30-07-2015, 08:22 AM
There are several free schematic packages. I've not used any of them but have heard good reports on Kicad and the one that RS make available FOC.
Professionally I've used Orcad for many years but might well not choose it now if I was starting from scratch. Back in 1988 it was a bargain at about £600. The first (relatively) affordable scheamtic package. Running with VGA graphics on a 286 it was a PITA but just so much easier than pen and paper. And it allowed you to extract a bill of materials and PCB netlist which was a revelation to those of us used to manual methods.
Professionally I've used Orcad for many years but might well not choose it now if I was starting from scratch. Back in 1988 it was a bargain at about £600. The first (relatively) affordable scheamtic package. Running with VGA graphics on a 286 it was a PITA but just so much easier than pen and paper. And it allowed you to extract a bill of materials and PCB netlist which was a revelation to those of us used to manual methods.
www.borinsky.co.uk Jeffrey Borinsky www.becg.tv
