Eight years ago I was looking for a schematic capture and PCB layout tool to implement a linear motor power amplifier.  I was doing this project aside from my “day job” and did not want to spend much, if anything, for the tool.

Many board houses offer free tools but those tools produce files for boards that only work with that board house.  I wanted independence from a board house.  This meant I needed Gerber and Excellon output.

I looked until I found a German tool called EAGLE from a company called CadSoft (http://www.cadsoft.de/download.htm). They have a freeware version that gave me the opportunity to learn the program to see how I liked it. What initially really impressed me was that the freeware version incorporates an Autorouter! It's not that I expected to use the Autorouter; it's that it was free! I was intrigued.

I was immediately struck by how different EAGLE's user interface was from others I knew. In fact, I didn't like it.  My experience was with Windows-based programs. EAGLE seemed to violate many mouse conventions I knew but its advertised capability and price provided enough motivation to persevere.

Like the days of old, when a User's Manual came with programs, EAGLE has extensive documentation. This consists of a User's Manual, a Tutorial, and Online Help. Reading the Tutorial showed me that the tool was very capable indeed. It took me about a half day to complete the tutorial and another half day to begin appreciating EAGLE's UI. I found it very flexible and powerful. It might have been awkward at first but I could tell it was a well thought out interface – not one you could learn by trial and error. The documentation is essential. I found EAGLE prototypical of well engineered German products – everything works well together.

As I learned more about EAGLE, I became more impressed by it. $1,500 dollars gets you:

• Schematic Capture
• PCB Layout
• Autorouter
• Scripting engine to automate repetitive tasks
• C-like User Language Programming capability that allows you to access any internal data and external files
• Parts library of thousands of parts

CadSoft also has a User's Forum and upload and download capability that includes dozens of user provided programs providing a broad variety of functionality from importing OrCAD files to outputting custom Bills of Materials.

I learned that EAGLE won 5 awards for Best Product of the Year from a German magazine called Elektronik since 2000. It seems EAGLE continues to be improved! It turns out that EAGLE had its roots some 20 years ago. Its current user interface was awkward to me but it was developed by a Linux-based developer. Every Linux developer I've known is fast on a keyboard and likes scripts! They seem to automate everything if they have to do something more than once and they are good. EAGLE runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X with the same user interface.

Here are some highlights from EAGLE's specifications. The $1,500 license gets you:

• 64 x 64 inch boards (1600 x 1600 mm)
• 0.1 micron resolution
• 0.1 degree part rotation
• All manner of trace geometry including arcs and miters
• 16 layers
• Copper pouring with thermals
• 999 sheet schematics
• Forward and back annotation
• Electrical Rules Check (ERC) for the schematic
• Design Rules Check (DRC) for the circuit board
• Autorouter with semi-automatic "Follow me" mode

In all, I found the program very capable and one I recommend to anyone.