Cadsoft eagle alternative

[seavote]

i've been tinkering with eagle for about a month but find nothing intuitive. i know many users will advice me to "stick with it". i might stick with it . i have assembled some tutorial material and could make a go of it now, but i'd prefer to see what else is available befor i invest the time needed to learn eagle. something with a shorter learning curve? any ideas for programs i should try. i'd rather concentrate my efforts on learning electronics. thanks

 

[Rochey]

My experience is that all cad tools have a sharp learning curve.

Believe or not, a lot of pro's rely on Eagle. It's worth the effort

/R

 

[FerrariT]

aye,
I've been doing the same.
Actually I've played with eagle,altium, and isis [proteus 7] [learning curve seems pretty much the same = steep] [i guess like any other cad software]

the issue that is annoying to me is the component libraries in all of them.
you'd figure the library would be choke stocked full of simple things at all the common values one would need? [such as a capacitor]

alas you have to create the component, which is the part that has me annoyed very much.
i havent decided on which i will go forward with though.

expresspcb looked easier from what I was reading but seeing how it doesn't export to gerber, i chuckled and clicked the little x @ the top of mozilla!

 

[Ptownkid]

If you go to www.instructables.com you will find step by step tutorials on how to accomplish all the important eagle tasks.

I did these and was laying out boards with customs components in a few days.

 

[Echo North]

+1 on what Ptown said.

Mike

 

[aomahana]

Try Sprint Layout. Unlike the others, fun to use ....

 

[12afael]

Eagle work well to me, it covers all the basic needs for diy projects. protel let you have more flexibility but I feel it is too much for just a good hobby.

 

[Butterylicious]

Do you like free?
http://www.expresspcb.com/ExpressPCBHtm/Download.htm

I have not tried the PCB software because all I do is point to point tube stuff but the schematic part is very intuitive.  I have read that some folks don't like the PCB package because the output file is proprietary to ExpressPCB, but what would you expect for free.

 

[seavote]

looks like i may have to learn eagle. not such a bad problem(learning to use a great useful program). i'll most likely design only a few pcbs that i'll etch myself so i was looking for an easier way out. i looked at pcb express and like how easy it is to use. i dont need gerbers as i will be etching my own but i cant find a way to print out trace artwork from the pcb express software. any one know if its possible, or a workaround?  as for instructables, those are the tutorial materials i was talking about. i'll try to find some time to check them out and go through each step.  didnt get the answer i wanted but i know what i'll have to do now.
thanks for all your comments and opinions.
                                          chris v

 

[Ptownkid]

Did you check out the tutorials I mentioned?

 

[seavote]

ptown looked at them breifly. i just posted about 3 minutes befor your post. ive got other diy and other life things to do. the project im looking to design pcb for is probably a long way off but when im waiting to compile an order from mouser big enough to warrnt the shipping fees(i usual wait till i need at least $30-$40 of  components) i like to start planning future projects.