Yes. I have.. In fact I taught a class in PCB design over at Palomar College using the Mentor Expedition Software. The interactive routing is as close as I have seen to what I think a router should be able to do. You could take a chip and drop it into a bundle of already routed lines and the tracks would reform around the chip as soon as you placed it. It's awesome... but their PCB editor is no 'piece of cake' to use...
Of course the Protel package is becoming less user friendly as it evolves too, so who knows what we will end up with. To me the user interface is the key to success. The technical wiz-bang stuff should be bullet proof and hidden from the user. It should work utility-like, and be free from traps... undesirable things that the designer can do to mess it up. We need a leap forward in thinking regarding the routing of boards... much like object oriented programming helped the software world, we need a programming language that deals with circuit connections in a dynamic way, by parameters, and rules, and in real time. Bill Brooks PCB Design Engineer , C.I.D., C.I.I. Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510 http://pcbwizards.com -----Original Message----- From: John Williams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 3:36 PM To: Protel Developers Forum Subject: Re: [PDEV] Situs Router questions ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brooks,Bill" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Protel Developers Forum'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 2:05 PM Subject: Re: [PDEV] Situs Router questions > I have always envisioned a router that would virtually route the board real > time and allow the designer to pick up a part and move it and have the > routing done a few milliseconds later flowing in around the part > dynamically, rerouting as you go... dragging a part would change the routing > in a fluid manner to optimized trace paths that followed the electrical and > physical rule sets. > Ah... but I am a dreamer. > Have you seen Mentor Expedition in action? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
