Announcement

**Nicko** · 10-30-2002, 12:27 PM

Re: PCB Design software

I use Eagle (the Cadsoft s/w you are referring to) to do complex DSP-based designs with 4-layer boards & 8-mil resolution.

I can honestly say that its excellent value for money. The support forums on news.cadsoft.de are in English and the whole product is excellent & stable.

Further, many board houses now accept Eagle files directly, rather than making you go through the nasty Gerber route. In particular, I use Olimex (http://www.olimex.com/pcb) and have found their quality & pricing to be unbeatable... (3-5 day turnaround for double-sided, plated through, 10-mil res, silk-screened legend & solder-mask for USD 26 single Eurocard size - panelization & de-panelisation of smaller boards included for free).

Nicko (who is just a happy user)

My batdetector project (uses Olimex boards)

**Jan** · 10-31-2002, 07:12 PM

Re: PCB Design software

I have tested it a bit and it looks OK.

However, what I missed, or at least could not find, was the ability to clear open ended traces in de PCB automaticly.
It seems that I have to remove all segments of the open ended trace manually.

I use UTWIN/ULTIBOARD rel 5.62.
When I delete a trace segment I can just press a buttton to clear all other segments of the trace... very handy.

Apart from that it looked OK.. liked the graphics of the parts...

However, I misunderstood the pricing.
It turns out that after you pay $50 you still can only work with half a Euro sized board.(100x80mm)
You will have to pay about $600 for a version doing a whole Euro board (100x160mm)
Ok, in 4 layers... but I can only make 2 layer boards.
But that problem I have with Ultiboard as well, 30 layers of wich 28 I will never use.
You pay for the capability but will never use it.
Perhaps an idea for the designers to make a cheap 2 layer version.
There is a vast amount of hobbyists who will pay $100-$200 for a 2 layer version (Capture,PBC and Autorouter)

Best regards, Jan

**Nicko** · 11-01-2002, 02:37 AM

Re: PCB Design software

Jan,

There is a special offer for a 4-layer Eurocard version for USD 100 - look at the Cadsoft websites (there is a USA & a german one), or ask on their news server in the "support" forum...

Nicko

**Jan** · 11-01-2002, 05:23 PM

Re: PCB Design software

Nicko,
You are right.... must have been sleeping...

I am going to play around with it a bit more, and if I am still satisfied I will take this offer.
The problem with Utwin/Ultiboard is that they stopped development for it.
It is now Microsim.... Nice, but not interresting for hobbyists.

The Eagle offer is just what I meant with my previous post.

Just a question, is it possible to auto-delete open ended traces?
When I want to reroute a trace I draw my new trace, then erase just a small bit of the original en press "Delete Open ended" to delete the rest of the original.
Work fine for long, winding traces.

Best regards, Jan

B.t.w. You are right about the PCB Houses.
They do take Eagle layouts, no problem.

**Nicko** · 11-02-2002, 03:07 AM

Re: PCB Design software

Jan,

Eagle is fully user programmable, so if there isn't an automatic command to delete unrouted nets with at least 2 end points (I don;t know one), I'm sure you could write one easily (or there would be someone on the very active support forums who would do it for you...)

As Eagle does full multi-layer autorouting, foR simple stuff I define my ground/power planes and then auto-route the rest. Anything I don't like, I rip-up and manually route...

The next version will do blind and buried vias...

Nicko

Announcement

PCB Design software

PCB Design software

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment