pads mentor usd 2009
Hi!
The best way of finding a good suite is to ask:-
1) Do I want a freeware tool? Eagle and Kicad are really the only useful contenders here! - demo/free versions of the rest are too limited for much more than something like a 555 LED flasher!
2) Am I making boards for hobby/small projects or large digital designs? Most of the big names, Altium Designer, Mentor, PADs, Expedition etc., are best suited to large, complex digital designs, and don't have a great deal of analogue/discrete components in their libraries;
3) Am I wanting to use split power-planes, multi-layer or blind/buried vias, RF, differential-routing etc - then you'll need Altium, Orcad, PADs or Mentor;
4) Am I wanting embedded components? - then you'll need Altium or Pulsonix.
5) Do I want a good simulator - Orcad & Altium Designer are the best with Proteus Professional a good one for analogue/discrete designs.
6) Are my designs likely to be used commercially? If so then consider Easy-PC - don't forget the big names can cost as much as a good family car for a full licence (I recently saw a price for a commercial licence of Orcad at over £10 000!) - Easy PC is currently from about £450 up to £700-900 for the additional options.
7) How much are updates/support? Orcad, Mentor, PADs etc., all insist on a costly maintainence contract before you'll get updates, and I don't know if this is still the case, but you once couldn't even get the Mentor user manual without a support contract at (large!) extra cost!
8) Learning - all packages have a learning curve which can sometimes be mountainous, so one with good support/forums independent of the Vendor is well worth having - OrCAD and Altium score in this respect!
9) David L Brown's 25-page tutorial is worth looking at (Google'll find it!) by the way!
Sorry for being a bit long and rambling - I've tried to write this from an objective rather than a personal "I like PADS best"-etc. point of view!
Chris Williams