Looking for circuit drawing software

Question

I'm starting to learn radio. That's as in "Radio Rangers" -- crystal sets, to start, then moving up to tubes, and likely staying at that era (I don't have any real interest in transistors). This may go as far as getting an Amateur license.

In order to document my "as built" work, I need to be able to draw a circuit diagram, and in order for it to be neat enough to publish on the Web, I'd like to use my computer to do the drawing. I specifically need to be able to include symbols for tubes with various numbers of grids and other internal parts (beam power elements, for instance), beyond the usual resistors, capacitors, coils, and so forth.

Twenty years ago, I'd have used GeoWorks Ensemble's GeoDraw -- an object drawing tool that ran well on a 386 with 2-4 MB RAM. The current version, however, seems a little retro for a multi-core, multi-gigahertz, multi-gigabyte system. I'm noddingly familiar with Inkscape, but find it more complicated to use (in truth, I had trouble just drawing lines and circles last time I tried it).

I know my way around GIMP to some extent, but it's a bitmap editor at heart; it doesn't really handle objects.

What I really need is software that's as easy to use as GeoDraw -- including, if the symbols aren't included or downloadable, the ability to create symbols that can be pasted, rather than having to be drawn over and over. It should do "object drawing", with no loss of resolution as a drawing is scaled larger or smaller. Ideally, it should be free and open source.

So far, the answers all seem to point to software packages with circuit simulation, which require having a model for every component, or the simulation doesn't work -- unfortunately, the SPICE models that are required are scattered far and wide and very, very few of them are for vacuum tubes, meaning I'd have to create my own model data for components that, in most cases, haven't been made in thirty or forty years.

Further, I genuinely don't want to deal with the learning curve of a circuit simulation at this time. I'm starting from known working circuits, making minor mods (different tube models, running on different filament or plate voltage, for instance, or a pentode in place of a triode). I just need software that will let me draw and print a vector/object circuit diagram, something like a simplified Inkscape with electronic symbol library.

I'm currently using Ubuntu 16.04 Mate -- but of course I'd prefer to be able to keep the same drawing software past future upgrades.

Solution 1

After some additional digging around on the web, I found a number of downloadable symbol sheets and drawing instructions for -- I'm not kidding -- Libre Draw.

I haven't used Libre Draw in several years (it seemed only useful for making flow charts, and I didn't have a use for that). I downloaded one of the symbol sheets, and found that Libre Draw now has most of the tools I used to take for granted in NewDraw (the drawing module in NewDeal Office) -- and it's much easier to use than Inkscape.

Though I haven't found any pre-existing vacuum tube symbols, I can create my own (reusable) part symbols by drawing and grouping the individual objects into a composite that handles as a single "part". One potential limitation is "glue points" -- the "connector" (a self-routing line that stays attached to the objects at its ends) can only run from one "glue point" to another, and it appears Libre Draw only assigns four "glue points" to a grouped object, but I think I can get around this.

With available objects for inductors, capacitors, diodes, and so forth, I won't have to create every device symbol from scratch, and those I do, I can save to a worksheet and reuse. It appears, until I need circuit simulation and am willing to tackle that learning curve, that Libre Draw will do the job for me.

Here's an early example -- diodes, triodes, tetrodes, and pentodes, with both directly and indirectly heated cathodes.

Solution 2

It depends on your needs. But many electronics-oriented programs are available for the Ubuntu:

• Oregano (has oregano package in universe repository) - it has tube

  

• XCircuit (has xcircuit package in universe repository)

  

• KiCAD EDA (has kicad package in universe repository)

  

• gEDA gschem (has geda-gschem package in universe repository)

  

• QUCS (may be installed from some PPAs - for example ppa:dac922/ppa)

  

• QUCS-S - QUCS with SPICE (has deb-packages on OpenSuSe build service)

  

Also you can try to find software in the Synaptic Package Manager application (in the Electronics sections).

Solution 3

Eagle. It's not free software, but it's free as in beer. It has a huge component selection, and it works great, with many third party components.

It's a professional product, primarily geared toward PCB construction, but it works fine for drawing circuit diagrams as well.

It's also cross platform, and supports industry standard formats, and allows easy export of layouts if you want to manufacture your own PCBs.

Comments

[N0rbert]

What is your Ubuntu version?

[Zeiss Ikon]

Currently 16.04 Mate. Of course, I'd prefer to keep the same software/interface past future upgrades.

[Cornelius]

I won't write a full answer for this because it's Windows only software, but TinyCAD deserves a try since it is free and it runs in Wine too. You can create your own libraries and you can draw "neat" symbols with various colors, different line width etc.

[Mike Waters]

The downloadable symbol link does not work for me. They must have moved the link?

[Zeiss Ikon]

The one at the top of the answer? I've got a local copy of that at home. The lower one opened for me (from my work computer, so being in my own Dropbox shouldn't matter).

[Zeiss Ikon]

@MikeWaters Okay, I uploaded the local copy of the symbols sheet (several pages inside the document) to my Dropbox share and linked it above.