Cad Program for Schematics?

[Michael A. Terrell]

Gary Lecomte wrote:

Robert Baer <robertbaer@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<3FCF8E8F.30C7DC09@earthlink.net>...
Gary Lecomte wrote:

Does anyone have suggestions for a simple, but good Cad program for
drafting Schematics?
Preferably one that will save directly in a JPG, TIF, GIF or simular
types of these formats.
Shareware would also be nice!

Take care....Gary

Why those formats; none of them are vectorand so are useless for
making Gerbers for a PCB.
If you want to fiddle with a freebie for smapp production runs, try:
http://www.expresspcb.com/

I didn't say I wanted a PCB Program, I have one and it generates
Gerber Files. But when I draft up a Schematic to post on my site or
send to a friend, I have to Print it and than Scan it. I find some of
the fine Detail gets lost in the scan.

I want a SIMPLE program Only for Schematics, that generates a standard
Viewable Format!
Could care less if it has symbols, I prefer to make my own.

I didn't think this question was so hard!

Take care......Gary

When I need a graphic I can't save I use the freeware shell for
Ghostscript & Ghostwrite from http://www.pdf995.com/ It creates a PDF
file, then I can extract the graphic(s) with the graphics select tool in
Acrobat reader (5 and up) Its handy for those web pages that use HTML to
post an image you need to extract data from, but cant save directly to
disk. I found some exploded views of a radio I needed, but my computer
is in one building, and the bench is in another so I converted the file,
blew it up a little, and had an 8" * 11" drawing to find the part
numbers I needed to order.
--
21 days!


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[JeffM]

suggestions for a simple, but good CAD program for drafting
Schematics?
that will save directly in a JPG, TIF, GIF or simular format
Gary Lecomte

CadSoft EAGLE. Free version does 1-page schematics.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:thl2655669863d&dq=&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&selm=3F5CC364.1B0F27BE%40azglobal.com
http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&selm=f8b945bc.0310072126.1aaeca93%40posting.google.com

I use Screen Ripper 32 for JPG/GIF/BMP screen capture / conversion.

 

[Robert Baer]

Gary Lecomte wrote:

Robert Baer <robertbaer@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<3FCF8E8F.30C7DC09@earthlink.net>...
Gary Lecomte wrote:

Does anyone have suggestions for a simple, but good Cad program for
drafting Schematics?
Preferably one that will save directly in a JPG, TIF, GIF or simular
types of these formats.
Shareware would also be nice!

Take care....Gary

Why those formats; none of them are vectorand so are useless for
making Gerbers for a PCB.
If you want to fiddle with a freebie for smapp production runs, try:
http://www.expresspcb.com/

I didn't say I wanted a PCB Program, I have one and it generates
Gerber Files. But when I draft up a Schematic to post on my site or
send to a friend, I have to Print it and than Scan it. I find some of
the fine Detail gets lost in the scan.

I want a SIMPLE program Only for Schematics, that generates a standard
Viewable Format!
Could care less if it has symbols, I prefer to make my own.

I didn't think this question was so hard!

Take care......Gary

No, you do *not* have to scan it.
If you had the full Acrobat installed, you could print to the PDF
printer - which creates a PDF file.
Alternately, install a PostScript color LaserJet assigned to FILE and
print to that.
Then get the freebie GhostScript on the web, and use that to convert
to PDF, TIFF, BMP, etc.

Since you like to make your own symbols, use CorelDraw or other 2D
draw program...

 

[qrk]

On Thu, 04 Dec 2003 17:06:44 -0700, Jim Thompson
<invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On Thu, 04 Dec 2003 16:00:14 -0800, qrk <mark@reson.DELETE.ME.com
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Dec 2003 10:24:26 -0700, Jim Thompson
invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 08:27:23 -0800, "Richard Henry" <rphenry@home.com
wrote:


"Bob Stephens" <stephensdigital@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:v01dqvfzx2lu$.rbkt8ow4f49r.dlg@40tude.net...
On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 14:04:09 +0000 (UTC), Abbie wrote:

You left out autocad, they have a library for electronics ?

Some of the non-electronic guys here use VISIO. There are numerous
collections of templates - they're called something else in VISIO -
available for free on the Web, including electronic schematic symbols.

Will it generate a partlist and netlist?



Track down a copy of PSpice Schematics. IIRC *none* of the versions
require a key... only PSpice (the simulator) looks for the
key/license.

...Jim Thompson

I believe I saw a download for schematics on the Cadence web site a
month or two ago.

Mark

Now *there's* a twist for you... Cadence is abandoning support for
Schematics.

...Jim Thompson

Gee Jim, your getting nice in your old age. Cadence has abandoned
support for the whole Orcad line.

http://www.orcad.com/downloads/schematics/default.asp
The above link is the last hurrah for Schematics.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Rob]

Try http://w1.859.telia.com/~u85930032/cad126.zip

chemelec@hotmail.com (Gary Lecomte) wrote in message news:<ca76d1a9.0312031835.60ceaf22@posting.google.com>...

Does anyone have suggestions for a simple, but good Cad program for
drafting Schematics?
Preferably one that will save directly in a JPG, TIF, GIF or simular
types of these formats.
Shareware would also be nice!

Take care....Gary

 

[JeffM]

some of the fine Detail gets lost in the scan
Gary Lecomte

Ah, I see your problem now.
Let's stay away from scanning paper.
Let's also stay away from JPG and use a LOSSLESS file format.

EAGLE generates .BMP files,
and you can convert them to .JPG or .GIF,

using free software such as IrfanView.

I, too, use IrfanView and highly recommend it.

JPG compression is not lossless; you will lose some detail. Avoid it.
BMP is a 100% raster format;
no compression==no losses, but huge file sizes.
GIF and PNG use lossless compression algorithms;
if you are going with a raster format, this is what you want.
(GIF is patented by CompuServe and rights may be invoked at their whim;
PNG is roughly equivalent and is public domain.)

I use Screen Ripper 32 for JPG/GIF/BMP screen capture / conversion.
JeffM

I still recommend this utility--just don't save in JPG.

Or get a CAD program which exports .DXF format
Chaos Master

EAGLE does export this widely-supported vector format
and this approach should give the smallest file size,
probably making it the best solution.

 

[sme]

I am using Eagle its easy to use and it allows me to output to gcode for use
with the CNC mill I have with a routing bit for cutting tracks .
http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
I have also tried Orcad it's more advanced but I had trouble generating
gcode from it. It has Spice built in though!
http://www.orcad.com/

Someone has mentioned http://www.expresspcb.com/ , screen prints can be
taken from this then printed to photopaper (the smooth paper that one uses
to print digital photo's) via a laser printer with full darkness set. Then
you can transfer the pattern by placing the paper over the copper clad board
and ironing the back of the paper. This should transfer the pattern to the
PCB which can then be etched. I have never tried this method myself but this
site explains it in more detail ...
http://www.fullnet.com/u/tomg/gooteepc.htm

Good Luck
Steve.

"Robert Baer" <robertbaer@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3FCF8E8F.30C7DC09@earthlink.net...

Gary Lecomte wrote:

Does anyone have suggestions for a simple, but good Cad program for
drafting Schematics?
Preferably one that will save directly in a JPG, TIF, GIF or simular
types of these formats.
Shareware would also be nice!

Take care....Gary

Why those formats; none of them are vectorand so are useless for
making Gerbers for a PCB.
If you want to fiddle with a freebie for smapp production runs, try:
http://www.expresspcb.com/