Howdy,
I'm tired of prototyping with protoboards so I'm on the hunt for a decent Electronics simulator and PCB layout software in one package. Mac OS X. Currently on a G4 1.5Ghz but I'm probably gonna splurge for a Intel Mac Pro soon.
I've found this site {http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.20/20.05/ElectronicHardware/index.html} that has some reviews. It seems that there's always that one software feature that another doesn't have and yet another does but it's missing something else. I'm looking for 1 piece with the whole shabang for my buck.
I'm looking for one that lets you design, simulate (with descent library), layout (with autotracing and silkscreen side) and be able to export to at least the Gerber format.
If anyone out there knows the skinny on this software stuff help would be appreciated. Even if there isn't one with everything, what's the best choices so my expendature is minimal.
Thanks in advance!
gEDA
It's a Linux suite, but you could probably run it under X11.app in OS X.
He's right, there's a port from fink, and a port from macports:
http://finkproject.org
http://www.macports.org
Even if you don't go with geda, I'd recommend getting the fink and macports packages, they have a lot to offer.