Is there a simple schematic drawing program out there?

Thanks
Russ

 

There are plenty of them. Just off the cuff LtSpice comes to mind. It will also run simulations. Like the rest there is a learning curve. Eagle is another. Really depends on what exactly you want the software to do.

Ron

 

Ms paint.

 

By 'Schematic' does this refer to Electronic circuitry, or Ladder style electrical drawings?
Free Kicad is one for electronics and very popular.
Max.

 

ExpressSCH is a free program and is paired with ExpressPCB. For quick simple schematics, it’s great.

 

If you are talking about wiring diagrams, how about this?

Edit: the thread title & first post imply two different concepts.

 

If you are talking about wiring diagrams, how about this?

.

They show IEC symbol library, Is there NEC library and ladder format also?
Max.

 

They show IEC symbol library, Is there NEC library and ladder format also?
Max.

I wouldn't know...I never used the program.

 

I would personally recommend DipTrace. My rating 9/10
After a few hours playing around it becomes easy to use and quite powerful. Possible to create user specific components with Pattern editor and Component editor. The forums are brilliant with plenty of users. Ask a question and you get a reply/many replies within a few hours. With the Freeware version pins are limited to <=300 pins. Have been using this for a couple of years and I don't think I would be converted to any other schematic/PCB design program.
I have tried and used Eagle - too complicated and difficult to use for a beginner. My rating 6/10
I have tried and used Kicad - it's ok, but think DipTrace is better. My rating 7/10
LTSpice - Tricky... with a steep learning curve but good for simulations - I had it on my PC for quite a while then tried to do an update and it failed to run. Tried reinstalling onto my Windows 10 Pro 64bit computer but keeps failing to run....don't know why! My rating (when it was working) 7/10
ExpressPCB - Used it for quite a few years and is good and easy to use but occassionally has some bugs, releases and updates are not very frequent, forums are not altogether helpful, sometimes have to wait ages for an answer to a question, I do not think not very many users using ExpressPCB. My rating 7/10

 

Hello,

I have gEDA, Kicad, qucs, ltspice and fritzing on my PC.
gEDA and qucs are linux programs, the others are for windows.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEDA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KiCad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quite_Universal_Circuit_Simulator
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTspice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzing

Here is also a comparison of EDA software on the wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_EDA_software

Bertus

 

Try Digikey SchemeIt.

https://www.digikey.com/schemeit/project/

 

Re: Ford
I had heard many good previously about Your suggessted DipTrace, thus downloaded it from the link You kindly gave, to play with. But Windows is telling .exe of their is unknown extension and cannot be opened by means of Windows internals. WTF??

 

Re: Ford
I had heard many good previously about Your suggessted DipTrace, thus downloaded it from the link You kindly gave, to play with. But Windows is telling .exe of their is unknown extension and cannot be opened by means of Windows internals. WTF??

What is the full file name of the download? You may have to set File Explorer to show details to see it. For example, it might be an archive file that needs to be extracted.

Another problem could be that the version you downloaded is NOT the Windows version. Hence the file header could not be recognized. Double check the download site.

A third possibility is that in actuality it is NOT DipTrace, but malware pretending to be DipTrace. Where did you download it from?

 

Hello,

You should be able to download diptrace from here:
https://diptrace.com/download/download-diptrace/

Bertus

 

Re: Ford
I had heard many good previously about Your suggessted DipTrace, thus downloaded it from the link You kindly gave, to play with. But Windows is telling .exe of their is unknown extension and cannot be opened by means of Windows internals. WTF??

Hi Janis59, click this link DipTrace you will then come to this screen...
and select DOWNLOADS, then Download DipTrace...



Then for Windows, select either 32bit or 64bit depending on your operating system...


The current version is 3.3.1.3 Dated March 5, 2019

The filename for the 64 bit version is 'dipfree_en64-3.3.1.3.exe' and is 154Mb in size.
Hope this helps

 

All the Diptrace examples, libraries appear to be geared for PCB schematic capture and layout, I couldn't see any for electrical drawings and ladder?
The question in #4 hasn't been answered.
Max.

 

All the Diptrace examples, libraries appear to be geared for PCB schematic capture and layout, I couldn't see any for electrical drawings and ladder?
The question in #4 hasn't been answered.

True, but the TS asked for a 'simple schematic drawing program'

Is there a simple schematic drawing program out there?

But the TS has not yet replied and perhaps he is asking for a simple schematic drawing program and PCB design program.

 

Is there a simple schematic drawing program out there?

Thanks
Russ

ExpressSCH and ExpressPCB. Get the legacy version, which supports netlist linking to the PCB. If you don't care about that, the newer version has many more features.

 

ExpressSCH and ExpressPCB. Get the legacy version, which supports netlist linking to the PCB. If you don't care about that, the newer version has many more features.

Yes, ExpressSCH and ExpressPCB is good.
I used to use the Classic Version 7.8.0 but the Plus version still has some bugs and is still in development. Last release was November 2018.
I think they stopped development on the Classic version because it had problems running on some Windows operating systems.

 

I would personally recommend DipTrace. My rating 9/10
After a few hours playing around it becomes easy to use and quite powerful. Possible to create user specific components with Pattern editor and Component editor. The forums are brilliant with plenty of users. Ask a question and you get a reply/many replies within a few hours. With the Freeware version pins are limited to <=300 pins. Have been using this for a couple of years and I don't think I would be converted to any other schematic/PCB design program.
I have tried and used Eagle - too complicated and difficult to use for a beginner. My rating 6/10
I have tried and used Kicad - it's ok, but think DipTrace is better. My rating 7/10
LTSpice - Tricky... with a steep learning curve but good for simulations - I had it on my PC for quite a while then tried to do an update and it failed to run. Tried reinstalling onto my Windows 10 Pro 64bit computer but keeps failing to run....don't know why! My rating (when it was working) 7/10
ExpressPCB - Used it for quite a few years and is good and easy to use but occassionally has some bugs, releases and updates are not very frequent, forums are not altogether helpful, sometimes have to wait ages for an answer to a question, I do not think not very many users using ExpressPCB. My rating 7/10

Absolutely agree. I am using DipTrace for years and am happy with this tool.