Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "logicresearch"
<logicresearch@...> wrote:
>
> Anybody here ever used Altium?
> 
> Daryl.
>
I use Protel 99SE (with SP6) which was probably the last affordable
software from them.  It is pretty capable, has only a few minor bugs
that can be easily worked around once you know them.  It will handle
more layers than I can ever imagine using, and has no other particular
limits.  It can do (shudder) blind and buried vias, which I've never
used.  I'm assembling an 8x12" board with 307 parts on the back and
407 parts on the front, I think.  I am using everything from SOW-20 to
some chip-scale parts on it, and it handled them all quite well.  It
also can create solder stencils, pick and place files and test files.

I bought an old version of Protel for Windows from a guy in the
Netherlands and then upgraded to the current version through Altium.
Unfortunately, they don't support Protel 99 anymore, and the new
Altium Designer package is insanely expensive, with very little
improvement for the work I do.

Jon