Autocad

The reigning monarch of CAD programs. Is able to do most anything needed in any type of drawing. Unfortunately, that makes it very complex and difficult to learn. It is very expensive and is only available for one OS.

Its file formats are the standard for interchange. Many component vendors offer drawings of their products. Using these will greatly speed up our making assembly drawings that utilize these components. These component drawings are uaually in DXF format.

There are many competing programs. We will try to pick one that is good enough to be usable for our limited needs and yet will be free, since one of our objectives is to be accesible to people who are not wealthy.