I love the design explorer. When I revisit a design from a year or more ago, I can see everything I was up to at the time. Oh, I did 2 protos...Oh, here was production gerber set 2, etc...
I just got a call to change some hole sizes on a board so I called up and 'old' design, globally changed some hole sizes, went to the CAM manager and pressed F9 - voila! New gerbers were ready to go. I didn't have to remember squat! I'm glad the old "scattered-on-your-harddrive" approach is gone. You can still have it that way, just don't use the integrated DDB file. Tony > -----Original Message----- > From: Brooks,Bill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 1:54 PM > To: 'Protel EDA Forum' > Subject: Re: [PEDA] Protel usage > > > This examination of the Protel package usage is a good exercise... Protel > should pay attention to this. > > <rant mode on> > > My pet peeve with the Protel Explorer concept is that I have to open > everything, in a specific place, without any changes in the windows > environment, in order to get the design up and running to edit > it... I can't > keep my users from being confused about the stupid thing... I just want it > to go away. I want the option to disable the stupid thing and use the > program like it was in the 98 version... without all the bugs.. > At least it > made sense to everyone back then. Archiving files, Rev Control, > argh... must > be done manually anyways... with or without it. > > They have added a layer of complexity that was not wanted or needed... I > presume that it simplifies the desire to do their paranoid > licensing checks > over the network... but it provides me with nothing but trouble... no net > value to the company... > > I prefer a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) approach... One program one > function... Windows explorer does ALL that is needed to handle > organization > of files... PCB should read PCB's. Schematic should read Schematics, PLD > should do PLD's... SIM should simulate.. this things do not need to be > hidden inside an extra layer of hierarchy.. I archive just the > .pcb and .sch > and throw away the ddb file... the backups... the superfluous > junk files... > This is in order to capture the important files for archiving... I do not > use the 1 file for all files approach to Protel, I use the Windows file > system to keep the files out where we can see them... where we don't get > confused about which file is which.. and what rev is what...etc... > > The ability to do IPC-356 Netlist out or ODB++ file output, or the GENCAM > format might be useful... If it doesn't make our lives more > complex than it > has too.. > > I dislike what the Autorouter does, It breaks the DRC rules and > creates more > cleanup for the designer... I'm sure it makes sales though... > looks awesome > in the demo... If they ever did make it do what it was advertised to do it > would be worth the extra cash.... > > I don't do sim, signal integ, pld, 3D, The print manager is sucky... and > buggy... and makes me repeat the setup steps over and over with every edit > session I set up...the 3D implementation is a... not too funny joke... A > good translator to solidworks would be way more useful... The CAM > manger is > ... well could be better... still have to set it up every time... > > And the 'Microsoft' approach to releasing software before there is good > beta testing and debug... is just poor customer relations... Protel has a > reputation of being the 'Jack of all Trades' and Master of > none... and when > do we get to put our feet up on the desk like that guy who's in > the picture > on the box? > > <Rant mode off> > > As a caveat, I still like Protel better than PADS... (which truly > sucks with > terrific force...) all things are relative...after all :) > Still wish they had not used the Explorer concept as a required > option.. it > sucks. > > - Bill Brooks (don't quote me...I use sarcasm as a tool... lol) > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jon Elson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 12:34 PM > To: Protel EDA Forum > Subject: Re: [PEDA] Protel usage > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > The following is my usage of Protel > > - Schematic yes > - PCB yes > - Powerprint yes > - CAM Manager yes > - Simulator sometimes - still have great difficulty > providing models for > many components. > > - Autorouter yes - usually try it on every board, and usually > take the > best result from a few trials and finish/clean-up by hand. > I trick > myself into thinking I'm saving time this way, but I can't > say for sure. > - 3D Viewer no > - PLD tried it some, simulation works to test out > designs, but couldn't > implement any Xilinx chips with it. > - Arrange Components no > - Autoplacer no > - PCB Miter no > - Signal Integrity no > - Database Link no > > Jon > > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
