Nice books for pcb designing

Although this book predates the current software by a few years (I'm using 6.2 at the moment) the differences are few and far between and the "translation" is immediately obvious. The Eagle designers have been saintly as far as not futzing with their UI for the sake of "progress", so the vast majority of screen shots in the book match up nicely. This book is great for providing a wider perspective about how Eagle fits into the bigger picture of circuit design and implementation and makes a number of subjects easy to understand, especially in regards to "why are things done this way" questions. As for the do it yourself PCB schemes described: bah, humbug. :-) A top quality hobby-oriented PCB prototyping shop that can turn Eagle board files into pro-quality boards so cheap that do it yourself only remains relevant where there's a personal pride situation. A top quality, American PCB shop not mentioned in the book is http://oshpark.com in Oregon. I'm very glad I got this book as a convenient reference to augment the other available docs for Eagle.

Having made my own circuit boards years ago, I had no desire to repeat that nightmare. I have been looking for a circuit CAD that was both user-friendly and less than $1000. Eagle fits the bill and this book was a great resource for learning it.

The book, in my honest opinion, is good. I've made it to page 40 already, and I like the opinions and facts it presents. However, my only real complaint is that the disk that comes with the book was out of date by a lot, and refused to install on my computer flat out. I had to go online and download the program myself.

The disk does, however, does make a nice coaster.

Let me begin by stating I bought this book to learn how to use CadSoft's Eagle Schematic Capture and Layout product. I have over 20+ years as a systems/circuit design engineer in the analog/RF/microwave and digital design fields. Over the years I've used pcb design software such as Ultiboard, OrCAD Schematic and Layout, Alegro, and Mentor. I first learned about CadSoft's Eagle as a young engineer working in the VSAT group at Hughes Network Systems in the mid 1990's. Some of the engineers began to use the software for prototype work, but I didn't explore it's capabilities because I was already familiar with Mentor. I decide to re-visit the Eagle software in 2012. This review will be unique in that I won't address how the book and author describe the PCB design process and flow as this was not the intent of my purchasing the book. The review is targeted to those individuals who are contemplating using/purchasing Eagle from CadSoft as schematic & layout CAD tool as an alternative to some of the other high end (>$8000) PCB CAD packages.

Let me begin about what I like about the book:

1. The book is well written (an easy read) and only 191 pages. I received the book from Amazon on a Tuesday, and in five evenings was able to not only go through the entire book, but also work the examples on my computer with my copy of Eagle softare.
2. The author does a decent job of explaining how to use the Eagle program (the book could easily have been titled "A Tutorial on Learning Eagle Software"). All elements of using the schematic and layout tool are covered. The author doesn't do a great job in describing the DRC features of the tool, which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.
3. I highly recommend that as a supplement to using this book, that interested individual visit CadSoft's website and download the video tutorials. These tutorials, along with this book, is really all you need to sufficiently learn how to use this tool. If you are already familiar with other CAD tools and understand the PCB/fab process, then this book, plus the mentioned online video tutorials, will enable you to become proficient in the use of Eagle in about a week.

What are my thoughts on CadSoft's Eagle PCB Product?

1. I purchased Eagle for two main reasons. I've been a user of OrCad Schematic and Layout tool for over ten years and have found the product to be very useful and powerful in terms of features. However, when purchasing new Windows 7 computers, I could not port OrCAD to the new operating system (a known problem). Also, under Cadence, the support for OrCAD's layout tool was no longer supported (need to migrate to Allegro). These support and upgrade issues finally forced me to evaluate a new PCB design tool. In addition, I saw that Eagle has continued to grow over the years and has developed a reputation as a solid design tool with a very competitive cost.

2. Does Eagle do everything those other High-End PCB design tools do? The short answer is "No". This does not mean it is not a professional tool. For less than $1K, I'm very surprised what Eagle offers in terms of features; - you can do a lot. I can't possibly list all the differences between Eagle and and a product such as Cadence Allegro in this review, but you can't expect a sub $1K product to compete with over a $15K product. If you do hobbyist work, or even product development under 2 GHz, then Eagle can adequately do the job and it is easy to learn. If you are going to design a 16 layer board with matched impedances and matched differential lines , then I would not recomment Eagle as the tool (at least not now as of Feb 2012....we'll evaluate again in several years).