>$1000 for a simple 8"x8" PCB???

On 05/05/14 22:27, Steve Ins wrote:

I want to make a simple PCB, so I'm looking at Eagle as it seems to be

what other hobbiests use.

The board is 8" x 8", and will have only a few LEDs and chip resistors

on it. I don't need multiple layers, libraries, autorouting, or even

drilled holes. I could make the PCB by hand with a utility knife, but I

thought using a PCB program would be neater and cause less hand stress.

BUT it seems the Eagle program is more than $1000 to do this! Do other

hobbiests really spend this? (I was hoping for free...)

My question: Is there another program out there cheaper, Eagle just

seems unreasonably priced.

 

Eagle is free if you want to design simple and small. If you want to

design something really complex that justifies 8"x8" then the $1000

price tag is actually quite reasonable. If you're merely hell-bent on

wasting PCB space...

Yes there are cheaper programs. There are free ones, both as in beer and

as in speech. Some of them are even tolerably usable apparently.

Of course, if you had the cunning to work around things instead of

whingeing about the price of something that's worth every penny, then

there are ways to achieve what you need for your trivial case without

needing any expensive options, but since this is an Eagle discussion

group hosted by CadSoft / Element14 then I'm most certainly not going to

give you any clues there.

On 05/05/14 22:27, Steve Ins wrote:

I want to make a simple PCB, so I'm looking at Eagle as it seems to be

what other hobbiests use.

The board is 8" x 8", and will have only a few LEDs and chip resistors

on it. I don't need multiple layers, libraries, autorouting, or even

drilled holes. I could make the PCB by hand with a utility knife, but I

thought using a PCB program would be neater and cause less hand stress.

BUT it seems the Eagle program is more than $1000 to do this! Do other

hobbiests really spend this? (I was hoping for free...)

My question: Is there another program out there cheaper, Eagle just

seems unreasonably priced.

 

Eagle is free if you want to design simple and small. If you want to

design something really complex that justifies 8"x8" then the $1000

price tag is actually quite reasonable. If you're merely hell-bent on

wasting PCB space...

Yes there are cheaper programs. There are free ones, both as in beer and

as in speech. Some of them are even tolerably usable apparently.

Of course, if you had the cunning to work around things instead of

whingeing about the price of something that's worth every penny, then

there are ways to achieve what you need for your trivial case without

needing any expensive options, but since this is an Eagle discussion

group hosted by CadSoft / Element14 then I'm most certainly not going to

give you any clues there.