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Unread 12-15-2010, 07:43 PM
zbanks zbanks is offline
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Re: Printed Circuit Design Software for Beginners

I'd go with Eagle.

It does have a bit of a learning curve, but it shouldn't be too dramatic. It's simple, light-weight, cross-platform, and there's the freeware version available. (I assume you aren't going to be designing any huge PCBs)

The libraries can be a bit tough to work with. Although it might help to just delete some of the libraries that you'll never use, you might want to check out the Sparkfun part library

It is a bit disorganized, since it isn't broken up into categories, but there's less chaff to sift through. You shouldn't have to worry about accidentally using a resistor/capacitor/etc footprint that is too narrow.

Additionally, Eagle seems to be the standard among recent open-source hardware projects. I don't know how important this is to you, but it means there are plenty of example projects to play around with.