YAPCBCADP*

[DummyLoad]

*Yet Another PCB CAD Package  It is zero end user cost but kind of a PITA to activate and they limit your use to two PCs. Support only for Win XP /XP 64bit & Win 7 / 7 64bit so far.

http://www.designspark.com/pcb

Seems decent enough but the motive for offering a full featured package at 0$ cost outside of the GPL seems dubious. Perhaps they are selling registration information to help pay for development costs? Maybe app. phones home and sends all your top secret stuff, or maybe it's a back-door? (What, wait, there are MS Apps that aren't? LOL!). I'd use a spam catcher email addy to register. Information on package came from another forum.

--ISOTone  

[FYL]

DesignSpark is RS Components/Radiospares' answer to Farnell/Newark's Eagle. Launched in July '10, quite well received by the engineering community.

Compatible with the current Eagle version when it comes to file formats, 100% free with no limits (the free version of Eagle is limited to small double sided PCBs and can't be used for commercial designs), no strings attached except a nice link between the generated BOM and the RS online catalog: ordering from them is only a click away, and that's where RS will make a profit...

[PRR]

> the motive for offering a full featured package at 0$ cost ... seems dubious. Perhaps they are selling registration information...?

As FYL says: it partners with RS, england's answer to Newark/Allied (and I suspect RS and A and N are sleeping together, or at least sharing a lot). Part of the deal is, as said, the RS part-numbers pop-up ready to order.

You probably get "targeted emails". Not Rolex Cartier or male-pills, but RS and parts and board vendors. All vetted by DesignSpark and RadioSpares, no old bikers selling gitar-amp parts from a cabin in the woods <GGG!>. Mostly stuff you don't know WHAT it is.... digital gigahertz matrixes or somesuch. Probably not enough to crowd your random-spam.

I bet it is "97% full-featured" and they are hoping a larger community will bring in donated patches and enhancements. At some point, obviously they may want to spin-off a $999/Year Full-Support version... designers on contract deadline would want to PAY to have someone answer the phone and help ASAP. But such ploys usually continue to offer a free no-formal-support version, and there may be ample non-realtime support on their forums.

I don't recall a 2-PCB limit? Unless you mean before Registration.

[FYL]

I don't recall a 2-PCB limit? Unless you mean before Registration.

It's actually a 2-seats limit with the same serial number.

[DummyLoad]

I don't recall a 2-PCB limit?

errr.... i meant "PCs" as in more than one Personal Computer - not Printed Circuits... sorry for the confusion.   

there was no doubt in my mind that i'd start receiving tekkie related SPAM when i registered. my concern is that they, (RS) will auction off user datum to help pay for development costs. "terms and conditions" change with the seasons. register with a SPAM catcher email addy.