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+1 for KiCAD - it's somewhat hotkey-based, but once you get the hang of the key commands it is very easy and intuitive.

Honestly, after a few designs, making a circuit board feels as easy and fun as playing a puzzle game.

Hackaday has a good series of blog posts for familiarizing yourself with the basic commands:

https://hackaday.com/2016/11/17/creating-a-pcb-in-everything...




Also check out http://librepcb.org/. Probably just a few months left until the first early release. Watch the FOSDEM talk recording for more information.


I'd recommend not linking to that series of posts. The author is a hothead and generally disliked by the entire electronics community.

Actually, there are some rumors about him that are quite unsavory, and I'm waiting until the cetacean equivalent of the #metoo movement to make an appearance on twitter to see the fallout from that.


Fair enough I guess, but I would also hate to deny people the same sort of easy path that allowed me to get interested in the subject and access a complicated topic.

Do you have any alternatives to recommend?


That comment is from the series' author, just doing a bit of his signature trolling for which he is so beloved on Hackaday.

I know he (Brian) has expressed that those articles generated underwhelming metrics for the amount of work they take, but they really are a useful resource for people looking to get an overview of their options. And I'm sure the Whalebait fiasco will blow over soon enough.


Hilarious.


What's he doing with whales?


What's he doing with whales?


[flagged]


Please don't.




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