====== Software ======

===== Circuit Simulation =====

  * [[resources:ltspice|LTSpice/SwitcherCAD]], Great, free circuit simulation tool
  * MacSpice - Spice on the Mac http://www.macspice.com/

===== PCB Layout / Schematic Capture =====

  * [[resources:eagle|Eagle]] - http://cadsoft.de/
    * Very good cross platform support.  Restricted use evaluation version is free.  
  * geda - http://www.gpleda.org/
    * [[http://evilmadscientist.com/|EMSL]] is a big advocate of this tool.  
  * Kicad - http://www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis/kicad/
    * Support for Windows and Linux. Free and open source. Includes 3D rendering support via Wings3D(GNU).

==== Gerber Viewers / Converters ====

  * [[http://swannman.github.com/pdf2gerb/|pdf2gerb]] - Convert PDF to Gerber and NC Drill formats
  * gerbv - http://gerbv.sourceforge.net/
    * Part of the geda suite, incredibly useful for checking your gerbers before sending them out!
===== Land Pattern Design =====

  * [[http://freelabs.com/~whitis/opensymbol/ | "Open Symbol Project" with Mark Whitis]] - "The Open Symbol Project aims to create an open collection of schematic symbols and PCB footprints released under a license that does not interfere with use in either commercial or free projects."
  * PCB Matrix has two tools that are useful for creating land patterns for SMT components (Windows only)
    * LP Viewer, LP Calculator: http://www.pcbmatrix.com/Downloads/LPSoftware.asb
  * [[http://opencircuits.com/PCB_Footprints | Open Circuits: PCB footprints]] lists a bunch of PCB footprint libraries you can download.

===== Microcontrollers =====
==== Atmel AVR ====
    * [[http://www.engbedded.com/fusecalc/|Engbedded Atmel AVR® Fuse Calculator]] - Very useful tool for configuring AVR fuse bytes!
=== avr-gcc ===
    * [[http://www.nongnu.org/avr-libc/|avr-libc project homepage]]
      * [[http://www.nongnu.org/avr-libc/NEWS.txt|NEWS]] file, handy for seeing what changed in new releases
    * [[http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=103527|Fix that makes avr-gcc work with Cygwin]]

===== Miscellaneous =====
  * Windows tools that I find useful.  I had to hunt for these when I switched back to Windows from OS X.
    * [[http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/|Xming]] - Free X Windows server for Windows
    * [[http://sourceforge.net/projects/gerbv/|Windows port of gerbv]] - I didn't realize a Windows version was available until recently.  My favorite gerber file viewer, now available for Windows!
    * [[http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/|TortoiseSVN]]
    * [[http://notepad-plus-plus.org/|Notepad++]] - Awesome text editor for Windows.  Similar to TextWrangler on OSX.
    * [[http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/|Acronis True Image]] - The best backup tool I have found for the PC (so far).  Good but not great IMHO.  My main justification for using it is that I got it for a deep discount, around $30.
      * I was spoiled by Time Machine on the Mac and I haven't found anything nearly as good for the PC.  What I liked about Time Machine: allows full disk recovery to last restore point, continuous incremental backup, intelligent management of backups to conserve disk space.  If anything like this exists for Windows 7, please let me know.   --- //jeff 01/11/2011 01:19//