Design Spark

[cropwell]

I have downloaded and installed Altium Circuit Maker, and from what I have seen and tried, it looks promising. The next step is to make a simple project to test if the Gerber files are OK.

[m_c]

I use DipTrace.
If you're using it for hobby, and you do need a higher pin/layer limit, they'll give you an upgrade for free. IIRC the free option has a 500pin limit, which I've only ever went above once.

[Voicecoil]

I use FreePCB. I was initially attracted by the free bit, but rapidly realised it was a nice not over-complicated intuitive application - obviously written by a real engineer, not a disjointed team of code heads who've never had to lay out a board.

[cropwell]

Well, Altium Circuit Maker got ditched. It was OK for doing schematics, which I have done and printed. For this one-off project, I am going to build it on protoboard. This, in a way, is fecking annoying. as I wanted to try isolation milling again. I have CopperCam to do the conversion of Gerber to Gcode.

So - what did I find wrong with Altium CM----

1. Lack of Help documentation.
2. Cloud based storage only.
3. Rigid development pathway. (1 PCB per project - I needed 1 PCB per schematic)
4. Alien vocabulary. I do not speak Nerdish.
5. Forking didn't work! (if you use Altium CM you may realise that is a pathetic joke!)
6. Tutorial videos were done by a super-annoying young American with a high voice.

I will re-address the issue of routing (pronounced rooting not rowting) tracks of a circuit to design a PCB which can then be isolation routed (this one you can pronounce rowting), when my frustration levels reduce to the point that my forehead is not in danger of demolishing a wall.

Thanks everyone, for the input, I will get back to evaluating these suggestions soon.

Cheers,

Rob-T

[AndyGuid]

. . . . .
I will re-address the issue of routing (pronounced rooting not rowting) tracks of a circuit to design a PCB which can then be isolation routed (this one you can pronounce rowting), when my frustration levels reduce to the point that my forehead is not in danger of demolishing a wall.
. . . . . .

One problem with British pronunciation down under is that routing (pronounced rooting not rowting) refers to act of copulation, as far as I have been able to ascertain between the giggles of others when I slip up!

[JohnHaine]

You could try KiCad. It does have Arduino Nano as a component. And it's free.

I too found DesignSpark PCB utterly frustrating.

[Doddy]

Forking didn't work!

A reasonable summary :-)

[cropwell]

A reasonable summary :-)

'Forking' apparently is a way of taking somebodies project and copying it so that you can modify it. That was only one of the terms I was bombarded with that were new to me and not obvious what they sodding well meant.