I've got VSM and it would be great to develop my own PCB's directly from this program. Now, according to the VSM tutorial it should be a straightforward task. Just export a netlist and import it in the PCB software.
I've been testing and struggling now for days and came to following conclusions:
ARES is too complicated and is too expensive for my needs
RealPCB is too limited and hasn't got the best auto-routing system
EAGLE is way too confusing, it comes with all sorts of bugs and it's very complicated to make up new libraries
PCB123 cannot be used for making your own boards and is a very expensive service to Australia
DipTrace seems to be the better one out of all previously mentioned programs. however, there are no possibilities to export a netlist from VSM to DipTrace. According to some readers one should be able to select Tango as a netlist. However this only allows certain parts to be imported and it looses all the wiring and connections.
I am coming to my end and I would like to know your opinions and what you guys are using to make your own PCB's. I am after a simple PCB program that can import netlists from VSM without the need of creating new parts and/or libraries. It needs to have a good auto-router and I'm happy if it only contains the footprint of the 200 most commonly parts (No need for libraries with 80000+ parts). Oh, and did I mention it needs to be user-friendly and cheap as well?
I'm looking forward to receive a couple of opinions. I am not an expert nor an electronic guru, I just love to fiddle around with Picaxe micros.
Thanks for your help,
Luc
Melbourne, Australia
I've been testing and struggling now for days and came to following conclusions:
ARES is too complicated and is too expensive for my needs
RealPCB is too limited and hasn't got the best auto-routing system
EAGLE is way too confusing, it comes with all sorts of bugs and it's very complicated to make up new libraries
PCB123 cannot be used for making your own boards and is a very expensive service to Australia
DipTrace seems to be the better one out of all previously mentioned programs. however, there are no possibilities to export a netlist from VSM to DipTrace. According to some readers one should be able to select Tango as a netlist. However this only allows certain parts to be imported and it looses all the wiring and connections.
I am coming to my end and I would like to know your opinions and what you guys are using to make your own PCB's. I am after a simple PCB program that can import netlists from VSM without the need of creating new parts and/or libraries. It needs to have a good auto-router and I'm happy if it only contains the footprint of the 200 most commonly parts (No need for libraries with 80000+ parts). Oh, and did I mention it needs to be user-friendly and cheap as well?
I'm looking forward to receive a couple of opinions. I am not an expert nor an electronic guru, I just love to fiddle around with Picaxe micros.
Thanks for your help,
Luc
Melbourne, Australia