At 05:24 PM 6/10/2003 -0500, Matt Pobursky wrote:

>I've been using Protel 99SE for the past several years for schematic
>and PCB layout. I also have a license for Orcad's tools as well. I
>switched from Orcad because they went "dongled" and kept upping their
>yearly maintenance fee after Cadence bought them. Their PCB layout
>package also left a lot to be desired in features and user interface.

It still does. Like the ability to get anything done.
Unless of course you really enjoy the nintendo style user interface where anything can be done, as long as you remember the 25 undocumented things you have to do, and the undocumented workarounds for all the bugs inbetween here and there.

>I'd say Protel 99SE is one of the best under $10K packages for
>professional work. It's much better now than the previous versions you
>probably used. I don't autoroute much, but the Protel autorouter is OK.
>Since Altium (former Protel) came out with DXP, they've more or less
>given up support for Protel 99SE. There are still lots of users using
>it however, as DXP is still pretty buggy yet. There is a good email
>list, similar to PIClist for Protel users.
>
>On that list, several users have reported very good results routing
>with Specctra -- mostly higher density designs on 6+ layers. A lot of
>users also report good results with the Protel router for designs less
>than this. My impression is that like a lot of tools you need to learn
>it's "personality quirks" to get the most out of it.
>
>Overall, I'm not tempted at this time to switch to any other package
>I've seen. Other than price, I think it's a huge step up from Eagle.
>
>BTW, Altium is still selling Protel 99SE and you should be able to get
>a 30-day demo CD from them.

But they've pretty much given up on support for it...

It's no wonder that PCB layout is in the state that it is.
Nothing works, unless you spend mega$, or dedicate someone's life to dancing through the minefield every day.

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