[chbot] Eagle layout

[Volker Kuhlmann]

On Wed 26 Feb 2014 13:46:34 NZDT +1300, follower wrote:

> > eagle is far more common,
> But if being common was a good reason to use something we'd all be
> using Windows and <insert something else to bolster this argument
> here>. :)

Sure. But personal preference aside, there are good reasons to choose
the more common one: better community and third-party vendor support,
for example. Not a lot of Arduino in kicad, unfortunately - though it
could be worse, they cold have used Altium. Much worse.

> FWIW it's somewhat questionable if it's really that much more polished

I guess that might depend what you're used to. Kicad did not have a
superbly easy workflow - in fact the book I bought mentioned some key
points to take care of or else. That's not good enough if it was a
commercial program, but FOSS gets away with it.
Having said that, the workflow in eagle leaves a few things to be
desired too...

> And, if FOSS is important to an individual I think there's a strong
> imperative to use a FOSS package in preference to a non-FOSS package
> if there's not a *strong* argument in favour of using the non-FOSS
> option.

Agreed. All your arguments are good.

> (And, let's face it, in a hobbyist context it's not like most designs
> will really push the limits of KiCad.)

True, but it's the time it takes to create your libraries. Getting less
with time because the more you already have.

> FWIW, the one thing I found Fritzing useful for was documenting a
> breadboarded prototype with SparkFun breakout boards. :)

:-))  Well that seems to be the only thing it's useful for. Why invest
time into something that doesn't have a functional schematic editor.

> As mentioned elsewhere, AFAIK both Eagle & definitely KiCad can do 3D
> visualisations.

Happy to be corrected about kicad, though the time to invest did look
high.

I looked at eagle's 3D option carefully when it first came out, and
quickly discovered that it was advertised with big fanfare but only
available on One-OS. Conclusion, eagle does not have any 3D feature as
far as I am concerned.

Volker

-- 
Volker Kuhlmann
http://volker.top.geek.nz/	Please do not CC list postings to me.