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Nick
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 Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 10:18 am |
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i'm using the eagle, it seems pretty easy. Is there a how-to or tutoriall yall would recommend? This is my first board.
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GDetienne
Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 47
Location: Brussel - Belgium
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webbone
Joined: 20 Sep 2004
Posts: 14
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 6:26 pm |
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| Although ORCAD is fabulous for Schematic capture and PROTEL is the best under $10K for layout, if you are looking for a well featured yet powerful inexpensive package look at PCB_Elegance. You can find it on their website here: http://www.merco.nl |
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kender
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 768
Location: Silicon Valley
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| [OT] ExpressPCB support & file sharing user group |
| Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 12:41 pm |
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This is slightly off-topic, but I have found a Yahoo group dedicted to sharing the ExpressPCB library files.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/expresspcb/ |
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MikeValencia
Joined: 04 Aug 2004
Posts: 238
Location: Chicago
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| Re: [OT] ExpressPCB support & file sharing user group |
| Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 3:48 pm |
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I'm glad you pointed this Yahoo group out! i never knew one existed for expresspcb. I have never bought from expresspcb, but i do use their schematic tool for illustration purposes. The only thing i don't like about expresspcb is that i can't cut a slit in the middle ground and power planes. perhaps a later version (or current) version can do that.
I see a lot of people here like Eagle. I guess it's just me, but it seems that Eagle isn't too user-friendly, or in better words, different from your typical schematic editor. I do have the non-profit version, but never had the patience to actually make a simple circuit. |
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kender
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 768
Location: Silicon Valley
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| Re: [OT] ExpressPCB support & file sharing user group |
| Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 4:02 pm |
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| MikeValencia wrote: | | The only thing i don't like about expresspcb is that i can't cut a slit in the middle ground and power planes. perhaps a later version (or current) version can do that. |
Yeah, I don't like that too. The current version doesn't support slit ground planes either. It forces me to use a 2-layer board or multiple boards, when I have to have an isolation barrier. |
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MikeValencia
Joined: 04 Aug 2004
Posts: 238
Location: Chicago
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| Re: [OT] ExpressPCB support & file sharing user group |
| Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 4:16 pm |
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| kender wrote: | | MikeValencia wrote: | | The only thing i don't like about expresspcb is that i can't cut a slit in the middle ground and power planes. perhaps a later version (or current) version can do that. |
Yeah, I don't like that too. The current version doesn't support slit ground planes either. It forces me to use a 2-layer board or multiple boards, when I have to have an isolation barrier. |
PCB123.com does support split ground planes.
Last edited by MikeValencia on Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:42 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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kender
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 768
Location: Silicon Valley
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yerpa
Joined: 19 Feb 2004
Posts: 58
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 2:34 pm |
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I like Eagle. I suffered too long with PADS. Eagle is designed better because the schematic & the board share the same database, so you can re-use designs and make changes much more effectively than in PADS. You are not constantly importing and exporting netlists. PADS is aimed at very high-end (expensive) applications. They are a hodge podge of products aquired from other companies, and their level of arrogance is unsurpassed. PADS customer support? Forget it! Also, it requires a god-awful dongle. I have a stack of these on my desk. Newer PADS versions cannot read older files. The list goes on and on. Eagle is actually fun to use once you learn the basics, and it is a very good value.
Avoid ProCad Power Station - it is an unusable piece of crap. |
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Hans Wedemeyer
Joined: 15 Sep 2003
Posts: 226
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 5:30 pm |
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| StuH_CC wrote: | I use Easy-PC 8 ( www.numberone.com ). It's one of the most user-friendly PCB CAD systems available with standard outputs (Gerber, Excellon, ODB++ ).
Price depends on the functionality you need, it starts about UKP100. I use the 1000 pin version which comes complete with autorouter at about UKP200 - a cost/features balance which works for me.
A demo version is available for download - it's complete apart from most of the standard libraries, but won't save anything or plot anything.
I've tried the free ones, anything worthwhile tends to tie you to a particular PCB manufacturer and the others are either complete rubbish or severely restricted versions of the full program.
Stuart. |
Well it all depends upon what you mean by user friendly.
IMHO that program is a pile of horse manure.
Here are the reasons.
http://hans-w.com/ezpcbugs.html
Last edited by Hans Wedemeyer on Fri Sep 02, 2005 5:35 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Hans Wedemeyer
Joined: 15 Sep 2003
Posts: 226
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| Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 5:34 pm |
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| yerpa wrote: | I like Eagle. I suffered too long with PADS. Eagle is designed better because the schematic & the board share the same database, so you can re-use designs and make changes much more effectively than in PADS. You are not constantly importing and exporting netlists. PADS is aimed at very high-end (expensive) applications. They are a hodge podge of products aquired from other companies, and their level of arrogance is unsurpassed. PADS customer support? Forget it! Also, it requires a god-awful dongle. I have a stack of these on my desk. Newer PADS versions cannot read older files. The list goes on and on. Eagle is actually fun to use once you learn the basics, and it is a very good value.
Avoid ProCad Power Station - it is an unusable piece of crap. |
After wasting £600 (UK pounds) on Easy-PC I spent $1200 on EAGLE and never looked back.
With Easy-PC there is NO hope of ever getting serious help for problems.
With EAGLE a user can actually commucinate with the team that write the code....
I have a kind of hate love relationship with EAGLE, I wish the UI was more Windows compatible. A small learning curve that soon fixed tha... it sure is stable and does a good job... |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 11:50 am |
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| Thomas Blake wrote: | | If you happen to be on Mac, use Douglas Layout Professional. I just finished an 8-layer card with about 950 I/O lines, using the 1mm BGA packages that Xilinx insists on using for their large arrays. (5-mil design rules.) It took about 5% of the time I would have invested in any of the previously-mentioned packages because of the fully Macintized interface. The downside is that you either have to use Douglas' manufacturing (good quality, but you can't shop the price around) or purchase a Gerber creator utility separately. I have done the latter. They do a Windows version but it sucks (<B style="color:black;background-color:#99ff99">slow</B>, non-Windows feel). |
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sseidman
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 159
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:31 pm |
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| Anonymous wrote: | | ORCAD. It's about $9K |
Actually, I have easy access to the entire cadence suite, and its a real PITA to use. As buggy as any piece of commercial software I've seen. I really prefer to use Eagle.
Scott |
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buckeyes
Guest
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| easy-pc |
| Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 4:42 pm |
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have you tried the easy-pc v9 yet?
my company is considering between this and eagle v4.1
any comments. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 4:38 am |
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| Anonymous wrote: | | Thomas Blake wrote: | | If you happen to be on Mac....(<B style="color:black;background-color:#99ff99">slow</B>, non-Windows feel). |
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EAGLE for MAC is available |
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