CircuitMaker 2000 is a new release of a mature product developed by the US company MicroCode Engineering. Micro-Code have a 10-year history in the development of affordable electronic design automation (EDA) software.

MicroCode Engineering were recently acquired by Protel International, a name that most of us are familiar with (we reviewed Protel 99 in the January 2000 issue). The upshot is that CircuitMaker is now being sold and supported in Australia.

The CircuitMaker 2000 package includes schematic capture, analog and digital circuit simulation and PCB layout software and is offered in both "Standard" and "Professional" editions. We reviewed the Professional edition but we’ll note the differences as we look at each of the major functions. Let’s jump right in ...