Autotrax
First PCB CAD program available for personal computers
Autotrax is a software application for MS-DOS. It was designed by Protel Systems, now Altium, and was one of the first professional printed circuit board computer-aided design (CAD) applications available for IBM PC compatibles. It was also sold in a version with fewer features as Easytrax. Both later became freeware.
History
In 1985, Protel Systems shipped the PCB design toolProtel PCB for MS-DOS, which was sold only in Australia. Protel PCB was marketed internationally by HST Technology since 1986. In October 1986 the San Diego–based ACCEL Technologies acquired marketing and support responsibilities of the PCB program for the US, Canada and Mexico under the name Tango PCB. combining it with their own Tango Route. In 1987, Protel launched the circuit diagram editor Protel Schematic for DOS.
In 1988 the company launched Autotrax for DOS in the US as well. A stripped-down version of Autotrax was marketed as Easytrax. Autotrax was sold throughout the world until the company ported the application to Windows 3.1 to create the first Windows-based PCB CAD tool, Protel Advanced Schematic/PCB 1.0 for Windows in 1991, which was the forerunner to the software Altium Designer.
Overview
Protel Autotrax runs on MS-DOS. It will run on Windows 98 and XP but only as a console window.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Autotrax” as first PCB CAD program available for personal computers. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as first PCB CAD program available for personal computers. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4827031. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988.
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This entry incorporates text from “Autotrax” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.