> While it is true that PCAD offers better Padstack capabity, it is also
true
> that adding a different via than is already being used to a design becomes
a
> programming task. It is also possible to accidently create vias which
will
> not have connectivty ( a bug in my viewpoint) I have used PCAD for
> build-up designs and we used 76 of the supposively 999 layer, however to
put
> it perpective, the same task in Protel would have only used 1/4 of the 76
> layers we used. The extra layers had to be inserted as work arounds to
> get either the padstacks or Spectra to operate correctly. An 8 layer
> design needed 16 PCAD layers to connect correctly on a build up stack. I
> find that very confusing. Its not a bad program, but after using it full
> time for almost a year vs Protel , I would take Protel hands down. I
had
> drawn up a list of about 100 bugs that we had identified before Protel
> purchased PCAD. I would have to assume that Protel has fixed at least
most
> of them since I last saw PCAD. Personnally, when 10K comes out of my
> pocket, I dont squabble over 2 K one way or the other, You really have to
> do a very thourough evaluation before you purchase any of these products,
> That includes looking at your own requirements, then taking the time to
> learn a program even if the time spent is just for evaluation purposes.
> Dont jugde any of these programs by their sales literature.
>
> Mike Reagan
Thanks for your observations on PCAD. I have visions of trying out PCAD 2001
(on the one month trial basis) when I can find some time (and at present I
am still creating code for an addon PCB Inverting Server for use with Protel
99 SE), but my gut feeling, at this stage, is that I will probably still
regard Protel as superior, or at least overall.
To get better value from my (one month) trial time (when I do start that), I
have already downloaded an Acrobat file that documents the PCB package. I
haven't read this in depth as of yet, but after skimming this, I recognise
some aspects of PCAD AD2.0, while other aspects are new or have changed (not
too surprising, in the circumstances). I could be wrong, but there is no
evidence to suggest that PCAD 2001 offers something similar to Protel's SDK
files. (PCAD AD2.0 did not provide something similar either.) As someone who
has used the SDK files to create customised Processes which provide features
not provided by Protel on an "out of the box" basis (and to make Protel's
person-PC interface better match my personal preferences), I personally
regard that as a major plus for Protel. (PCAD AD2.0 and PCAD 2001 provide a
Macro feature which has greater capabilities than the corresponding feature
in Protel, but this is still no match with what can be done using Protel's
SDK files. As one example, PCAD macros would almost certainly *not* be
capable of inverting a PCB file. (A PCB file probably could be inverted on
an "off-line" basis (using files saved in ASCII format), but that would not
be anywhere near as user-friendly.))
Ultimately, I think that which package is regarded as superior is dependant
upon the end user and, to some extent, upon their requirements. However,
there is no disputing that PCAD does have some features which are not
provided by Protel, though in some cases, such features might be provided in
future versions of Protel, and (time permitting) some features could be
provided (or approximately provided) by users themselves, by customised
addon Servers created using the SDK files.
Regards,
Geoff Harland.
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