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Schematic/PCB Design for Linux?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the for-future-hardware-manufacturers dept.

VanessaDannenberg asks: "Occasionally, I have been known to design the occasional circuit board. I've been using Eagle, but with the board size limit of 3x4 inches in the free version, and a $400 price tag to exceed this limit, it is time to consider a Free Open Source Software alternative. Not being a Linux programmer myself, I have checked into and ruled out gEDA, KiCAD, Electric, XCircuit, and a host of others as being too incomplete to replace Eagle. My requirements are pretty basic: Draw a schematic, make a board out of it, edit and autoroute it, export to Gerber, and do it all natively within Linux. So, with this in mind, what suggestions do you folks have?"

5 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Buy Eagle by coderpunk · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Eagle has a nice range of licenses based on what you are using it for. If you are doing professional designs then the $400 investment is a pretty darn good price. If you aren't doing serious work then break your design up into 4x3 boards and stack 'em. Actually, the 4x3 limit is kinda nice. Makes you use smaller parts and better designs... .cp

  2. $400 is cheap when you spend more on components! by NekoXP · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    If you can't afford $400 for the CAD software how on earth do you expect afford production?

  3. PCB123 by grexin · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    The only program I have found that satisfies your requirements (except the linux part) is PCB123 (PCB123.com)

    It looks like someone is trying to get it to work under Wine:

    http://www.winehq.org/hypermail/wine-bugs/2004/06/ 0125.html

    Since this bug is so old maybe it has been fixed by now.

    Of course the downside of PCB123 is that you don't get a Gerber file, you are required to use the PCB123 board fabrication services. I personally think they are pretty good so don't mind being tied to one vendor.

  4. Eagle is hard to beat by ecloud · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It's full-featured and affordable. Yes if it was open source, you could try to make it better, but it's good enough already.

    PCB does not do routing but is sortof passable for laying out by hand. Even for that though, I like Eagle much better.

    Or you can use one of those board houses that provide the software for free (PCB Express and another I can't remember) but those are Windows programs. With Eagle, you have more choices where to get the boards made. I've heard good things about Olimex if you need to keep costs down, and aren't in a big hurry.

    Or you can use Inkscape and then write a program to convert SVG to g-code or Gerber or whatever. This is one of my "some day" back-burner projects. I have a CNC micro-mill and would like to be able to mill arbitrary 2D designs. Inkscape is not optimized for PCB layout but could probably be used that way in a pinch.

  5. Re:Good luck! by Ramses0 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I don't know jack about PCB design, but wouldn't the internet qualify? :^)

    --Robert