Sure, the ground plane is great, once you know the trick.  Draw a polygon
(not a rectangle) around the perimeter of the area you wish to be the ground
plane.  Click the Name icon, and change the name of the rectangle to GND.
Once you recalculate the ratsnest, all GND connected pins will automatically
connect to the filled ground plane.

Hope that helps.

-- Mitch


-----Original Message-----
From: pic microcontroller discussion list
[mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Sean H. Breheny
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 12:47 AM
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: [EE]:Schematic/Board Layout


Hi all,

Right now, I'm struggling through using Eagle Light to lay out a small
board. I have done a fair amount of PCB layout before, but I have always
just drawn the schematic on paper and then used a manual layout program
(EasyTrax). However, I have found that I usually end up not drawing the
schematic on the computer, so I don't have it (in a file) when people ask
for it. So, this time, I decided to force myself to use a real layout
program.

Eagle Light is truly painful. For one thing, I have to sort through an
endless number of components (with no description other than a cryptic part
number) to find one that fits a simple ceramic capacitor or resistor.
Secondly, it doesn't seem to have a provision to automatically provide a
ground plane on a 2 layer board (i.e., I can't seem to just place ground
symbols on the schematic and have it recognize that they should all connect
to an area filled in with copper).

Am I just not giving it enough of a chance, or is it a valid observation
that Eagle has problems? If so, what would you recommend in the way of
cheap/free schematic/layout programs?

Thanks,

Sean

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