PCB Design Software

[skypn]

I just got a new Win11 computer, and I'm starting to install the software. I have been using Eagle in Win7 (wait for laughter to die down). I know Eagle's gone in '26. I have been thinking of jumping ship and going with a freeware like KiCad. My hesitation is i have spent HOURS customizing parts in Eagle. There will be a learning curve for Fusion 360, so I guess to make a long question short...
What software do you guys use? 
TIA

[jessenator]

I'm still on Eagle...

I've attempted to move to KiCad several times and I think I need a good set of YouTube tutorials to get it straight.

I think since we mostly are dealing with through-hole it's not as widely catered to. But I could be way off. I think even though I've borrowed some footprint libraries from some other members, the rest a eagle connects everything at the symbol/schematic stage of design is what I'm used to. Also that everything is in a singular library, not segmented into symbol and footprint

Maybe I need to look a bit harder

Haven't tried diptrace. Haven't finished my dive into Flux.

Call me old fashioned, but I don't want cloud only. The cloud is just someone else's computer you have no control over. Whatever my Eagle replacement ends up being, I want it all local.

[Chinaski]

I'm still on Eagle...

I've attempted to move to KiCad several times and I think I need a good set of YouTube tutorials to get it straight.

I think since we mostly are dealing with through-hole it's not as widely catered to. But I could be way off. I think even though I've borrowed some footprint libraries from some other members, the rest a eagle connects everything at the symbol/schematic stage of design is what I'm used to. Also that everything is in a singular library, not segmented into symbol and footprint

Maybe I need to look a bit harder

Haven't tried diptrace. Haven't finished my dive into Flux.

Call me old fashioned, but I don't want cloud only. The cloud is just someone else's computer you have no control over. Whatever my Eagle replacement ends up being, I want it all local.

So it's not just me, Kicad footprint libraries are arranged horribly.


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[greysun]

FWIW, I still use Eagle, and I still hate it - such clunky software. I tried Kicad a while back, and I think my biggest issue was finding part libraries - not that it's a walk in the park for Eagle, but there's at least legacy stuff and similar alternates for getting a design together.

I also hate the size constraint in Eagle, but I'm typically able to work within the confines.

I must've missed the news - Eagle is going away in 2026?

[jessenator]

So it's not just me, Kicad footprint libraries are arranged horribly.

as much as I appreciate and applaud open source endeavors, they have ...quirks.

For me, a bigger part of it all is process. Actually it's all about process .

I tried having a conversation about this with an acquaintance, but they kept thinking I was attacking the KiCad software as a whole. I tried to convey that the biggest problem for me was getting engrained in a process and then having to break that process, the frustrations that follow.

example: I've been using the Adobe suite before it was a suite, over two decades ago. I cannot work with Inkscape or GIMP without suppressing the urge to pull my hair out. It's part of my process: for everything from RAW image editing for commercial work to making stupid memes. I learned my trade on it.

I bet a Corel Draw user would have a similar feeling having to move to illustrator. Doesn't matter if it's open source or not, moving your process is a pain. in some ways it's like having your proficiency reduced to novice.

there might be a day when I'm forced to move away from Eagle, whether that's its discontinuation or being forced to move to windows 11... meh, I might just move it all offline at that point.

but yeah, changing a process is a pita

[jessenator]

I also hate the size constraint in Eagle, but I'm typically able to work within the confines.

I must've missed the news - Eagle is going away in 2026?

Yeah the free version has a lot of constraints like max board dimensions, part placement, layer count, etc. I can see why people are embracing KiCad and Diptrace

Sadly yeah, it's all getting rolled up into Fusion 360. From what little I've looked into it, it's somehow worse than Creative Cloud...

I had another conversation about eagle , maybe here, maybe ppcb, maybe on a irc chat where someone pointed this out: It just seems like Autodesk wasn't interested in Eagle. They just wanted to shut down a competitor, since not long after they made a multi billion offer to buy Altium Designer... they did that to SoftImage, and one other I can't remember, just to make sure Maya and 3DSMax didn't have competition. Bleh.

[madbean]

I also hate the size constraint in Eagle, but I'm typically able to work within the confines.

I must've missed the news - Eagle is going away in 2026?

