I would be glad to challenge anyone who makes the statement that "Protel is
good for small boards" and provide designs to prove it. Claims like this
come from (in my very strong opinion) ignorance of never using the program.
I have used recent versions of PCAD, PADS and Protel and was afforded the
opportunity to evaluate Cadence. All have the capability, but I doubt if
you can design faster in PCAD, PADS or Cadence than you could with Protel.
Library management alone will slow your design down in any of these
programs. I will add that to compliment Protel correctly you should buy
the Spectra router, which you would need to purchase for any of the other
programs for larger designs. I have PADS and the new Blaze router but have
never figured how to configure it properly so I gave up on it for now. I
should not formulate an opinion that the router is not up to task, just
because I cant get the darn thing working. If any of the programs are
suited for small board it would have to be the "scalable" design suites like
PCAD, PADS, and Cadence. In order to design large designs with any of these
programs you may be looking at 30k in upgrades to make them a suitable
design package.
Personally I think your boss like most managers has never tried Protel and
has formed his opinion based on sales information that he receives from
vendors he is familiar with or he is simply outdated. If you want to see
a large design, one of the many I am proud to show off from this "low end"
design tool email me and I will be glad to forward you as many designs as
you want. We had one design that we had considered sending to PCD magazine
for board of the month.
I ran my own independent design bureau for the past six years and recently
found out that only one of the three design bureaus in the DC area were
profitable without government subsidies for design tools, mine. Protel's
cost was certainly a factor in helping me make a decision but ultimately my
decision to use Protel was made on capability. Compare....Cadence cant
even import any drawing package, compare PADS is still DOS code, compare
PCAD is somewhat better but cumbersome. The last version of PCAD I used was
14, a simple feature like "loop removal" , standard features found in PADS
and Protel was a $4.5K option, get real! Compare...import a netlist on
the fly on PCAD, or have a nightmare importing a netlist in PADS. I have
seen more designs hosed up with PADS netlist import/ export / compare/ eco,
its a joke. Seriously compare, but don't make a statement "Protel is good
for small boards" I take it seriously them are fightin words
Please feel free to call me or email me if you want my real opinion
Mike Reagan
EDSI
Frederick MD
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
301 620 0080 ph
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Protel EDA Forum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: [PEDA] Need your opinion about Protel & PCAD
>
>
> We have both (PCAD came from our closed California office), and they
> complement each other. Protel for small to medium jobs and PCAD for large
> jobs. I have not sued the PCAD enough to comment much on it, but my boss
> has and his opinion is that it is better for board layout while Protel is
> nicer for Schematic Capture. Communication is clean and easy between the
> two. Signal intergrity and Simulation for PCAD is the same as Protel (and
I
> mean it is the same program since PCAD uses the Protel Signal and
> Simulation servers). PCAD seemed to have better board documentation
> facility built in. What do you want to export to Word? All Protel reports
> are in straight ascii or Excel Spreadsheet. I don't do Visio so I can't
> comment on that, but the current Acad Support seems to work well.
>
> Protel should be fine for you needs, and PCAD will be more than you need,
> but leaves you more room to grow.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] on 05/23/2001 05:30:42 AM
>
> Please respond to "Protel EDA Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> To: "proteledaforum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> cc: (bcc: Rob LaMoreaux/DSPT)
> Subject: [PEDA] Need your opinion about Protel & PCAD
>
>
>
>
> Dear Protel users,
> I am evaluating the products Protel 99 SE and PCAD for our EDA s/w. I
woud
> appreciate if you could share with me your experience of using Protel 99
> SE, or Protel in general, for a. schematic capture
> b. board layout
> c. signal integrity check (schematics as well as post layout)
> d. simulation.
> e. Support for Documentation of the schematics, component layout and board
> layout, exporting to Microsoft Word or Visio.
>
> My application size is 1500 pins mixed signal. The digital part includes
> microprocessors and microcontrollers , FPGA, BGA package.
>
> Board - maximum 4 layers.
>
> Any comparison of Protel and PCAD also would be appreciated.
>
> I would appreciate your help. Please feel free to give me a call.
>
> Aslam Sherule
> Director of Technology
> 404-231-0021 x1279 Office
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> www.telemetrytech.com
>
> Posted from Association web site by: Aslam Sherule
>
>
>
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