Best PCB Design tool for simple through-hole boards?

[Jon86]

I've decided I want to get a couple of PCBs made, only something simple, just a through-hole headphone amp on a 5x5cm board. I'm going to get it manufactured from iTead studio because that's all I can afford, and I guess I can deal with the stupid lead times. 

Anyway more to the point, what's the easiest software to use for this? It's only going to be a few components, DIP-8, some caps and resistors, and some headers.
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find any threads about it.

[danb35]

CADSoft EAGLE is probably the most popular choice for hobbyists, and DIPTrace is another that seems to be a bit easier to use.  Both have no-cost versions available for limited use.  KiCAD is a Free Software alternative.  There's a whole forum category for PCB/EDA tools, just scroll down a bit from the main forum page.

I've used EAGLE a little bit, and the interface definitely takes some getting used to, but it's very widely used, so there are lots of people who can help with it.

[Jon86]

Thanks, I think I'll give DipTrace a go! 
And sorry, I totally forgot about that category 

[filip_cro]

Can free DIPtrace export gerber files?

[BravoV]

CADSoft EAGLE is probably the most popular choice for hobbyists, and DIPTrace is another that seems to be a bit a lot easier to use.

Correction. 

Another vote for Diptrace if you dont want to spend alot of time and just want quick result and relatively good enough pcb application, and its free version is enough for small project, imo.

[kripton2035]

Can free DIPtrace export gerber files?

yes free diptrace is only limited to 300 pins, and you can ask for a free 500 pins serial number by asking them.

[filip_cro]

I like KiCad and I use it at home. I school we use Eagle (older version, 5.?) and I don't like it. I only hope that KiCad components library will grow, and KiCad become  hobbyist standard.

Did somebody of you use different cheap PCB manufacturers?

[nctnico]

I ordered some boards from Seeedstudio and they are OK. Delivery takes long though.

[Jon Chandler]

Here's an article that lists a number of PCB fab houses that I have used or know the quality of their work:

PCB Fabrication Sources

iTead, Seeed, Elecrow and ElecFreaks all offer essentially the same deals on 5cm x 5 cm boards and 10cm x 10cm boards.  Elecrow offers several colors of soldermask without an up charge, and also offers v-score panelization for a small up-charge based on the total number of boards per panel.

Check out the article and comments for the details and verify with each vendor's website as the deals change quickly.

[mcinque]

Diptrace 

[Jon86]

Great, thanks a lot! 

Just a quick side question, are there any 3.5mm jack sockets included in the pattern libraries? I don't mind which one it is, as long as it's readily available on ebay or whatever