Electrical Design Software??

[gottaluvlasers]

Any reccomendations for electrical design software? I dont need a $2000 program. something simplistic with most of the shit we use for projectors. DSUB connectors, switches- ya know the basics.

I am trying "edraw" but not very impressed with it so far

Any advice?

Thanks!

[epyn]

Cadsoft Eagle
Ti-Tina
National Instruments Multisim
DipTrace
etc.

All of these programs are mostly electric circuit designer PCB makers and simulation environment
All programs have educational/evaluation or free demo versions to try.

[VDX]

... I'm using Target: http://server.ibfriedrich.com/wiki/i...itle=Main_Page

The free version is limited for 250 pads max. and one schematics sheet, but not crippled in size as Eagle ...

Viktor

[CountFunkula]

+1 for Eagle & TI-TINA

TINA is AWESOME for quick simulations.

[ekeefe]

Hello,

For simple projects I use ExpressPCB. It has both schematic and PCB layout software and it is free. Here is a link.

http://www.expresspcb.com/

Here are links to some of the boards I have made using ExpressPCB:

http://www.comx35.com/superboard.html
http://www.cosmacvip.com/VIP2/VIP2.php



I also use Pad2Pad for PCBs, no schematic with this one though:

http://www.pad2pad.com/

Here are links to some of the boards I have made using Pad2Pad:

http://www.cosmacvip.com/avi1861/avi1861.html
http://www.cosmacvip.com/SMVIP/SMVIP.php



I also use Diptrace for more involved projects. It also has both schematic and PCB layout software. It is not free, but has a 30-day trial with all features and libraries. I use this when I need to generate Gerber file based PCBs.

http://www.diptrace.com/

I hope this was helpful,

ED

[masterpj]

+1 for eaglecad.
LT spice is recommended for advanced circuit simulation and to my recollection is free. *but not super easy to use*

[JD3]

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/product...n/packages.htm

was looking at this yesterday.. im sure its expensive...

[araugh]

Solidworks is excellent but not for PCB design, Altium is the way to go for that.

[gottaluvlasers]

Thank you ALL very much. I should have been more clear. this is for design and schematics only (simulated testing of circuits is a plus, but not reqd.). NO pcb design is needed. (yet). Does this change anyones reccs?

[JasonB]

Hey Marc,

I use AutoDesk AutoCAD Electrical for my schematic design, however, I think it is very expensive. Even AutoCAD light works well, I used then when working for a custom automation house 15 years ago... I would look into AutoCAD light. I've got drawings of 9 and 25 pin D-Subs, power supplies, switches, relays, etc, etc in .dwg format which could be exported to .dxf (like a vector file that any AutoDesk application can read) ....

If you get a copy of CAD let me know, I can hunt down some symbols that could be useful for designing and documenting projector wiring....

-Jason