Eagle is horrible software

[Wilksey]

I use a selection of CAD packages, and I would prefer to use Proteus over say,the new Altium Circuit Studio offering as I have said in a previous post, however, it is not just about "value for money" with a design tool, if you are starting out and never used one before then fair enough, go for Diptrace or <insert another CAD package here> it is about what you are comfortable using and what you / your company are using.

I have used EAGLE for quite a number of years now, and yes, there are better value packages around etc, but I also use Proteus and Altium Designer, even KiCAD at home, and I have gotten used to all of their quirks and oddities, they all have them, and I am happy using any of those 4 to do design work.

I have used DipTrace, and although, a decent package, a few quirks some say they add better usability, but again, it depends what yo are used to, I had no requirement to learn another entry level package.

The only package I would like to learn more about is OrCAD, I have used Design Spark for a brief period of time, and didn't really get on with it, and the more powerful Pulsonix, which again, I didn't get on with.

I have used CADSTAR (which I detest) and Ranger XL in previous lives, they can all produce valid PCB artwork, and if you have a part library built for one, that is proven to be correct, you would have to start all over again going to a new package.

If you don't like a package, use a different one, you will find one that works for you eventually.

[ben7]

I have used $100k software that is just as quirky. I have been in the motion picture business for a little over 20 years which is built on expensive specialty software and they all have major annoyances. My present normal day is split between SolidWorks, Eagle, and Atmel Studio. While Eagle is definitely the weirdest, just focus on the task and learn the workarounds. I have done some complex designs in Eagle and have learned it well enough to like it. I friend of mine got so upset with the various software stupidity at his company that he could not get anything done. He spent all of his time calling for support and complaining on forums - he went out of business. I will throw in my $.02, but I will not let quirks slow me down. There are SO many people making high quality PCB's with Eagle every day, if you are having issues it's your fault for not learning it.

When I can actually commit a ton of time to learning a new tool, I would not hesitate to move up. For now, I am getting PCB's done and have had ZERO failures, very few crashes and the ULP library continues to add great features. The user community is huge and very helpful as well.

I can totally agree with what you say. I'm not trying to bash any people who don't like eagle, but I think eagle is great. Yeah, it could have some nicer features in it, but it gets the job done. I too had to get over the hill when learning how to use eagle. But now I don't have much trouble (if at all) with it. The ULP's are nice, you can make custom tools with them. And then you can set a keyboard shortcut to run them at your leisure

I haven't tried any other packages yet, but I'll never know, I might like them better. But eagle is good for now, and with a new package I'd have to learn how to do everything in it, which would take a while (and a number of headaches xD)

-Ben

[workwithme]

I don't think it was mentioned in the thread already, but Upverter has an open source community edition for hobbyists.

https://upverter.com/community/

[rx8pilot]

E14 is the only one I know of. I have never seen a well organized searchable ULP database. Its a bit of a chore to sift through the options. So far I have found some gems like DXF import, BOM tools, re-number components, resize all text, and more. I also use Sunstone for DRC. In general, closing out a design for manufacturing is pretty quick and totally predictable.

[nctnico]

I feel compelled to point out that you can rent Orcad PCB Designer annually for no more than the cost of maintenance. I pay about £600/yr to keep my copy up-to-date, including unlimited technical support.

That is good to know. I may go that route as well.
BTW I installed Eagle once, started it, scratched my head once or twice figuring out how to start a design and removed it. Altium is uber-complicated and it still can't do simple things like changing the font on a symbol. But maybe I'm too stuck with Orcad schematic entry after 25 years 

[DerekG]

BTW I installed Eagle once, started it, scratched my head once or twice figuring out how to start a design and removed it.

Cadsoft is currently under lots of pressure to pick up their game. If they don't do this quickly, EAGLE will die a slow death:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/altium/altium-circuit-studio/msg629792/#msg629792

Altium is uber-complicated and it still can't do simple things like changing the font on a symbol.

Altium is relatively complicated because it offers so many options. You can certainly change the fonts of any text that is displayed, both in Schematic & in PCB.

[Wilksey]

http://blog.cadsoftusa.com/2015/03/eagle-won/

It seems that EAGLE still has a fairly large following.

[DerekG]

http://blog.cadsoftusa.com/2015/03/eagle-won/

It seems that EAGLE still has a fairly large following.

Yes, a user base built up over many years.

The current problem for CadSoft is that they are not selling many new seats & the average age of its user base gets older each year.

[Howardlong]

It's similar to when you see "most popular airline" when it just means they have a lot of people use it.

For example, the infamous Ryanair is apparently more than twice as popular as British Airways by passenger numbers. But I know which one I'd rather be on.

After about 15 years of using it, I still find everything in Eagle is a push against the flow. I've yet to find a reasonable and easily maintainable way to make it do a simple RF layout as a small part of a board for example, so that when you do a DRC it accepts that you really did want to do what you did without it forcing you to approve everything.

Or, say you want to have the option to have two different parts depending on version, have them overlapping each other on the board, with a DNP depending on version.

[MarkL]

Or, say you want to have the option to have two different parts depending on version, have them overlapping each other on the board, with a DNP depending on version.

I have done this with eagle.  What's the problem?