On 8/31/06, Mark E. Skeels wrote: > Hi, folks, > > I've been using PCAD/TangoPCB for years. Recently I had occasion to lay > out a PCB on which the component count exceeded 400, and Altium wants > $4000.00 US to upgrade to a version that removes the 400 component > limitation. > > I can get Eagle Professional with no such restrictions complete for > $1200.00 US. > > I know a lot of people use Eagle on this list. Has anyone any experience > laying out larger pcbs like this? (At least it's large for me) and if so > have you been satisfied? Definitely not. Eagle running on Windows is much slower than the old Tango. And I'm affraid the Eagle autoruter is worse compared with Tango (at least my impression) I can't compare Eagle with PCAD (but as I've look to PCAD it's a proffesional CAD very similar with Orcad, things I can't say about Eagle). The leak features on Eagle are: - libraries which can't be used without corrections, - it's generate very poor documentation - has'nt some important functions (solved partially by ULPs) requested by proffesional CAE/CAM generation - finding a component on a 2 sheet design or on a large board it's a pain, - it has no dinamically route change, automatic parallel routing or a serious route lenght measure options (if wasn't added till now). - very difficult library management of a component which is already used The good features of Eagle are: - the existence of the free version - very easy schematic capture generation - quite low price For a double eurocard PCB with four layers and power/ground plane on all layers, with say 1500 vias connected to ground and to power planes (and 400-500 passive SMD components) it takes more than 20 seconds for redrawing (with processing polygons option enabled and large polygon width selected) on a P4 machine running at 3Ghz/1Gb memory and 512Mb video memory. It looks like video memory size does not influence the speed of the process. As more components you need to add to an already made schematic&PCB, as difficult and painfull will be. Never try a RF mixed design with Eagle. Sorry for all Eagle lovers. greetings, Vasile -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist