Whether you are an electronics enthusiast or engineering professional, this book provides the reader with an introduction to the use of the CadSoft’s EAGLE PCB design software package.

EAGLE is a user-friendly, powerful and affordable software package for the efficient design of printed circuit boards. It offers the same power and functionality to all users, at a smaller cost than its competitors. A free version of EAGLE is available to enthusiasts for their own use.

EAGLE can be used on the main computing platforms including: Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista or Windows 7); Linux (based on kernel 2.6 or above) and Apple Mac OS X (Version 10.6 or higher). Any hardware that supports these software platforms will run the EAGLE application.

The book is intended for anyone who wants an introduction to the capabilities of EAGLE. The reader may be a novice at PCB design or a professional wanting to learn about EAGLE, with the intention of migrating from another CAD package.

This book will quickly allow you to:

• obtain an overview of the main modules of EAGLE: the schematic editor; layout editor and autorouter in one single interface;
• learn to use some of the basic commands in the schematic and layout editor modules of EAGLE;
• apply your knowledge of EAGLE commands to a small project;
• learn more about some of the advanced concepts of EAGLE and its capabilities;
• understand how EAGLE relates to the stages of PCB manufacture;
• create a complete project, from design through to PCB fabrication. The project discussed in the book is a popular, proven design from the engineering team at Elektor.

After reading this book while practicing some of the examples, and completing the projects, the reader should feel confident about taking on more challenging endeavors.