Which Drawing Program?

Comments

• skylight Posts: 1,915

  2011-01-27 06:11 edited 2011-01-27 06:11

  Diagram Designer has electronic symbol templates you can open from within the program to replace the flowchart ones that default open
  http://download.cnet.com/Diagram-Designer/3000-2191_4-10429024.html
  
  or use Diptrace's schematic editor
  
  http://www.diptrace.com/
• Leon Posts: 7,620

  2011-01-27 06:17 edited 2011-01-27 06:17

  DesignSpark from RS:
  
  http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=pcb&cm_sp=Homepage-uk-_-electronics-_-Secondary-Banner
  
  It's based on EasyPC which I used for many years. You can set the line widths in the schematic editor.
• max72 Posts: 1,155

  2011-01-27 14:04 edited 2011-01-27 14:04

  open source: tinycad geda and kicad
  free for hobby: diptrace
  My preferred options are tinycad and diptrace, but there is nothing like directly testing...
  Massimo
• ellabell24 Posts: 1

  2011-02-01 22:03 edited 2011-02-01 22:03

  There are many software available to draw electronic schematic diagrams, network diagrams etc. I have used many free diagram software but had bad experience with them, however, I use Visio which is one of the best diagramming software available. It is not free but you can give a try as it is available for free 60 days trial offer.
• LoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537

  2011-02-01 22:12 edited 2011-02-01 22:12

  CAD always seems to have a learning curve involved. Additionally, there is the question of what are you going to do with the schematic after you have created it. If you are going to eventually migrate the diagram into a board, something like Eagle CAD is the best way to go.
  
  I am NOT saying that Eagle CAD is the only way to go, but it happens to be what I use as I have overcome the learning curve and now feel comfortable with using and modifying the library as I see fit. Besides I have it in both Windows and Linux for free.
  
  Essentially, one has the choice of a board design software or a SPICE circuit emulation software or a combined package that offers both. I've tried the SPICE programs offered in Ubuntu Linux and they all seemed incomplete in many ways. It certainly would be nice to have software that does both the board layout and circuit emulation, but I've yet to find something for free that suffices.
  
  In any event, by trying to avoid learning the more complex CAD programs, one really is blocking progress. Sooner or later you have to deal with management of a rather vast library of components and a package that offers more rather than less will eventually allow you to do so much more. There also seems to be 'good SPICE' and 'lousy SPICE'. That is an issue I've yet to sort out.
• SteveL Posts: 6

  2011-02-02 14:09 edited 2011-02-02 14:09

  If you are looking for a diagramming tool for illustration purposes and netlist generation is not required, take a look at SmartDraw. It's similar to Visio but a lot less expensive.
• Humanoido Posts: 5,770

  2011-02-03 08:34 edited 2011-02-03 08:34

  ellabell24 wrote: »

  There are many software available to draw electronic schematic diagrams, network diagrams etc. I have used many free diagram software but had bad experience with them, however, I use Visio which is one of the best diagramming software available. It is not free but you can give a try as it is available for free 60 days trial offer.

  Ellabell, it would be helpful to know which free drawing programs you tried and had bad experiences.
  
  I agree about Visio which I used for years at the Robotics Company for drafting illustrations. Besides a major positioning bug that turned out to be related to Microsoft Windows, it got the job done. But as far as I know, Visio is not a free or public domain program.