There is such thing as "freeware" Eagle [poll]

[Shaos]

I just received a booklet from element14 (current owner of Eagle CAD) and it says that instead of "freeware" version now there is a "FREE 60-DAY TRIAL" with 4 layers and 4 sheets! So it's time to say "good bye" to Eagle for hobbyists, because nobody will be able to see my design anymore?...
P.S. I have already STANDARD version of Eagle, but if nobody else may use it "for free forever" why should I use it?
P.P.S. cadsoft.de still offers usual options including "freeware" with 2 layers and 1 sheet, so may be it's just wrong advertisement
P.P.P.S. I've changed subject at the end of the day to make it clear that "freeware" Eagle is still available

[adafruit]

hmm! thanks for pointing it out

[Shaos]

this misleading chart has scared me for a while, but it looks like everything is still the same...
yet?

[DynahoeDave]

Zuken / Cadstar has a free version, Cadstar Express. It has limitations on the number of holes & components. It's a pretty advanced / pro program, so maybe not for everyone?

[dbc]

gEDA and KiCAD are both open source. Why would any hobbyist use proprietary crippleware to begin with? It's way past time to dump Eagle and all the others. No open hardware project should be done on Eagle. Its counterproductive and dangerous.

[DynahoeDave]

Nice to know there are open source programs for this out there!

[pdp7]

As noted earlier, I think the issue is the that brochure is just misleading. The Free 60-day trial is also referred to as Freemium allows 4 layers for 60 days:

http://www.element14.com/community/comm ... e/freemium

The "original" unlimited-time version allows usual 2 layers and is available from cadsoft.de:

http://cadsoft.de/download.htm

Cheers,
Drew

[CadSoftTech]

Hi To All,
CadSoft Computer has no intentions of going away from offering the Freeware version of EAGLE. Your initial statement is False. If you look closely at the recent brochure, this is an offering by Newark. The 60 day freemiun license now offers certain capabilities more than our typical freeware version. CadSoft Computer has supported the DIY, Electronic Enthusiast and Student community for over 21 years and we have no plans of slowing down any time soon.
In fact, we have announced that the next version of EAGLE will no longer be supporting Binary file formats for Board, Schematic and Library files. EAGLE V6 will support well documented XML files.
Please view the official anouncement by Make: http://www.element14.com/community/message/15751#15751
We would greatly appreciate that you get all the facts before posting such information.
Have a GREAT DAY!!!!
Ed
ed(-at-)cadsoftusa(-dot-)com
www.cadsoftusa.com
Freeware available at: http://www.cadsoftusa.com/freeware.htm
Available for: Linux, Mac and Windows

[L.A.W]

Your initial statement is False[...]We would greatly appreciate that you get all the facts before posting such information.

Someone in customer service is a little snippy today. The OP may have been wrong, but this is not the proper 'tude to have with customers.

More topic specific, I would like to see a Spice sim program bundled with Eagle. I hate to go from a separate Spice sim to Eagle which is why I use OrCAD/Allegro.

[adafruit]

Someone in customer service is a little snippy today. The OP may have been wrong, but this is not the proper 'tude to have with customers. More topic specific, I would like to see a Spice sim program bundled with Eagle. I hate to go from a separate Spice sim to Eagle which is why I use OrCAD/Allegro.

wha? ed answered politely and within hours of this being posted here, they did a great job!

thanks gang!

-adafruit

[L.A.W]

It comes across as "RARR!!! Gojira!!" to me.

[adafruit]

It comes across as "RARR!!! Gojira!!" to me.

it's precise and timely

[CadSoftTech]

Your initial statement is False[...]We would greatly appreciate that you get all the facts before posting such information.

Someone in customer service is a little snippy today. The OP may have been wrong, but this is not the proper 'tude to have with customers.

Hi,
I never intended to come accross with any type of 'tude. If I did, please accept my apology. I wish they would have called or email us before making this statement. We have a strong commitment to the electronic ethusiast and hacker community, so a statement such this one might get me going .
Its all good!!!!
Have a GREAT DAY!!!
Ed
ed(-at-)cadsoftusa(-dot-)com
http://www.cadsoftusa.com

[Shaos]

Hi To All,
CadSoft Computer has no intentions of going away from offering the Freeware version of EAGLE ... CadSoft Computer has supported the DIY, Electronic Enthusiast and Student community for over 21 years and we have no plans of slowing down any time soon.

