I have to add the usual disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Abacom I just like their products. A lot easier than AutoCAD or standard non application targeted CAD package. Full function demos available (but no save or print) They also have the coolest panel and graphics designer program called FrontDesigner 3.0 I have used this and it works really well for laying out dials and knobs. Currently at 39.90 Euro ($52.58 USD at current exchange rates) for each program is is quite a bargain for a 4 layer PCB layout package. After a while, I moved to field service, spent a couple years there, then moved into an engineering department as a designer. I was a technician for several years in an R & D department, going to school at night, studying electrical engineering. There is a huge group on Yahoo! groups for LTSpice which is available as a free download from Linear Technology I believe that one of the best bargains in the paid for software would have to be the Sprint-Layout PCB and SPlan-7.0 Schematic Capture programs. Rick Hartley: I started life in electronics in 1965 at the age of 20. The ASX tech share says that Altium Designer is the most widespread professional PCB design tool used by more than 100,000 engineers worldwide. You will learn how to re-draw the schematic, modify. Learning Altium is useful for everyone planning or already working in electronics.

It is one of the most used software for electronic design. Its certainly feature rich and comes with all sorts of bells and whistles but it just seemed a bit OTT and dialogue heavy when all I wanted to do was print to a PDF virtual printer. The other one Ive tried is pdf24 creator, again the free version. Windows video drivers, software and manuals can be found: Yahoo! Groups DOS OrCAD Group Concerning free Spice. Altium Designer is a professional software used to design all kinds of boards, from very simple ones to motherboards or servers. Its the free basic version of a commercial product, so I dont see any worries about where they get their revenue from. I would also add OrCAD SDT 386+ and OrCAD PCB 386+ both for DOS but many users are running this venerable product in WinXP (No hope for Win7 except with the use of VMWare (also Free).

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