Thanks for the straightforward answer, Ian! I usually find that my manual routing gives me the results I'm seeking, while the autorouter that came with Protel v2 through v3 did amazingly odd things.
You wrote, >You may find that some of >the very cheap PCB packages have better routers these days, anyway, that >could be integrated into your design flow. Which I find intriguing. I assume that I'd need to re-create my pcb component library to work with one of these other pcb programs. But would any of them work with the Advanced Schematic 3.2 netlists? Mike Elliott *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 11/14/01 at 8:54 AM Ian Wilson wrote: >On 10:07 AM 13/11/2001 -0800, Michael Elliott said: >>Hi all, >><..snip..> >>However, I do have the occasional small low-speed digital board I need to >>do and was wondering if Protel ever offered any kind of supplemental >>shape-based or more advanced type of router for PCB3. I know that they did >>for 2.5 and 2.8, but can't find any mention of such in the online manuals >>for PCB3. >> >>If they did, it might be useful to me. If anyone has a copy to sell (and >if >>it is within the terms of the Protel license agreement to do so), or knows >>where I might buy one, please drop me a note at [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >>Best regards, >> >>Mike Elliott > >Mike, > >They did offer Adv Route3. I bought it. It was not worth the price. The >router did a reasonable job on some boards and a shocker on others. It had >very poor copper sharing, so it would run a stringer from virtually every >SM to gnd and a separate pad even if they were right next to each >other. Then at other times it would run massive great power nets across >the board even though it was a multi-layer board (with internal >planes). These would block routing channels and it would choke. I found >in one design that was moderately complex that it achieved good completion >but required masses of manual clean-up to look any good at all and to >allow >a few changes. > >I have no idea whether I have already upgraded against this license >(Protel >would be able to tell me). If I have it is not for sale. If not I can >upgrade to the a full current suite on this license. So the price for the >router alone would be the discount between a full current version Protel >and the upgrade price. This is quite a few thousand. You can do a fair >bit of simple manual routing for that esp when you consider that you will >have to spend a lot of time cleaning up anyway. You may find that some of >the very cheap PCB packages have better routers these days, anyway, that >could be integrated into your design flow. You may also find that someone >with a copy of Specctra will run the job for you (for a price) - there are >companies offering this service. This saves you the considerable learning >curve and iteration I found necessary to get AdvRoute3 working. Or just >lay them out manually. > >Ian Wilson * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
