On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:40:28 -0700, "Vitaliy" <piclist@maksimov.org>
said:

> > I don't use Eagle but I see there is an Eagle-SPECCTRA ULP. Also
> > freerouting.net seems to have an Eagle translator for their online
> > router.
> 
> Looks interesting! Do you know how well it works?

I don't know.

> Their router is not SPECCTRA but it uses the SPECCTRA interface
> > by default. SPECCTRA was the only product from Cooper and Chyan after
> > they left Mentor Graphics so there are translators to-from almost
> > anything. Now they got gobbled up by Cadence. It's hard to keep track of
> > all the mergers and acquisitions.
> 
> How much does it cost? For some reason, it is not part of Cadence's
> product 
> list:

They probably expect Cadsoft to do the bundling and for clarity only
want to promote their own design products.

But you can pick up used standalone copies for a reasonable amount.
Pricing is usually based on the number of routed layers. 2 layers plus 2
planes is pretty affordable used. New pricing is "high".

> "The router fits together with FreePCB, Kicad, CadSoft-Eagle and all host 
> PCB design software containing an interface to the Specctra or Electra 
> autorouter."
> 
> This makes it sound like the interfaces (not just the names) are similar.

I think since SPECCTRA is so popular everyone has to support it and the
files are very straightforward.

> 
> FWIW, I tried ELECTRA, it works better (and many times faster!) than
> EAGLE's 
> autorouter, but I still wasn't satisfied with the results. We route all
> of 
> our boards by hand.

Ask anyone who uses SPECCTRA, it is pretty awesome.

-Bob

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