Circuit Design Software Suggestions? Drawing schematics for a game w/o paperwork

LT Spice.

I use DipTrace. But, honestly, if you have a chance to use something else, go for it, honestly.

I use Eagle.

You might be able to import those libraries.
For some reason every simulation or schematic capture tool I have ever used always makes the component import process torturous.

If you're looking to simulate a bunch of 7400 series logic, you might want to download Altera's (now Intel) Quartus II software. It's FPGA / PLD design software. However, they have schematic entry and a 7400 series library that you could use as well as simulation tools. The 7400 series library isnt complete, but it does have a *lot* of those classic components .

If you're planning on making a PCB, this won't help ... But if you want to see how a circuit works (or is supposed to work), you might want to check that out.

The learning curve is a bit steep, but there are tons of tutorials and the like on their website.

I'll let you know if there's something else out there that I'm forgetting . That was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw this.

If you just need the diagram Visio works too.. not sure about 7400 series chips though it's been a while since I've used it

You have to clean those by hand or hope the auto-router can but the traces in good places when you do the board layout. I like to keep it neat from the schema view as it helps trace (no pun intended) problems with your wiring.

The autorouter is for when laying the traces out on the board (getting ready for manufacturing), not on the schematic view. As long as you can follow a rats nest of lines (which I can't), you can get away with not worrying about it. However, I have noticed that if you have a lot of crossing over lines in the schematic view, you tend to get a lot more VIAs when the traces are routed. In the end, I end up spending a lot of time redoing my lines in the schematic view to keep things neat.

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Also, I wouldn't call Eagle great software. It has a crazy user interface and figuring out how to do things was a lot of googling and trial/error/asking people. Learning it was like learning Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, or VIM. Very crappy UI and menu organization, but you just learn it. And once you do, everything else seems crazy to use because your expectations has been warped by the first software's design.

If you just want a schematic you could try DesignSpark it's free and has 74LS libraries

https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/pcb-download-and-installation

There are certainly tools more capable than DipTrace but it really is more intuitive than Eagle and fairly well suited for quick jobs like the OP's. DipTrace has decent libraries for common parts.

Eagle's interface is just total crap. it's a shame they never improved it. Lyonsden's observations are spot on.

KiCad is free but that is it's only redeeming quality and even that isn't enough to save it. Using it requires a level of self-hatred that is beyond me. I don't know about library quality.

Altium Designer is probably cost prohibitive if you don't already have the license but there are so many third party libraries available. Altium is overkill for this job unless you are already trained up on it.

Just sharing my thoughts on Eagle. It is what I use and I don't really like it. No judgement on you, but just letting you know that I think it sucks in some ways. But it does get the job done for making boards, which I misunderstood as not being your purpose. If you find something you like, please share.

Oh true - my issue is the horrible UI design, and the odd handling of nets (in Schematics) and traces (in PCB). Some really annoying, project-breaking things if planning PCBs, like nets appearing connected but not, and no error list reporting unconnected nets. (Unconnected Pins, yeah, but not dead nets.)

Check out kicad. free as in free beer. No limits. I use that for schematic and pcb design. Lots of libraries for it. It even fetches them online for you.