Favorite free PCB design tool

[abdullahseba]

just to see which is most popular. 
I use most of them but mainly Diptrace.
The only one I don't use is EAGLE and KiCad.
Poll sorted in to what I think is best.
Circuit might be the best but as it is cloud reliant I don't think so, but it is very good.
In case you never heard of AutoTRAX DEX or TARGET 3001! here is the website: http://kov.com/ ibfriedrich.com

AutoTRAX DEX only cost £30.92! for the unlimited version .
can any one beat that for such a good program?
I got it for £20 at a offer they had on Christmas.
TARGET 3001!: £2630.95
EAGLE £1490.53
Diptrace: £564.87

[M4trix]

Where is Altium Designer? Frankly, I never used any of those on the list. 

[c4757p]

Where is Altium Designer? Frankly, I never used any of those on the list. 

Altium Designer is free?

[M4trix]

Oops! I missed the free in the topic!  Sorry.

* M4trix embarrassed...

[abdullahseba]

Where is Altium Designer? Frankly, I never used any of those on the list. 

Altium Designer is not free

[Tandy]

I try and use KiCAD even though it is a bit quirky because I like the idea of an open system. Not only is it free for hobbyists to use but the open source nature of it means that it is possible to modify the software itself.

I would like to see KiCAD gain more acceptance and wish it had a good funding model like RedHat and other open source projects that can afford to have a dedicated paid team to work on it.

[briselec]

what about gEDA?

[c4757p]

gEDA has what, three users?

[abdullahseba]

what about gEDA?

gEDA only works on Linux and MAC OS X.

[Mike Warren]

Oops! I missed the free in the topic!  Sorry.

* M4trix embarrassed...

So did I.

I made a post about the tool I use and the noticed the "free" in the poll title. However, it doesn't say free in the topic title.

So don't  feel embarrassed.

[abdullahseba]

Oops! I missed the free in the topic!  Sorry.

* M4trix embarrassed...

So did I.

I made a post about the tool I use and the noticed the "free" in the poll title. However, it doesn't say free in the topic title.

So don't  feel embarrassed.

are you embarrassed now?

[Mike Warren]

are you embarrassed now?

No. I deleted my post since it wasn't what the OP was interested in.

[Mr.B]

I used Eagle free version for years, so that was my vote.
I currently have a paid license for Eagle because I needed to make a board that was bigger than their 80mm free version limit.
I know there are much better packages out there... It is an often argued subject on this forum.
The biggest issue for me is the learning curve for another package, so I just stick with Eagle - warts n all...

[leppie]

What about DesignSpark?

[abdullahseba]

What about DesignSpark?

I have added it.
I forgot about it as I have used it a few times only.
I don't really like the GUI.
It is at the bottom of the poll as I can't rearrange it otherwise I would put it after TARGET 3001!.

[free_electron]

if it needs ot be free ... i'd use easytrax ( Altiums great great great granddaddy ). it may be almost 30 years old but at least it is something that works right. and you can run it on a 386 with a simple VGA adapter in 1024x768 under dos 5.0 and it'll blow the socks off any windows or unix based program in terms of speed and usability.  (don't look at dave's 'emulated' dos environment in his video on the old logic analyser he made. that doesn't do it justice as the dos emulator is crap. run it on a real pc under dos without all the emulation junk in the way. it is very fast.  i made many boards with it back in the days . )

[abdullahseba]

if it needs ot be free ... i'd use easytrax ( Altiums great great great granddaddy ). it may be almost 30 years old but at least it is something that works right. and you can run it on a 386 with a simple VGA adapter in 1024x768 under dos 5.0 and it'll blow the socks off any windows or unix based program in terms of speed and usability.  (don't look at dave's 'emulated' dos environment in his video on the old logic analyser he made. that doesn't do it justice as the dos emulator is crap. run it on a real pc under dos without all the emulation junk in the way. it is very fast.  i made many boards with it back in the days . )

http://www.lupinesystems.com/easytrax/

[Karel]

what about gEDA?

gEDA only works on Linux and MAC OS X.

So?? Some other packages work only on one platform. At least gEDA works on two platforms.

[abdullahseba]

what about gEDA?

gEDA only works on Linux and MAC OS X.

So?? Some other packages work only on one platform. At least gEDA works on two platforms.

True but It still isn't main stream and I haven't fully tried it yet   

[abdullahseba]

No one used TARGET3001! ?

[Tandy]

I can honestly say I had never even heard of TARGET3001 let alone used it until you mentioned it.

I would argue that a community around a free package is among the most important reasons people choose it. A free package doesn't come with support so the user has to rely on asking other users for help. Eagle has a big user base by virtue of the fact that there has been a free version for a long time. KiCAD has a growing user base due to it being fully open source.

Most people would be hard pressed to find the amount of resources such as tutorials, libraries, projects etc as you get for those two packages. As a result you would have to have a good reason to choose something else. It could be that you have used a commercial version of the package but now for your personal use have the free version as you are very familiar with it. It could be some killer feature that you just must have, but otherwise most people are going to go with the crowd in the knowledge that if they get stuck there is probably someone who can help them out.

[Sigmoid]

You should add Fritzing too. It's a very entry-level tool (as in focused on children and artists), and a bit buggy, but it definitely exists, supported quite heavily in the Arduino space, and is definitely free.

what about gEDA?

gEDA only works on Linux and MAC OS X.

So?? Some other packages work only on one platform. At least gEDA works on two platforms.

It's not that. gEDA is quite thoroughly stuck in the 80s. It may be great if you are the sort of person who doesn't flinch at that - some may even see it as an advantage... but really, it still follows the "UX" design principles of the days of CP/M and the first Unixes.

I once tried wrapping my head around it, and it just didn't feel worth it. Not with KiCAD around, now capable of doing controlled impedance tracks and other high-end stuff like that.

[tom66]

I do a lot of work in gEDA. It's pretty powerful if you can work out its quirks.

TBH I've not used KiCAD so can't compare. If it's anything like Eagle though I'll hate it.

[timofonic]

I do a lot of work in gEDA. It's pretty powerful if you can work out its quirks.

TBH I've not used KiCAD so can't compare. If it's anything like Eagle though I'll hate it.

Try it. It's free!

I would like to know the feedback about KiCad from a long time gEDA user.

[nctnico]

I have used gEDA and PCB for some projects about a decade ago but it is extremely tedious to work with.