Schematic/PCB Design for Linux?

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?"

Comments

This is what pisses me off...

[RingDev]

about the whole open source movement.

"$400 price tag to exceed this limit, it is time to consider a Free Open Source Software alternative."

So in other words, you're not willing to pay the programmers who support their families for this product, and you are not willing to donate anything to an Open Source project.

You sir, are a leech. You want a product for free, not because of a moral issue, a desire for community support, accessible developers, or any other OS reason. No, you want an OS product because your greedy little heart wants something for free.

-Rick

A little over the top? maybe, but I've had a crappy week. I'm going to go home, get drunk, and forget the last 4 Mondays.

Re:This is what pisses me off...

[Hosiah]

A little over the top? maybe, but I've had a crappy week. I'm going to go home, get drunk, and forget the last 4 Mondays.

God, I hope you took double shots! Uh, lissen, we can't keep it free(freedom) without keeping it free(price). And we can't give it away and then cuss people out for accepting it.

We couldn't possibly fit all the users of every product into it's developer base, anyway. You'd spend 90% of the release cycle answering emails.

Hmmm... sounds like your priorities are a bit off

[rco3]

I'd try to feel sorry for you, but having just spent $775 to get the full-on Professional version of Eagle (with Linux and OS X licenses), I just can't muster any pity. I earn money by using Eagle. You can get a 100mm x 160mm, 4 layer version of Eagle for $125, as long as you aren't making a profit using it. If you are making a profit with it, either you can afford to upgrade to a for-profit version, or else you aren't charging enough for your work. You can also upgrade at any time with full credit for previous versions.

Now, I'm sure that all the gEDA people will tell you that you can help make their project do all you need it to... but I'm not really a programmer, nor do I have the time to become one - I'm busy earning money to feed my baby. I've contributed (a very small amount of) code to the kernel, I've contributed financially to open-source projects... but there isn't always a viable open-source solution to your software needs. That's when you need to pay someone for software that already works.

You want to design boards using Linux, you probably need to be using Eagle. Sorry. Consider either a) using the non-profit version or b) getting the for-profit version but not the autorouter - Eagle's is very good indeed (FAR better than Protel's, IMHO), but you'll almost always get better results hand-routing anyway.

Frankly, even at $400 Eagle is a bargain.

Time to evaluate what your time is worth

[stevesliva]

When I find myself using some crappy free version of software that I know I can just buy, I often just wish I'd spent the money and saved the time.

If you're designing PCBs, $400 should be chump change-- right? I'm used to EDA packages that cost well over six figures per seat.

It's probably not for a hobby

[technoextreme]

Reading Eagle's website I realized that they actualy offer a cheaper (Read $125.00) version for people who are using Eaglecad for non-profit purposes.

PCSB/Schematic CAD for Linux

[goodie3shoes]

I think the simple answer is that there is no package available that meets the poster's needs. Those that are available at no cost (FOSS) don't have the ease of use and power that's requested. Eagle seems to be the only thing close to the price range. I haven't used it; I have used "pcb" with success. Its interface is a little funky, but not counter-intuitive. And it is under active development, with a user group list that sends me 20+ emails a day. In particular the requirement for autorouting presents a high barrier. It's a high-end feature, but not really necessary for simple boards. A human being will almost always come up with a better layout than a machine, and for analog boards, autorouting is useless, because the design rules cannot be taught to the machine. If, as some have surmised, the person who originated the inquiry is a woman, the sometimes harsh and dismissive tone of some posts on this topic leaves me no doubt as to why there seem to be so few women involved with Linux. My thanks to those who have posted helpful suggestions.

Re:$400? Get real

[rco3]

I've used Protel and Eagle on the same basic design, and found that Eagle's autorouter is both faster and less crappy than Protel's - especially the first few updates of Protel DXP, which had an awful autorouter. Protel kept leaving loops, routing all the way around the world to get next door, and took forever to do it. I wouldn't use autoplacing for anything important, so I'm not really concerned about that "lack".

Basically, I have to cordially disagree completely with your assessment of Eagle. It isn't the best interface in the world, but the number of bugs and the performance are far better in my experience than you've described. I intentionally and preferably use it over Protel all the time.

I guess that's why they call them opinions.