Yeah the free version has a lot of constraints like max board dimensions, part placement, layer count, etc. I can see why people are embracing KiCad and Diptrace

Sadly yeah, it's all getting rolled up into Fusion 360. From what little I've looked into it, it's somehow worse than Creative Cloud...

I had another conversation about eagle , maybe here, maybe ppcb, maybe on a irc chat where someone pointed this out: It just seems like Autodesk wasn't interested in Eagle. They just wanted to shut down a competitor, since not long after they made a multi billion offer to buy Altium Designer... they did that to SoftImage, and one other I can't remember, just to make sure Maya and 3DSMax didn't have competition. Bleh.

I'm still pissed about Softimage. Esp. since they won't even offer a legacy version to purchase a permanent license, of course. I did have an educational license for XSI 5, but I think it had a dongle.

[Chinaski]

So it's not just me, Kicad footprint libraries are arranged horribly.

as much as I appreciate and applaud open source endeavors, they have ...quirks.

For me, a bigger part of it all is process. Actually it's all about process .

I tried having a conversation about this with an acquaintance, but they kept thinking I was attacking the KiCad software as a whole. I tried to convey that the biggest problem for me was getting engrained in a process and then having to break that process, the frustrations that follow.

example: I've been using the Adobe suite before it was a suite, over two decades ago. I cannot work with Inkscape or GIMP without suppressing the urge to pull my hair out. It's part of my process: for everything from RAW image editing for commercial work to making stupid memes. I learned my trade on it.

I bet a Corel Draw user would have a similar feeling having to move to illustrator. Doesn't matter if it's open source or not, moving your process is a pain. in some ways it's like having your proficiency reduced to novice.

there might be a day when I'm forced to move away from Eagle, whether that's its discontinuation or being forced to move to windows 11... meh, I might just move it all offline at that point.

but yeah, changing a process is a pita

I totally get it. You get so used to a certain way of doing things, that they seem like they should be the standard.

But Kicad has some things that don't make sense, and I'm not even coming from a different software.


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[greysun]

Thought I'd quickly throw out that I knew I wasn't going to able to lay out my latest project in Eagle - it was too long and I knew I was going to have to design some parts myself, so I jumped back into kicad and... I might be a convert!

Here's the insanity I'm working through:



That's a very long bus for some LEDs going into a switch (bottom), and then some smaller ones that I'm cutting out and mcguyver-ing onto some momentary switches (top).

I watched this tutorial which made kicad make sense a little better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FGNw28xBr0&t=54s

Now: it's not without its quirks - and WOW is there a learning curve to those... for example; it has an align and spacing tool, but you could have selected one PAD of a part instead of the whole thing, and then things go haywire. Another thing that's probably a setting change, but I couldn't find it, was that once your route a trace, it doesn't move with the part, should you need to nudge or flip things around.

But - the align/spacing tool and how easy it was to make any part that I needed made this a worthy transition. It also seemingly has more parts, so I only had to make a couple parts, which that tutorial made pretty easy. Eagle may be in my rear view mirror by choice now...

As with anything, ymmv! I'm just doing a double sided pcb without any real bells and whistles - its not complex like some folks may be doing, it's just physically big. Either way... Good luck!

[madbean]

KiCad 8 is just now out. I d/l it today. I should spend some time working with it. It does have an importer for Eagle although the one schematic I tried crashed it, haha.

[greysun]

KiCad 8 is just now out. I d/l it today. I should spend some time working with it. It does have an importer for Eagle although the one schematic I tried crashed it, haha.

wow, it must have JUST come out. interesting... I'll have to download and test.

and an eagle import feature? I'm listening, but skeptical (especially after your test there, hehe). I'm thinking of redoing a dual tremolo I self-etched a LONG time ago, so maybe that'll be my test.

Unless y'all made a dual LFO tap tempo tremolo pedal (e.g. 2 separate audio lines sharing one LFO - I made mine with the tapLFO v2 chip and a homemade VACTROL with 2 LEDs and 1 photoresistor)... DID you make a dual LFO tap tempo tremolo pedal? LOL... I'm getting off topic here...

Either way, Kicad wasn't TOO bad once I knew that Eagle was no longer an option, and now I might kinda prefer it. I always jump WAY into the deep end and start with a huge project, but maybe revisit a past project and start small (this advice for the OP and others - pretty sure Brian's got a lock on PCB layout at this point, hehe). That video helped a lot. I really like the 3D viewer, too.