[NTLUG:Discuss] EE Tools

[Stephen Klein]

Johnny Cybermyth wrote:
> What do you use to draw schematics?
> 
> I really hope to catch your presentation!  I'd love to see more EE 
> application lectures.  If I get cranked up with the PIC development I'll 
> volunteer a presentation on that if there is interest.
> 
> Stephen Klein wrote:
> 
>> Johnny Cybermyth wrote:
>>
>>>  >BTW, have you seen PCB?
>>>  >http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcb/
>>>
>>> Have you successfully used pcb to layout any produced boards.  I use 
>>> PCAD 2001 at work and have been looking for a suitable gpl 
>>> replacement.  I was overjoyed when I saw this utility, but I must 
>>> admit that it is not very user friendly.  Perhaps I just haven't 
>>> acclimated yet, but I find that laying simple traces down is a chore.
>>>
>>>  >&
>>>  >Xcircuit?
>>>  >http://bach.ece.jhu.edu/~tim/programs/xcircuit/
>>>
>>> Would you recommend xcircuit over gEDA's gschem?  I have used gschem 
>>> and it seems alright.  Full of features, but not very user friendly.  
>>> I want to say that I've tried xcircuit briefly, but I can't remember 
>>> exactly.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I'll briefly cover PCB during my presentation on the 21st, mainly for 
>> simple circuits.  I've made a number of single sided PC boards for 
>> serial interface and sensor circuits.  It takes a bit to learn, but is 
>> quite capable.  It also suffers from the fact that development largely 
>> stopped for a while and has recently been taken over by a new developer.
>>
>> The only other software I know of that is similarly capable, but yet 
>> still free is the free for non-commercial use version of Eagle.
>>
>> Haven't used xcircuit or gschem, so I can't comment on them.
>>
>> Stephen Klein
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
> 
> _______________________________________________
> https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> 
> 

I forgot to mention earlier that Eagle has a schematic drawing feature 
that's supposed to help with placing components on a PCB.

As for how I draw my schematics, I really don't (for better of for 
worse).  So far I've either worked off of publicly available circuit 
schematics and just drew my own artwork, or just kinda used the PCB 
artwork I was working on as THE schematic.  Not the best way I admit, 
most of the PCBs I've made had simple enough circuits that I could get 
away with it.  Though there have been a number of times it has caused me 
to get all the way to soldering components before realizing that there 
was a mistake (or two, or three), but the circuits I'm working on are 
largely one-off designs for my own use, and if I have to cut traces and 
then solder jumpers to fix it that's fine with me.  Generally though, I 
will actually fix the design afterwards, even though I probably will 
never make another board with it.

I guess I'll have to add to my PCB presentation.  I was only going to 
briefly cover it, but since theres some interest I'll expand it somewhat.

Stephen Klein