Anybody using Cadsoft Eagle?

[GainFreak]

Yes it's Win only.
Also from the same company I would recommend the schematics drawing software sPlan.

[Zozobra]

And on this topic I should really sit down and learn how to make things in diptrace as I have access to a CNC mill now so I ought to use it for at least PSU boards and silicootie laden things.

[KevinOConnor]

Hi Guys

I've used Eagle since about 2006, so I have an older version that was the Pro one for the time. I haven't seen a need to update it as it works well and I have extensive libraries of parts built up.

One thing you must do with any creative software is manually SAVE FREQUENTLY. This is the only way to avoid losing a lot of work. It is easy to get on a roll clicking and typing and moving parts etc and then have a program crash - a friend lost three hours of work that way.

Like any program, there is a learning curve but that depends on what your software experience is like already. When I learned Eagle there was a lot of basic computer stuff I did not know regarding file management and other things, so the hill was steeper.

There are little things to remember:
1. when laying out the schematic make sure the grid is set to 0.1" or the nets won't link to the component pins
2. before you select TEXT to add text to the board, select the layer that the text will be on. In older Eagle, the board wants to default text to the BOTTOM COPPER layer-16
3. you can change the grid to do moves of specific distance then reset the grid back to whatever your standard is
4. use a large grid or the default grid when first doing rough positioning of parts in the board editor.
5. when you group components to move them or anything else, turn all the layers on first
6. do things in small steps
7. DO NOT use the autorouter for audio circuits
8. You do not need ground planes or pours for tube circuits
9. sometimes incremental laying of the schematic and board works best so that if you have an overall layout in mind, you can make the software work for you instead of against you

Likely other things to keep in mind and you will evolve your own style for laying things out.

For very simple boards, you can go directly to the board editor and lay down components and pads, then use the LINE DRAW function to connect things but on the copper layers. When you do this, bring the line into the pad but not to its centre - Eagle won't allow the latter.

If you begin with schematic capture then have Eagle create the board (it only creates a group of parts sitting beside a default outline), you must turn on both each subsequent time or they will not be annotated together, i.e.e they will not match.

It is bags of fun. As one who never played video games, this is as close as I get and it results in useful things.

Have fun