Schematic drawing resources? and/or PCB layout?

Jeffa

I'm wondering what folks are using to create their schematics? I wrote my first one by hand, scanned it in and added some changes, I should probably move past that for my final submission to the contest. I'm sure there will be some learning curve to begin using a product so wondering what the closest to a best choice or industry standard based on my limited funds might be?

Specific schematic drawing programs? That may integrate with PCB layout programs? I've seen that some PCB manufacturers give away free software. Are these capable of export to transportable formats if you wanted to use another PCB vendor?

Microsoft Word, or open office and other word processors with templates or clip art?

gimp, paint.net, photoshop?

MS Visio?

Publison

Many people use ExpressPCB when the are first starting out. Very easy to use but proprietary software meant to be sent to them for PCB manufacturing. Does produce a good schematic that can be shared. It's free:

http://www.expresspcb.com/ExpressPCBHtm/Free_cad_software.htm

Parallax seems to be dedicating their Schematic capture and PCB Layout with DipTrace:

http://www.diptrace.com/download.php

You can get the FreeWare version limited to 300 Pins and 2 layer board at that link. The cool thing is that they are supporting 3D views now with their Beta software.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Jeffa,

At the bottom of this page, in the Similar Threads section, you will see links to threads where the same question was asked by others regarding schematics. Some of the answers given there will still be valid.

-Phil

Jeffa

I'm wondering what folks are using to create their schematics?

I might have written the above more clearly, if you have a moment to spare what I'm curious about is:

What specifically are folks in the Spinneret design contest using to produce their schematics for their required project documentation?

Thanks.