Hi !
Am I the only person here to have bought EasyPC from Number One systems in the UK? http://www.numberone.com/
I bought the 1000 pin version a while back, and upgrade to the latest release (one comes out every year!) about every 2-3 years for around USD $100 a time. I use it for hobby use, selling a few of the end products that result.
I think Farnell/Element14 may be offering some sort of cut-down free version of EasyPC? Not sure of the details.
I really like EasyPC (up to around V17, now). It does everything (and more) that I want in a PCB CAD package. I've never really tried anything else, so cannot compare. Like most people at the hobby level, having made the time and/or money investment in one package, I tend to stick with it!
Hear, Hear!
My copy is part–bought/part donated – I was given the old V15 Easy–PC Licence by the design engineer that formerly used it when one of my previous employers closed the Electronics Department there, and on explaining to Number One how I came in possession of it they agreed to allow me to keep the licence and buy future versions at the upgrade price!
I have made two replacement boards for Vintage Colour TVs with it as well as six designs for my friend at home, and more designs for me are in the pipeline!
There is a free version of "Easy–PC", by RS called Design Spark, now on Version 10, part crippled compared with "Easy–PC", (no usable auto–router or 'Reverse Engineering" tool for example), but I think it is still unrestricted for board size, pin and layer count!
I also bought sPlan 8.0 for my circuit–diagram work and nothing beats it for speed and versatility – if I want a diagram like a Philips G11 with pretty coloured circuit blocks and pastel tints I can make one easily !
I also bought Sprint Layout 6.0 for magazine PCBs where only artwork is available as the artwork can be traced over, and any mistakes made in the magazine artwork can be corrected at the layout stage!
I also bought "Circuit Wizard Professional" by New Wave Concepts but it seems they've now added some enormously expensive add–on to it you have to buy as they've crippled what was previously a full version!
Chris Williams