Lpc2000

Rob Jansen wrote:

>>    I do not have to many complaints about DXP or even the older Protel
>> 99.
>>    
>>
>
>Same over here. I use (used) Protel as a hobbyist, board designs are only
>one-of and for my own personal use. Therefor I was not to concerned about
>using an illegal version (as a plus I will tell others how good Protel is
>:-) )
>
>I am however getting into problems soon. I want to design a board for
>'commercial' use and that's definitely not taking place using any illegal
>software so I now have to search for other schematic entry and PCB design
>tools that I can use for this.
>Numbers and price will be this low that I cannot afford to buy Protel,
>Pulsonix or Orcad so I started looking at free (Linux based) tools for
>this.
>
>Anyone having experience with these kind of tools (which ones are
>available???). I need schematic entry plus PCB design for combined SMD and
>through hole mounting components. I can do without autorouting and 2
>  
>
You should be able to get a copy of EagleCAD for $400 per module: 
schematic, layout, autorouter.

While the Eagle libarian is not a glamorous as that of Protel or Orcad, 
it does the job.  I do consulting for embedded systems and often have to 
layout boards.  Eagle gave me what I needed: linux based (also available 
on Windows) PCB package which does inches/metric untils, up to 16 
layers, Gerber file output (what you send to the PCB house).

I did purchase the autorouter, but I've never found autorouters to be 
usefull, I had the money so I purchased the entire Eagle package for 
$1200 a few years ago.

Upgrades are fairly inexpensive, last upgrade cost me $300 ($100 per 
module).

You can find them at: http://cadsoft.de   They have a free version 
(limited board size and one sheet schematic) so you can try them out.

TomW



>layers should be enough (4 is nice) and it must be able to export
>datafiles for production (never did this before).
>And before I forget: I do not like to use the "1000 pin limit demo
>versions", I always tend to need just that one pin more ...
>
>Rob - would buy Protel/DXP if I could afford it
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>Yahoo! Groups Links
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-- 
Tom Walsh - WN3L - Embedded Systems Consultant
http://openhardware.net, http://cyberiansoftware.com
"Windows? No thanks, I have work to do..."
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