This is actually my 1st post so "hello everyone!"
Just curious of what are people using nowadays for PCB.
I use Altium Designer 2004, been using it since it was called Protel. Never really tried anything else in a serious way.

 

Hello,

Take a look at this thread :
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=17238

Greetings,
Bertus

 

Are you asking for recommendations in a professional setting or for a hobby setting?

Professional Usage (expensive):
Altium Designer -- growing usage in the US
PADS -- very widespread among professionals
Allegro -- large companies have this
DxDesigner -- many professionals use
Pulsonix-- Leon would be happy to sing the praises: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PulsonixUG/
OrCad -- no longer available
PCAD -- no longer available
BAE -- European

Hobby:
Eagle
geda
wincad
easy-PC
various others

 

gEDA/PCB.

See my gEDA tools at http://tinyurl.com/67k3hn

My footprint library is there as well.

(* jcl *)

 

I'm currently using PADS and have been for quite some time. I've used Altium for several projects and found it quite frustrating to get it to work as I wanted, might be because I was too old to learn new things

 

Hi.

The Software for PCB designing are:-

Or-Cad.
P-Cad.
Protel. etc

I am working in P-Cad and design PCBs,
Schematics & Layout.
In this software we can create new symbols, foot print. etc
Easy to manage library.

if PCB designing is your hobby then try
circutemaker2000
nice and small software.
you can easily simulate your design.

Best of luck.

 

The Software for PCB designing are:-

Or-Cad.
P-Cad.
Protel. etc

All three of those either do not exist any more or are no longer supported by their makers. If this is for a hobby then this migh tnot be bad news since you can get them for cheap from someone who has upgraded or switched to a currently supported system.

 

Don't forget FreePCB. Easy to learn, well supported. Good stuff.

Oh, and free.

 

Hi All,

I am looking into Sch/PCB design SW. Narrowed down choice between Altium and Pulsonix.
Is there anyone that has experience in both? I would appreciate quick feedback.

P.S. A well known gentleman named Leon, proven religious worshiper of Pulsonix need not reply. Thanks.

 

Hi,

Our company just recently migrated from Altium Designer, Pulsonix and Eagle to one tool. This is the new OrCAD. We have now a constraint management tool and a database with all component information. We are a small company with only 4 engineers. Before all of us used the tool of our choice (which was price). But the new OrCAD has Allegro technology under the hood and costs less than Altium. I was using Altium before and after 3 months working with OrCAD I will never go back to the toy tools. It is much faster to work with a real PCB tool. We only do 150 MHz boards with a little CPU and FPGA, but the development time is down from 12 weeks to 5-6 weeks. Just because it is so convinient.

Don't believe the Altium blabla, OrCAD is not dead, it is killing Altium, that is why they are so afraid of it.