Hey guys,

Wondering if anybody knows of any free PCB schematic software. Have been looking for a while but can't find anything decent.

Thanks

Hi Gillerire

I see you registered! Did you read my last post at AAR that your 433 MHz transmitter setup seems to be working as it should be?

About Eagle: I use the freebie version but I find it really lacking in everyday parts we can buy here in Australia and from the USA. There are close matches in the parts library and you can download user defined libraries from their website, but sometimes these are too specific and never seem to be exactly what you want! Also, using the library editor to make your own parts is so frustrating and very difficult at first, and why can't copy and paste work for copying parts specifications around instead of needing to type in "command lines"? And why can't I put surface mount parts on the bottom layer (hmm, maybe I need to "mirror" the part on the board layout to get it to flip down to the bottom layer?)

As time has passed I have added my own parts so now it's not too bad, but at first it's really a problem. Oh, and I always use inches measurements not millimetres – I notice that nearly all parts are still manufactured in inches dimensions so you will get more joy sticking with the old measure, except for some modern parts that use 2mm pin spacing, for example.

I'm never going to buy Eagle simply because of the problems with a lack of useful parts in the library (there's just too many weirdo parts I have never heard of and will never use), and also because the free version doesn't even hint that actuallying buying the product will offer me a better experience. There's nothing in the product blurb that says "more parts, more functionality" – all it says is "unlimited board size and unlimited schematic sheets". So what? It means I have paid big moolah and still have a lot of work ahead to make the product useful. At the end of the day you're still pushing sh** uphill, but only now it's a bigger hill.

The only saving grace of Eagle is that it's free…

Rod

Hi Gillerire

Eagle is for building PCB's so it doesn't do perf-board layouts or any other wirewrapping style of layout. Eagle does do what it calls forward/back annotation which means that changing the schematic dynamically modifes the components that go on the board  (but not re-routing of tracks!), while only certain types of changes to the board will back-affect the schematic.

The freebie version of Eagle gives you auto-routing but I have actually stopped using it recently because my personal PCB production facility (my kitchen sink and garage) gives the best success with single-sided boards and Eagle's auto-router really just isn't up to the job unless it is allowed to do double-sided. And besides, CADSoft charges an arm for the auto-routing in their non-freebie versions.

Eagle will do schematics quite happily and the limit of one schematic sheet per 'project' schematic/board file pair is not an issue if all you want is the schematics because you can have as many project files as you like! Just append each project filename with 1, 2, 3, etc. for each of your sub-schematic sheets. With the freebie version limit of a 3×4 inch board it means that even if you could have multiple schematics per board, fitting more than one shematic of common normal-sized components onto such a small board becomes near impossible.

I have downloaded the Circuit Wizard demo but not installed it. I was going to, then never did. It is probably a better product with more 'Australian' components what with it being made here in Australia. Maybe I should give it a go one day…

The thread in that same forum on AAR has some final ASCII art in a very late posting for how to connect up a PIC16F628A along with code that actually works – although the uC is only on the transmitting end, all you need to do is add a uC at the receiving end with UART functionality at 2400 baud. I didn't have Eagle installed when I did that schematic so I might do it up and post it here.

Cheers

Rod

I think I'll give eagle a go over the weekend.  I see they have recently update to version 5.0 which might mean it will work on Vista but I'm not holding my breath.

I did see you ASCII art thanks Rod.  I have it saved onto a .txt file on my desktop.

A while ago I decided that I would look at all the different types of microcontrollers and 'choose' one which I believed suited my needs and which I would stick with.  After doing reseach into PIC, ooPIC, AVR, PIC-AXE, etc I settled on AVR.

I thus will be implementing my version with an AVR micro.  I doubt it will end up much different.  Though I don't have any experiance setting up a UART as yet so will be interesting to see how that goes.  Probably end up here again to ask more questions