No good free PCB design software? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Fulcrum
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 07:28:24 pm
content: I have long wondered why there are no free good-quality PCB design software alternatives? Photoshop has GIMP, Microsoft Office has OpenOffice, the world of 3D design has Blender, game designers have Unity, etc. I'm currently using Target3001, a quite frankly god-awful piece of software that often doesn't work and has bits of german text here and there, especially in its component database, which isn't even all that big. The documentation is laughable. Often outdated, and written incredibly unprofessionally. More often than not it doesn't answer what I needed to know and I will have to send and email to the developer.This turned into a rant about Target3001, but back to my question. Where's the good free alternatives? You're all very welcome to come with suggestions. I think I will have to migrate to a different software package for my next project...

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 07:34:20 pm
content: Eagle, Diptrace, Kicad, Autotrax have free versions

author: Fulcrum
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 07:42:35 pm
content: Quote from: kripton2035 on April 22, 2016, 07:34:20 pmYeah, free versions, but at what cost? I don't wish to use a stripped-down version of a normally costly software. What I'm talking about is free alternative software on par with their expensive counterparts.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 08:17:38 pm
content: Circuitmaker.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 08:20:13 pm
content: Quote from: Fulcrum on April 22, 2016, 07:42:35 pmSerious Photoshop uses will die laughing if you tell them that GIMP is an alternative to PS.Same goes for OO vs MS Office. That's based on my personal experience.Blender is a good alternative (apart from different UI, which some don't like), but most of the actual development there happens on corporate money.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 08:30:13 pm
content: Quote from: Fulcrum on April 22, 2016, 07:42:35 pmHow would the developers of such software make living?

author: apelly
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 08:38:11 pm
content: If you want open, just suck it up and learn how to use KiCad. It's fine. Really. (actually it's awesome, but quirky) There's even an active community of users and a some good fora for support.If you just want free then stop whining; take your pick of what's available or pirate something. You'll need to learn how to use whatever you decide on, so it doesn't really matter what you pick. And there'll be parts of it that you think are shit.Quote from: ataradov on April 22, 2016, 08:20:13 pmStrongly disagree. OO/Libre Office are fine.IME a large company has maybe 5 power users that can use advanced features like page headers, TOCs, or, heaven forbid; bookmarks. For all but the most obscure cases the open source versions are to all intents and purposes equivalent.Andthey don't use M$'s ribbon-obscura.I used to prefer excel, but only because m$ made me learn vb script. I'm better off without it. But the open versions even do that these days.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 08:44:46 pm
content: Quote from: apelly on April 22, 2016, 08:38:11 pmThey are fine for plain text editing and basic formatting.Try enabling change tracking and side notes. It is a nightmare. We are talking professional quality, right?I don't use office at home at all, so OO is fine for opening occasional Word document. But at work, I do have to use all those advanced features and OO will not cut it at all.

author: stmdude
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 08:49:11 pm
content: Quote from: Bud on April 22, 2016, 08:30:13 pmThe same way we've been doing it for the last 33 years..Most of us have day-jobs. Some have jobs related to what we do in OSS, some don't. But, all of us work for a living (housing, food, etc costs money), and all of us write code because we like it, not to make money.Yep, I'm an OSS developer. I do it because I like it. I write proprietary software for a living.

author: eugenenine
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 08:57:49 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on April 22, 2016, 08:44:46 pmTry to use MSOffice it corrupting excel documents when you use the advanced features it has. I have to use it at work where they can pay for me to redo it but I won't trust any of my data to it.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 09:01:47 pm
content: Quote from: eugenenine on April 22, 2016, 08:57:49 pmI'm not saying that MS office is great, but it is the best thing we've got for realistic work environment.OO does not work when you need to exchange documents, which I do, for example. That's why I (and others) use side notes and tracked changes.OO is fine on its own, but its incompatibilities with Word make it unusable for cooperative work on a document.

author: DimitriP
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 09:16:07 pm
content: Quote from: stmdude on April 22, 2016, 08:49:11 pmSo...is there an open source alternative to the software you write for a living ?

author: apelly
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 09:23:48 pm
content: Quote from: ataradov on April 22, 2016, 08:44:46 pmInteresting. Don't want to derail this topic. New thread:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/in-your-opinion-what-makes-libreopen-office-less-capable-than-m$-office/Edit: Fix url. Also, I see the thread has already been hijacked. Bugger

author: blacksheeplogic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 10:57:18 pm
content: Quote from: Fulcrum on April 22, 2016, 07:28:24 pmIf you think they are that bad and deserving of this post, where is your better alternative you've spent possibly thousands of hours developing for FREE, or what time and resources are you giving for FREE toward improving one of these tools?

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2016, 11:19:29 pm
content: Quote from: Fulcrum on April 22, 2016, 07:42:35 pmDesignSpark PCB

author: Fulcrum
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2016, 12:44:34 am
content: Quote from: blacksheeplogic on April 22, 2016, 10:57:18 pmHad it only been free. Which it is not. Sure, they have a limited free version, but that doesn't get you far.I see that I must have touched upon a sensitive topic for this thread to garner so many emotional replies. And thanks to all the people that came with recommendations!

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 23, 2016, 09:03:30 am
content: Quote from: apelly on April 22, 2016, 09:23:48 pmI guess that the opening sentense, and the dollar sign in the microsoft name set it up as a 'to-be-hijacked' thread?

author: miceuz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2016, 09:20:49 am
content: Quote from: Fulcrum on April 22, 2016, 07:42:35 pmYou really don't know what KiCad is? It has improved radically over the last couple of years and it's open source.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2016, 09:29:18 am
content: And things like DipTrace and Eagle aren't stripped down. With DipTrace, the only restriction is in the max number of pins/pads/layers, which is quite reasonable. With Eagle, it's a size restriction.Kicad is open source, 100% free.

author: MT
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2016, 09:55:06 pm
content: What about P99SE, does it not count even as obsoleteware?

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2016, 06:41:23 am
content: Quote from: MT on April 25, 2016, 09:55:06 pmit's not free.

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2016, 09:33:36 am
content: Diptrace. Free version policy is reasonable in its limitations and paid versions are reasonably priced (IIRC the ultimate-all-unlocked version is like 750€ or thereabouts)Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk.

author: Robaroni
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2016, 11:25:45 pm
content: Quote from: stmdude on April 22, 2016, 08:49:11 pmYes, but that's you. I don't expect to get a very good program for free. I love designing circuits but giving everything away for free... I don't think so. I give back to the community but it's nice to get a paycheck too.To the original poster. Don't get a program because it's free. The time it takes to learn a program is an expense to YOU. Do some research, read through the forums for interesting programs and see how the people using them feel after they've been into them for awhile, you'll learn a lot.Rob