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Why, oh why, oh why...Is it so bloody hard to get good PCB design packages? I've tried many PCB packages over the years, starting with early DOS-based packages, right through to modern Windows stuff (I've never used 'High End' PCB CAD). The first application I ever used was Easy-PC from Number One systems. It had limitations, but was a very good package for the money. Fast and easy to learn, although it did not have modern schematic capture and the requisite linking of schematic to PCB that is de-rigueur these days. It couldn't do power planes easily, was useless for RF work (micro strip design) but for all that was a great package. This was followed by Easy-PC pro, which I hated. I found component library management really difficult with this package, and for years stuck with the earlier version, until such point as my advancing PC hardware would no longer run such ageing DOS applications. When it came to creating some prototype PCB's for the regulators I started searching for suitably inexpensive (hopefully free) package to do it. My first port of call was the PADS PowerPCB package we used at work. Now this package may have plenty of power, but in my hands most of it was latent - this package is a total f*****g bitch to use. Despite being supposedly a Windows application it doesn't conform to any of the normal Windows operational procedure - even printing something is a bloody challenge. Looking at other packages though reveals much the same story. Appalling user interfaces, total lack of intuitive operation and very poor performance (running on my 2GHz PC!) seemed to be the order of the day. I suspect that many of these packages come from different environments (Unix etc.) and as a consequence are alien to people like me. I'd love to use Unix / Linux for all my PC work, but even with the latest releases the Linux fraternity has a LOT to learn about user interfaces, before it has any chance at all of becoming mainstream. It can be done right though, and I found a package called Eagle (Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor). This was a breath of fresh air. Despite being non-standard in interface (I suspect a Unix past...) it was easy to learn, unbelievably powerful and came with the most comprehensive component library I've seen ever (and the library supplied with the light version is a subset of the full package!). This package can do power planes / split planes with ease. Has a functional autorouter*, and is very, very fast in operation. Like all things though, it's not perfect, but my criticism is of the licensing model, rather than the package. This package is sold on board area limits, rather than the more normal component / node based limit. This was fine for prototyping the Super-reg's, but for the future the cost of buying the package I want is too expensive. I can't tell you how much this frustrates me - I love this package but cannot justify the costs for the amount I'd use it. So it's back to Number One Systems for a preferential upgrade from Easy PC Pro to the latest Windows version. This is a nice package, easy to use, but still has limits compared to Eagle. It feels familiar and homely though, so I'll just make myself comfy and report more later.
*It goes without saying that any analogue engineer worth his salt considers all auto-routers to be the work of Beelzebub, and would have any credibility amongst his peers demolished by any admission that he might have even thought about using such tools. Being generally the sort of person who likes up-ending apple carts though, I'll let you into a secret - I use one. Before you contact the analogue police though, please read what follows.You can rest assured I would NEVER let an auto-router get it's dirty little mitts on my delicate PCB traces. It is though an extremely useful tool for performing a very speedy check of whether a physical layout is remotely routable by hand. Often a quick auto-route will show up obvious areas where moving a component would result in a far better track layout, and for this I unashamedly support their use.If I find out though that you haven't ripped up it's results and routed by hand, I'll personally come round and chop your fingers off ;) |
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