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February 2009

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Subject:
From:
"Croslin, Robert" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>, Croslin, Robert
Date:
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:12:34 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
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text/plain (204 lines)
I'll agree with Chris.  We've used p-cad for almost 20 years very
successfully as our stuff is 100% analog in nature.  They tried to
migrate us over to Pro-tel some years back and we soundly rejected it
due to the clumsy schematic capture tool.  We're now gradually moving to
Altium since they've discontinued p-cad support, but so far, all of the
users consider the Pro-tel based Altium schematic capture "amateurish"
compared to the old p-cad tool.  We've done beta work with them for 8 or
10 years and told them this constantly with no satisfaction.  My lead
board designer isn't thrilled with the pcb package either, but we
haven't used it enough to get used to it, but I've got 15 people who
have gone from happy campers to grumblers.   Our FPGA guy is in love
with the development tool, but still hates the schematic capture part.  

Even a service bureau we use in peak periods has avoided moving to
Altium in favor of p-cad for the same reasons.


Bob Croslin
The Nielsen Company

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris Knudsen
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 9:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Questionnaire

Edwin,

Altium bought Protel several years ago.  They are now the same product.

Altium also iced P-CAD (www.pcad.com).

I've used Protel->Altium since 1995 for low-density & relatively simple
boards (it's not rocket science here, it's rock-science...).

It is _my opinion_ that Altium's SCH editor is clunky (always has been).

However, the PCB side provides a good bang/$ for a mid-range product.
You should also check out their FPGA integration with support softcores,
etc. 
It's intriguing...
-The autorouter & autoplacer are useless.  No matter what the glossy
brochure says, you will not get satisfactory results from either
feature.
-However, their 'Interactive Routing' mode (basically autorouting when
you use your mouse to point the way) is surprisingly intuitive.

For a listing of the current gripes (of which there are many...) go to:
http://www.altium.com/community/en/forums.cfm
The user forum is very active and the Altium support folks are regulars
(this seems to be a bit unusual for the industry...).

Feel free to contact me off-line if you would like some more info and
price-proof opinions.

Best of luck!

Regards,

Chris
www.ner.com
----------------------------------------
Chris Knudsen
New England Research, Inc.
331 Olcott Dr Ste L1
White River Junction, VT 05001

802-296-2401
[log in to unmask]
----------------------------------------

----- Original Message -----
From: "Liu, Edwin" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 10:52 PM
Subject: Re: [TN] Questionnaire


Hi Guys,Thanks for your help.All the softwares suggested by you are
listed below,Is there anyone be good at all the softwares?
Any other software need be updated?

PADS
Altium
Mentor
Cadence
ViewMaster
Protel
Pulsonix
Vutrax
pCAD-200x
pCAD Master Designer
Power PCB
Expedition


Thanks/Best wishes.

Edwin


-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Foster
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 1:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Questionnaire

If I was doing very large digital boards which required a lot of
autorouting I would probably prefer Expedition. For anything else  I
would go with Pads. When it comes to drawing by hand or handrouting its
hard to beat pads. Pads is actually a very powerful layout tool from the
standpoint of control of the design. Thats my 2 cents. But the only
tools I have used are


Protel
pads
expedition



-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Liu, Edwin
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 7:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Questionnaire


Questionnaire:

I guess that there have many engineers here,so which kind of software do
you like best to design the PCB?Why (Like as Protel,Power PCB)

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