18 Mar
2008
18 Mar
'08
10:04 p.m.
On Mar 18, 2008, at 6:48 PM, Andrew Lynch wrote:
Hi Dave,
I did try gEDA about a year ago and I recall having problems finding
the
Zilog chips supported by the library. Maybe that has changed?
I downloaded the Eagle freeware version just to test drive it. I
was able
to make a rough layout of the SBC with out the chips placed on the
schematic.
Of course, I would still have to connect all the wires and such but
at least
the bare minimum components seem to be present and supported. It
even gave
a crude layout of the PCB, again with no traces due to no connections.
Even with that simple Z80 SBC, it exceeded the capacity of the Eagle
free
version PCB.
I've been using the professional version of EagleCAD for a number of
years now and have been very happy with it. I've also been testing
the Beta version of 5.0 (which should be out any day now) and I've
found I can't go back to 4.1 (5.0 is *so* much better). So I find I'm
not working on my projects until 5.0 is *done*.
A couple of things about EagleCAD: It works on all of the popular
OS' (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X). Since it generates Gerber files,
you aren't limited to what board house you can have your project
fabbed at.
TTFN - Guy