Altium 6.5 (nee Protel) doesn't appear to have that junction problem
anymore.  Not only does the connection dot not go away, but when you add
a 4th wire to a 3-wire junction, it 'jogs' the connecting endpoints of
one of the wires and makes -two- connecting dots.  No question of
whether it's a crossover or junction.

Bad ASCII circuit art:  (looks much better on the schematic)
       |
       .
  ____/| ____
       |/
       .
       |
 
It also has an option to put a little 'jump-over loop' in non-junction
crossovers, so you don't have to question their connectivity either.

I'm just starting with Altium, so I don't have any experience with it
other than diddling around.  So I'm only assuming these functions are
reliable, but I haven't seen any complaints about them.  The package
looks really slick so far though.


Gary Crowell
Micron Technology


> -----Original Message-----
> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu 
> [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Mauricio Jancic
> Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 6:41 AM
> To: 'Microcontroller discussion list - Public.'
> Subject: RE: [EE]: Autorouting software, ELECTRA. Opinions wanted.
> 
> There is also a very anoying bug in protel sch that never was 
> solved. It
> gave me 2 or 3 headaches in the past when I was not aware of 
> it. Try it your
> self:
> 
> 1) on the SCH draw a wire, it doesn't have to be connected. 
> Just one wire.
> 2) now, draw a second wire and conect it to the first one. Altium will
> automatically place a juntion.
> 3) now, you need to connect a second element to that node 
> (junction) so
> start a new wire and end it on the junction. You will see 
> that the junction
> y gone and there is no more electrical connection between the 
> two wires. You
> can also start this new wire on the junction, the result is the same.
> 
> Bye,
> 
> Mauricio Jancic
> Janso Desarrollos
> www.janso.com.ar
> info@janso.com.ar
> (54) 11-4542-3519
>  
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu 
> > [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Vitaliy
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 11:52 PM
> > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
> > Subject: Re: [EE]: Autorouting software, ELECTRA. Opinions wanted.
> > 
> > Shawn Wilton wrote:
> > > Strange, what if you want to exchange one part for another? 
> >  Have to 
> > > disconnect all the pins?  Why not just select everything 
> > you want to drag?
> > > That's my preferred method at least.
> > 
> > Actually, this feature comes in very handy when you need to 
> > replace one part with another on an existing PCB: you just 
> > drop the new part on top of another (in schematic editor and 
> > in the layout editor), move the new part out of the way (it 
> > drags the wires), and delete the old part.
> > 
> > Vitaliy 
> > 
> > --
> > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change 
> > your membership options at 
> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
> > 
> > 
> 

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