Program to make schematics - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: DavidDLC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 04:47:21 am
content: Hi, do you know a good freeware to make schematics that can be saved on pdf format ?Please do not mention Eagle, since I cannot use it on my computer.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 04:51:37 am
content: I use Qucs for simulations and stuff. (Not very much, as it's a lot more fun to play with real components.) For drawing schematics, I generally use paper and scanner since I use a lot of "special" parts.

author: DavidDLC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 05:07:14 am
content: Nihao xie xie.I forgot to mention I have Windows 7.

author: DJPhil
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 05:07:54 am
content: For a quick and dirty schematic there's a few options.I have a copy ofKlunkyI use. It can be used online or as a download.LTSpiceand other free spice simulators can give you a nice schematic to work with.You can always use screen capture (print screen key copies to clipboard, paste into drawing program like paint) or window capture (same but with alt + pscr) to get a picture to work with, and then embed it into a pdf. I'm not sure I know of anything that has a native pdf export.Hope that helps.

author: MrPlacid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 05:30:19 am
content: For exporting to PDF, i use CutePDF. Every time you want to print something, you press the print in the application you want, and then select the Cute PDF writer as the printer. Instead of printing to a real printer, it'll make a pdf file for you.

author: DavidDLC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 05:56:16 am
content: Thanks for the replies, I just installed CutePDF and is promising.Please keep giving recommendations.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 07:26:22 am
content: there is also expressPCB that is a full schematic and PCB layout software although of course you can just use it for the schematic, there is also KiCAD but that is probably over the top for what you want. I usually use "PrimoPDF printer" to export any document to PDF format

author: lhc
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 08:16:02 am
content: I recomend PDFCreator, works great, has many advanced features and its free (and open source)http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 08:26:41 am
content: PDFCreator is my choice of PDF programs since it can export to other formats including PNG, TIF and SVG, the latter is still a bit buggy though.

author: PeterG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 08:52:56 am
content: I use Windows 7 and Mac OSX, both work well with Eagle (Free Version). Eagle is one of a very short list that work on both platforms.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2010, 10:42:14 am
content: That's one of the good things about Eagle.Kicad and LTSpice should also work on a Mac as well as Windows XP and above. I don't know about other programs, gEAD probable will you'll probably need to compile it.