I try to use the very old DOS-based OrCAD package as much as possible. It does what I want, has an excellent autorouter, and places whichever component I specify on the worksurface in well under 1/4 of a second no matter what I specify, so long as it's in the library. The component editor is very simple, and the footprints are easy to generate.

It takes typically 5% as long to draw a schematic in that package as it takes in ANY Windows-based package I've encountered. Yes, the libraries are outdated, but they're so easy to update that I've managed to keep up with the parts I use.

The key, of course, is that the old DOS-based software didn't have all the bells and whistles of Windows to trip over, hence it didn't require eight levels of menus to place a connection dot, and didn't automatically provide connections I didn't want and couldn't get rid of when I made an error moving a component.

Most of the Windows-based schematic packages produce rather unprofessional-looking output, totally inadequate, IMHO, for publication or distribution. The DOS-based OrCAD package, BTW, is no better, but it allows me to produce HPGL output, which I can import in to CorelDRAW (I user a very old version of that, too) which is a Windows application, albeit a very early one, and that allows me to import the HPGL version. Having done that, I can manipulate fonts, line weights, etc, and turn a simplistic-looking schematic into a useful bit of communication, from which anyone can clearly see what was meant.

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