want to avoid its turning into a real trial of patience. In any Ed.: In view of the time that elapsed between writing this case, you’ll need quite a lot of that to get to grips with any article and the ‘gathering’ of the appearing on the of these programs. Most of the top-end programs (price- virtual DVD, it’s still a good idea to look and see if there wise too!) are hardly very different in terms of what they may be a new version of any of the software described in offer, except in terms of certain details. this article you may be interested in (hence the links given in the table). And what for one user may seem to be an unforgivable (080356-I) omission may be an option that another user has no need of. It’s a question of taste and requirements. You are the The author would like to thank Cadence Design Systems, Inc. for best judge of that. So why not take a look at our website allowing Elektor to distribute OrCAD software from their site and and download the .iso file to create your own DVD, or pick a virtual DVD. the programme you’d like to try out… By the same token, he would like to thank all the other compa- Happy exploring! nies for their unconditional permission.

Manufacturer Program name Circuits PCB Autorouting Simulation Price (rrp) Homepage sPlan 6.0 * yes – – – € 39.90 www.abacom-online.de/fr/ Sprint-Layout * – yes yes – € 39.90 Abacom Frontdesigner 3.0 * – – – – € 39.90 Lochmaster 3.0 * – – – – € 39.90 Circuit Creator * yes yes yes yes $ 99 to $ 995 www.advancedmsinc.com/ Advanced Microcomputer Systems Spice Creator * – – – yes $ 99 or www.circuitcreator.com/ Baas Electronics Layo1PCB 10.0 * – yes – – € 99 to € 950 www.baas.nl/ Cadence OrCAD 16.0 * yes yes yes option N.C. www.cadence.com/ Eagle 5.0 1) www.cadsoft.de/ Light * yes yes yes – € 49 CADSoft Standard yes yes yes – € 750 Internet Links € Professional yes yes yes – 1,499 The manufacturers’ addresses are given in the table. DesignWorks Express * 2) yes via Pad2Pad – – free www.capilano.com/ Capilano CAD software manufacturers DesignWorks 5.0 * yes via Pad2Pad with add. module with add. module $ 395 to $ 790 Altium www.altium.com FreePCB Free PCB 12.0 * – yes with add. module free www.freepcb.com/ Ariadne www.cad-ul.de/ariadne/index.html TARGET3001! 3) www.ibfriedrich.com/ www.kov.com Light * yes yes yes yes € 59 CADint www.cadint.se Smart yes yes yes yes € 159 CirCAD www.holophase.com IBFriedrich DesignSoft www.designsoftware.com Economy yes yes yes yes € 569 Express PCB www.expresspcb.com € Professional yes yes yes yes 1,649 Mentor Graphics www.mentorg.com Design Station yes yes yes yes € 2,999 Merco electronics www.mercoelectronics.info KiCAD KICAD * yes yes yes – free www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis// PCB Editor www.waldherr.com LabCenter Proteus 7.2 * yes yes yes yes £ 150 to £ 1,225 www.labcenter.co.uk/index.cfm/ www.pulsonix.com/index.asp The PCB Designer www.cad-design.com EDS-1 * yes yes with add. module with add. module $1,095 to $ 1,395 www.mccad.com/ Vutrax www.vutrax.co.uk/ McCAD McCAD 3SPICE Lite * – – – yes $ 395 Zuken www.zuken.com SimPlus * – – – yes $ 695 General source links National Instruments NI Circuit Design Suite 10.1 * yes yes yes yes N.I. www.ni.com/ www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/ECADList.html Number One Systems Easy PC * yes yes with Router + Easy-Spice £ 247 to £ 447 www.numberone.com/ www.abcelectronique.com/annuaire/societes_52.php Others Easy-Spice * – – – yes £ 295 http://etronics.free.fr/dossiers/softs/soft00.htm Pad2Pad Pad2Pad * – yes – – free www.pad2pad.com/ Ranger2 XL 4) yes yes with add. module – £ 90 to £ 460 www.seetrax.com/ Seetrax XL Designer * yes yes with add. module – £ 100 to £1,000 Spicyle * yes yes – SpiceAge £ 45 to £ 195 www.spiceage.com/ Those Engineers SpiceAge * – – – yes £ 45 Tsien BoardMaker 3 * yes yes gateway yes £ 350/yr or 6x price www.tsien.info/index.php Visionics EDWinXP 11.6 * yes yes yes yes $ 110 to (N.I.) www.visionics.a.se/ * = included on Panorama virtual DVD, N.I. = No info, – = No or Not Applicable 1) Versions also available for Mac and Linux (see under ‘Extra’) 2) Free version 3) This is an upgraded Elektor special version 4) The version on the virtual DVD is the Ranger2 XL/500 version (normally worth £90)

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