for missing a feature you are used to, when that package just doesn't need that feature at all. Or bag an unfamiliar package for being slow and clumsy, when a video may show that used properly, it is fast and efficient.

Just as an example, I have never even touched gEDA. It sounds like the least friendly and unintuitive package to get started with, but there are some people who swear by it. If someone went to the gEDA forums and asked, they might find an expert volunteer and that would be interesting.

Richard.

[deephaven]

How about doing a real project with the CAD packages? I'm not talking about anything complex, but just something which shows the whole process from start to finish, ending up with a set of Gerber files from each package. That way, people could look at the Gerbers and see what sort of job has been done by each package. As an example, you could do a simple PIC board with a few connectors on it which people could actually have made using one of the cheap Chinese manufacturers, ending up with something useful.

When I'm learning a new piece of software I prefer to try it on a real project rather than just aimlessly trying a few things. That way, you're trying it properly and forcing yourself to stick with it to get the desired results. So what I'm saying is doing something equivalent to that.

[reagle]

It would be interesting to see Dave's opinion on it.
I myself am about to try it as a tool for my own projects, after using Pads and Altium at work.  Even though I can get the license remotely from Altium's servers, it's always a question of needing it when it's being used, and not feeling like doing anything when available.  So I hope having a separate tool will inspire me to create more
Looking forward to a review!