Seetrax CAE Ltd was formed in the late 1980's to specialise in CAD software for the PCB designer, having developed Ranger for their own design bureau. This resulted in a product range designed for designers, and led by designers.

Seetrax Ranger PCB CAD software will now be found in large, medium and small companies around the world.

Dedicated to the development, supply and support of high performance software solutions for the electronics industry, Seetrax have products available to suit hobbyists through to dedicated PCB designers. Their products have always been geared to the fast throughput of designs, whether for original design or re-work. Seetrax Ranger can handle single- sided through to complex multi-layer designs containing conventional or surface mounted technology parts.

• Seetrax XL Designer is the premier product and handles complex printed circuit board designs of unlimited size including support for blind/buried vias, cross-probing, 3D output files, split internal power planes, hierarchical schematic editor, etc. The user-interface is Windows based allowing drag/drop operations, multiple, active open windows, etc.

  A lite version is available as a free-download, offering the full range of features, but with designs limited to 30 parts/50 nets.

• Ranger XL is the fore-runner of Seetrax XL Designer, it also handles complex printed circuit board designs. It has an earlier user-interface so drag/drop and multiple active windows are not available.

• Ranger2 XL is a cut-down version of Ranger XL, for the price conscious user who doesn't require features such as blind/buried via support, split internal planes, etc., but still requires the ability to design complex printed circuit boards with full support for surface mount technology.

Extensive libraries of schematic symbols and PCB footprints are provided as standard, as are outputs to DXF, gerber photoplotters (RS-274X) and CNC drilling/routing machines. The Seetrax auto-router comes as standard along with .dsn outputs for the Specctra and Electra auto-routers.

Following on from the free Seetrax XL Designer Lite download, prices start from £90-00 for Ranger2 XL/500.

Upgrading Ranger is easy, all designs and libraries are upwards comaptible so you never lose any work.