Hello, Ed
I glad to hear that Eagle is still available in "freeware" form (I even changed subject to reflect that finding)
Also it is interesting that your 1st post on this forum is a reply to my statement

Your initial statement is False. If you look closely at the recent brochure, this is an offering by Newark...We would greatly appreciate that you get all the facts before posting such information.

I believe that I'm a loyal user of Eagle for decade at least and I didn't go to any of your web-sites after Element14 bought CadSoft (I didn't even know that cadsoft.de still exists) so when I received this advertisement I got false impression only based on information printed in this official brochure (by the way it has 3 logos on it - CadSoft, Newark and Element14, so it does look like official Eagle advertisement) and this information is pretty clear: there are 3 types of Eagle (as before in good old times), but instead of "FREEWARE, STANDARD and PROFESSIONAL" it is "FREE 60-DAY TRIAL, STANDARD and PROFESSIONAL". So in this circumstances my initial statement was True! Logical enough? Then I was scared and confused - I wrote 1st post here and then tried to get more information - I opened URL from brochure http://www.newark.com/eagle that goes to http://www.newark.com/cadsoft-computer-inc that is offering Eagle as purely commercial software! But, at the right side of the page I noticed link "Download free version here" to ftp.cadsoft.de with version 5.6.0 for Windows. Nice, I thought, they are still offering old version as a freeware, so may be latest version 5.11 is purely commercial? Then I opened http://www.cadsoft.de and saw that even 5.11 has "freeware" variant so I added message cadsoft.de still offers usual options including "freeware" to my initial post. Then I googled for a while and found "freemium":

The 60 day freemiun license now offers certain capabilities more than our typical freeware version.

Also I found that not only me got such impression after reading this brochure: http://www.electro-tech-online.com/memb ... eagle.html
So from my point of view hiding important information is a lie and YES, this brochure is definitely misleading, because it doesn't say anything about freeware version, even if Eagle still has free flavor somewhere in the Net. May be somebody in Farnell/Element14/Newark marketing department thought that "hiding" freeware version is good for profit, but truth is it's bad for old loyal customers - they (at least some of them) will be scared and slowly go away, and for getting new customers this tactic is also questionable...

In fact, we have announced that the next version of EAGLE will no longer be supporting Binary file formats for Board, Schematic and Library files. EAGLE V6 will support well documented XML files.
Please view the official anouncement by Make: http://www.element14.com/community/message/15751#15751

Anyway well documented format is good for community, because people will be able to convert their legacy boards to gEDA, I guess

gEDA and KiCAD are both open source. Why would any hobbyist use proprietary crippleware to begin with? It's way past time to dump Eagle and all the others. No open hardware project should be done on Eagle. Its counterproductive and dangerous.

Now I agree. Actually I use Linux exclusively and I even have gEDA everywhere already installed, but I use it only as a viewer to see designs from others. So may be it's time to start doing something in it instead of old good Eagle...

Someone in customer service is a little snippy today. The OP may have been wrong, but this is not the proper 'tude to have with customers.

It's understandable - they probably answering phone for a few days already and everybody is asking the only question: "why did you stop offering freeware version?"

[Shaos]

I wish they would have called or email us before making this statement.

I think simple web research is enough to get the picture. Basically right now there are a few places in the web where Eagle is presented:

1. http://www.cadsoft.de - freeware version 5.11 is presented (Windows, Linux, MacOS X)
2. http://www.cadsoftusa.com - freeware version 5.11 is presented (Windows, Linux, MacOS X)
3. http://www.newark.com/cadsoft-computer-inc - it offers commercial versions of 5.11 (from $49), no "freemium", link to cadsoft.de is presented, also we can see link to download freeware version 5.6.0 (May 2009) for Windows (no Linux, no MacOS X)
4. http://www.element14.com/community/comm ... soft_eagle - "Freemium" 60-day trial, nothing about freeware, no links to cadsoft.de or cadsoftusa.com, link "EAGLE 5.11 Download the latest version of EAGLE" is actually "Buy now" that goes to http://uk.farnell.com/cadsoft
5. http://uk.farnell.com/cadsoft - just commercial versions of 5.11 (from £35), nothing about freeware or "Freemium", no links to cadsoft.de or cadsoftusa.com

So tendency is clear...