On 08/06/11 18:26, John Ferrell wrote:
> While I would like to have the knowledge, skills and funds to master the
> top of the line tools,
> it is a better decision for me to find a compromise to achieve the
> immediate goal of getting some quick, useful results.

Good point. When I started looking for a PCB CAD tool way-back-when, it=20
boiled down to:

   - The Freebies: gEDA PCB. At that time, it wasn't part of gEDA, and=20
had a UI only a seriously dedicated mother (overcome with maternal=20
instinct) could love. Proven-good and battle-tested, but it had me=20
wondering if lion-taming might be an easier career path.

   - The Big Dogs: Protel 99, now AltiumDesigner. I have an old P99 demo=20
CD kicking around somewhere... No doubt it's a very capable package, but=20
at the time it was WAY too expensive. I didn't even look at=20
Cadence/OrCAD or Mentor.

   - The Old Ones: Protel Autotrax and DOS Schematic, Tango for DOS,=20
Microcode CircuitMaker and Traxmaker... Nice-ish but basically no modern=20
features, 8.3 filenames, and usually about as stable as a three-legged=20
chair. This line of inquiry was terminated quite early on.

   - The Country-Specific Stuff: Popular in its home market, but not=20
necessarily elsewhere. Easy-PC, Ivex, Labcenter ISIS/ARES... Usually=20
somewhat limited, under-developed and with insane licensing policies or=20
astonishingly long development cycles (several years between releases,=20
websites advertising Windows 95 compatibility in the WinXP era)...=20
ISIS/ARES is the exception, but I still couldn't stand the UI.

   - The Ones The Hobbyists Like: EAGLE, EAGLE and.. well.. EAGLE. Cheap=20
(free if you're only making small boards at home, =A3150 for the Non=20
Profit License or email-address-required to get the equivalent Freemium=20
license from Element14, ~=A3500 for the Standard all-modules license).=20
Decent UI (if you like command lines and/or have a macro keyboard),=20
scriptable and customisable (one of these days I'll write some ULPs,=20
honest!), and reliable. I have NEVER had Eagle produce garbage Gerbers,=20
unlike certain other packages. It Just Plain Works.

I spent a few months learning the ins-and-outs of EAGLE, and if I'm=20
being honest, I'm still learning... It works nicely for the most part,=20
but grid snapping needs work (making the Follow-Me Router shape-based=20
instead of grid-based would REALLY help with parts on different grids=20
e.g. metric-gridded QFP and Imperial-gridded SOIC).

The licensing policy is pretty simple too. Puresoft (the UK distributor)=20
are great to work with.

I ended up with EAGLE because it met my budget requirements, isn't that=20
hard to learn (probably helps that I'm a command-line junkie) and Just=20
Plain Works.

> I have a few shop tools that never came off of the prototype plug boards
> and never will. They will remain in service until a better solution
> comes along.

Heh. I've got "quick hack" test tools that made it all the way to=20
stripboard (Veroboard). They usually don't go much further... "Design a=20
PCB? Why? The prototype works fine!"

If I'm commercialising a product, I will design a PCB though. Building a=20
bunch of stripboard-based products? That's masochism on a grand scale.

> I have a small audio amplifier that I bought from Olson's (1960
> something?) that I installed in the box it came in. It has been a very
> useful tool on the bench ever since.

I've got a bench amplifier somewhere -- a speaker, an LM386, and a=20
varnished wood box. Looks neat, and runs off a single PP3. A little on=20
the noisy side though, and the low-frequency response is abysmal.

Saves finding cables to hook stuff up to the audio amp though.

> I consider myself a perpetual student.

Aren't we all?

--=20
Phil.
piclist@philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/

--=20
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