SparkFun Forums

[noether]

That happens. I got "laughed" in a job interview as well, because I'm an Eagle user and not an user of Mentor.

The funny is they want from me a design for a simple heater! So, no comments.

[Philipf]

I have PADS9 installed on this machine and it seems pretty backwards in the way its used, time for some reading I guess. Initial library seems very limited too.

[leon_heller]

Professionals tend to create their own libraries, to conform to company standards and because many of the supplied libraries have serious errors. Eagle has a bad reputation in that respect, but I've found the (very) occasional error in Pulsonix libraries. I don't like the way that many of the library parts have been created - the schematic symbols don't look right - so I tend to create my own using their footprints, once I've checked them.

Pulsonix has an optional database feature, so that designers at different locations can access a corporate SQL library database via Ethernet, with one or more full-time staff doing nothing but creating new parts and maintaining the library. I don't think that Eagle has anything like that.

[monstrum]

Well, Eagle doesn't use a database at all for libraries, so it wouldn't be very hard to set up an SVN to handle it.

[leon_heller]

It's actually rather complicated:

http://www.pulsonix.com/downloads/datas ... tabase.pdf

The database table is integrated with the Pulsonix GUI.

[gussy]

Well, Eagle doesn't use a database at all for libraries, so it wouldn't be very hard to set up an SVN to handle it.

I used an SVN repository for things like parts, design rules, scripts etc in EAGLE. Works great across many laptops/desktops.

[macegr]

I use Dropbox to store all my libraries, scripts, CAM files, and projects. Since Eagle is file based that means I can open it up on any computer and all my projects and libraries are available.

[Philipf]

Snap, I do the same so between home, laptop on the train journey and my office, I can work on 1 project. Its great!

[ncabalos]

Eagle is amateurish? hmm.. well before I started using eagle, I used Visio to design my boards! hehe.. Doesn't matter what tool you have, as long as you get the job done. I haven't tried the "professional" design software out there simply because I can't afford it.

[leon_heller]

Although I was using Easy-PC at the time, I had Visio on my PC where I worked and experimented with it for PCB design. It was quite usable, but very time-consuming, and it was easy to make mistakes.

[acidblue]

KICAD!!!!!
Go ahead slam me for using an open source PCB cad.

Lately I've been playing with the free version of Eagle, it's not so bad.
It's the results that matter, I forgot who mentioned that earlier in this thread,
but they deserve a free beer.

[pstemari]

Biggest headache I've had with Eagle is that the UI doesn't conform to usual metaphors for graphic interfaces, most generally in that you pick the action before you pick the subject. For example, instead of simply select, copy, and paste to duplicate something, you have to pick duplicate and then pick the item. Duplicating a group is worse, since first you have to define the group, then pick duplicate, and then use a magic ctrl-right click to specify the selection instead of what you click on.

I've used stuff like that (at $8k a seat!) back in the eighties, but finding that the eagle schematic editor worked like that was a real annoyance. If it behaved more like the long string of graphics packages dating back to the Xerox Star and progressing to MacDraw and the various mainstream packages like Visio, Freehand, Corel, etc, it would be a lot easier to pick up.

More specific gripes are that pin connections aren't made within an radius, but only if the pin end is currently on a grid point and the net hits that same grid point. Likewise, moving wire end to a pin doesn't make a connection, but moving a pin end to a different pin end does. It's just hideously inconsistent. The board editor has a number of odd quirks when adding bends, unrouting segments, and weird shadow vias that seem to magically appear and disappear without much rhyme or reason.

[AdHoc]

I use Eagle under FreeBSD (linux version), on an iMac and under windows, there's not many other options available that would support that.

[bcgrown]

That happens. I got "laughed" in a job interview as well, because I'm an Eagle user and not an user of Mentor.

The funny is they want from me a design for a simple heater! So, no comments.

If you are going to use your own PC and software then the software you use shouldn't matter, if you can show them examples of your work. If they want copies of your design files that's another story.

However, the reason you'll get laughed at in interviews is that a company is going to hire someone that doesn't have to spend any time learning a new software package.

I use Altium Designer at work, and I briefly tried the "free" version of Eagle at home. I too found it amateurish and difficult to use. I didn't spend much time learning it, though. I've tried other "free" packages that were a lot faster to learn-- CircuitMaker/TrackMaker for one example. DipTrace is another.

In my opinion the hobbyist community would be much better served by latching onto a truly free software package like KiCad or gEDA. I haven't used either enough to see how they compare, but Eagle's license terms for the "freeware" version are pretty restrictive and I don't think their functionality is any better.

[theatrus]

In my opinion the hobbyist community would be much better served by latching onto a truly free software package like KiCad or gEDA. I haven't used either enough to see how they compare, but Eagle's license terms for the "freeware" version are pretty restrictive and I don't think their functionality is any better.

Not sure about functionality (there are pluses and minuses - like real time DRC vs linking schematic and PCB), but this is important to realize. I love free software, and wish more attention was paid to the open source alternatives. Unfortunately, PCB design is such a niche market, and everyone in it is too busy to make the open source versions "on par" .