osx software for circuit schematics

September 29, 2007 10:28 AM

What software can I use to draw circuit diagrams in OS X?

I'm going to be documenting my electronics projects and putting the results on my website. Along with pictures and text descriptions, I'd like to include circuit schematics, but taking pictures of my notebook (where the magic happens) is not viable because of glare, lighting, and erasure marks.

What software can I use to draw up diagrams? Free is vastly preferred, and I'm on a student's budget either way. There is nothing available through my school for this purpose. Must be OS X compatible, preferably universal or Intel binaries. I'm willing to use stuff from Fink/Darwinports.

posted by tylermoody to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Omnigraffle. It might already be on your mac. Then, find an appropriate stencil at Graffle Topia.
posted by jeffxl at 10:32 AM on September 29, 2007

I use Solve Elec. It's a bit cumbersome, but it's easy to figure out. And yes, it's free (though sadly not Free).
posted by spaceman_spiff at 10:32 AM on September 29, 2007

xcircuit is a free schematic capture application and available as an X11 Fink package. You could also compile Magic.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:47 AM on September 29, 2007

EAGLE comes in a freeware version and has schematic capture. Version 4.1 needs X11 but the 5.0 beta doesn't.
posted by marionnette en chaussette at 12:08 PM on September 29, 2007

I second OmniGraffle. I know it's different, but I'm drawing database ER diagrams with it as we speak.
posted by pcward at 3:07 PM on September 29, 2007

It depends on what you need to do. If you just need to draw a schematic, OmniGraffle works pretty well. But if you need to lay out a schematic and then turn that into a netlist (in order to aid in PCB layout), then your options become more limited/specialty.

In the latter case, you might want to look at EPOXY, although I have no idea what sort of development state it's in. I tried using it a few years ago and it seemed to have promise but need work.

I'll second marionnette and suggest EAGLE as probably the most mature schematic/layout program for the Mac. The freeware version will do boards up to 100x80mm, I don't think there are any restrictions on schematic drawing. I've used EAGLE and although it has a bit of a learning curve, seemed pretty powerful.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:53 PM on September 29, 2007

gEDA is pretty good. There is a steep learning curve with some of the tools. All of these tools will require X11.
posted by funkbrain at 11:31 AM on September 30, 2007