software for drawing schematics on a PC

[Heywood Jablome]

I know there are many packages that design PCBoards and have all the bells
and whistles, and I don't want to start one of those really long threads
about which program is better. I'm designing a one-off type project, which I
have finished on paper, but I would like to draw it on the computer.

I just need a package for a once-off project, so I'd prefer if it was free,
and easy to get a hang of.
My key requirements are therefore 1. Cheap or free, 2. Easy to learn, 3.
Able to be printed out 4. Prefer something running on Windows XP. 5. I only
want to DRAW THE DIAGRAM. Not make a PCBoard.

Has anyone any suggestions based on the above?

To give you an idea of the complexity/simpleness, the circuit I want to draw
is this:

http://www.netbay.com.au/~haxby/circuitOSCA.JPG

Thanks for your time.

 

[Peter Howard]

I know there are many packages that design PCBoards and have all the bells
and whistles, and I don't want to start one of those really long threads
about which program is better. I'm designing a one-off type project, which
I have finished on paper, but I would like to draw it on the computer.

I just need a package for a once-off project, so I'd prefer if it was
free, and easy to get a hang of.
My key requirements are therefore 1. Cheap or free, 2. Easy to learn, 3.
Able to be printed out 4. Prefer something running on Windows XP. 5. I
only want to DRAW THE DIAGRAM. Not make a PCBoard.

Has anyone any suggestions based on the above?

To give you an idea of the complexity/simpleness, the circuit I want to
draw is this:

http://www.netbay.com.au/~haxby/circuitOSCA.JPG

Thanks for your time.

Strewth, your freehand circuit drawing skills are worse than mine.
www.expresspcb.com has two free CAD programs. ExpressPCB for drawing a PCB
and ExpressSCH for drawing a circuit diagram.
It fulfils all five of your criteria.
There are quite a number of similar websites like www.pcb123.com
f'rinstance. ExpressPCB just happens to be the one I use. The pcb/schematic
editors from these various pcb making websites are lookalike/workalikes.
Only catch is that they all produce their own proprietary output files, none
of which are industry standard. However this is not an issue for you because
you only want to draw a diagram, not make a board.
I find these simple little editors very intuitive to learn and use, more so
than the editors which DO output industry standard files like Eagle and
Protel.

PH

 

[Richard Harris]

Hi,
If you find ExpressSCH a little confusing then you could always draw the
thing in MS Paint,
its free and as you are only using a few symbols it would not take up that
much time.

But I think ExpressSCH is the best option, I use ExpressPCB for doing board
layouts and it works very well.

Thanks

 

[Heywood Jablome]

I downloaded tinycad. Works just fine for my purposes.

Thanks!!

 

[JVG]

Although it seems that you have already selected a program, I would
recommend you (and anybody interested in free and open EDA software)
Kicad. As a plus, it works both in Windows and in Linux.

Check it at:

http://www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis/kicad/

3-D PCBs are a real plus!

Regards,

JOSE
http://jvgavila.com

 

[Heywood Jablome]

Yeah good call, its a nice piece of Open Source software. I have only
worked with it a little bit but it looks good. Maybe not for this
application as it weights in at 70Mb but if anyone wants a full design
path from schematic to PCB, should be looked at. The problem with it is
that not many people seem to know about it.

Eugene.

Yes, a little too heavy for me, but looks like a great program. I love the
3D images.

Too late anyway, I have used the TinyCad program and won't be needing
anything better for a while now.

 

[[email protected]]

I wasn't looking for a CAD program, but after reading the previous
posts, I downloaded Tinycad and Expresspcb.

The Expresspcb program runs fine on my Win98 pc and it is quite easy to
learn and use.
One problem I do have is the frame around the schematic. I know there
are a few options for the page size, but I can't change the frame to
the size that I would like it to be.

It would be nice to delete it completely.

Sometimes when I right click on the frame a menu appears that might let
me change the frame, but the menu items disappear or will not work when
I try to select them.




When I try to run Tinypcb, I get a runtime error, even after installing
a JET program that they recommended installing from Microsoft.

Russell Griffiths

 

[atec77]

I wasn't looking for a CAD program, but after reading the previous
posts, I downloaded Tinycad and Expresspcb.

The Expresspcb program runs fine on my Win98 pc and it is quite easy to
learn and use.
One problem I do have is the frame around the schematic. I know there
are a few options for the page size, but I can't change the frame to
the size that I would like it to be.

It would be nice to delete it completely.

Sometimes when I right click on the frame a menu appears that might let
me change the frame, but the menu items disappear or will not work when
I try to select them.




When I try to run Tinypcb, I get a runtime error, even after installing
a JET program that they recommended installing from Microsoft.

Russell Griffiths

you need a copy of multism 7



should I mention torrent ?

 

[[email protected]]

I assume you mean multisim 7.
I have just researched it a little and found out the free version has a
limit of 50 components.

But I don't know what you mean by "torrent".

Russell Griffiths.

 

[atec77]

I assume you mean multisim 7.
I have just researched it a little and found out the free version has a
limit of 50 components.

But I don't know what you mean by "torrent".

Russell Griffiths.

google for it .

 

[Rudolf]

gEDA suite if you have a Linux machine.
I run it on Linux serevr while running X-Client on my Windows PC

Rudolf

 

[atec77]

gEDA suite if you have a Linux machine.
I run it on Linux serevr while running X-Client on my Windows PC

Rudolf

"atec77" <atec77**@hotmail.com> wrote in message

Ill take a look , solaris ?

 

[Rudolf]

i run it under Linux FC3.

Rudolf

Ill take a look , solaris ?