A few that come to mind are: Placing sch pins now allows incrementing/decrementing pin numbers WHILE decrementing/incrementing pin names. I've been wanting that one for a long time!!
Right mouse button pan in SCH and PCB. Mechanical component type in SCH...keeps some things from ending up on the PCB but still remain in BOM. Very useful highlighting/masking features. It really helps to trace things around the schematic and the PCB. SCH net 'Graph' mode which shows (very clearly) where a net connects using this nice looking floating graphic line and it works in a complex hierarchy. Navigator panel is very useful and far beyond the old Browse panel. Error messages all have live links to the design showing the errors. (PCB too) PCB polygon edit tools are a lot better. PCB dimensioning tools are a LOT better. > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Reagan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2002 7:58 AM > To: Protel EDA Forum > Subject: [PEDA] 10 best options I want > > > Hello All, > > Several months ago, We have all took our shots at blasting > Altium for DXP . I would like to hear some positive feedback > on the progress on DXP schematic. I am not sure how good the > schematic tools are, or if there was a big > improvement from 99SE to DXP. I would like to hear from > some of the > experienced designers out there about any real advantages to > switching to DXP for schematic. I work with a few engineers > that are eager to upgrade if > the tools have an advantage. Any inputs? (positive only) > > Second, 100 percent of my work involves PCB design. I sit > at my computer > on average 10 hours a day for 6 days a week , 365 days a > year. Since I am an independant design bureau , my approach > for laying out a board is very > systematic, no frills, and very efficient. My approach is > pretty much an > assembly line process. One of the assembly line tasks > that I find > myself spending time on, is fanning out components. The > reason I fan out > components manually are two fold: 1. No router ( Spectra > included) can > fan out as clean as I can. Clean = good via spacing > which provides > for open routing channels in both the horizontal and vertical > directions. 2. Manually fanning out allows me to inspect my > layout for discreet > components that are rotated or need better placement. 3. > While fanning out > , I also route critical lines. > With this approach, a clean fanout on every component, I > achieve a very high > autorouting percentage. Generally 99.9 - 100 percent. > So..........I was > thinking how to improve DXP ( since we wont see > enhancements to 99SE). > > We were using P-CAD several years ago to route Die on MCMs. > The Die pads were always fanned out the same. X mils away > from the die, bonding pads were all the same size, pads > spacing the same on all fanouts, etc ( same > rules applied to all die fannout ). We used an inhouse > software guru to > write a simple DOS program to fan out the Die. A real time > savings was realized. I came up with this new idea:. I > keep a separate lib called "my spectra " lib. It contains, > patterns which I use for fanout. I copy > the tracks and vias from i.e. component QPF208FAN (my > specta.lib) and > paste them to the QFP208 on my pcb. Presto I have a fanned > out part which meets my routing requirements. I repeat the > copy command as required, on > large boards it can take several days to fanout. If I dont > spend days > fanning out, I will spend more time cleaning bad routes. > I could create > parts in PCB lib which are already fanned out, but this > method is also more difficult to clean up afterwards and does > not allow removal of extra vias on > "no net" pads. While I have used the prefanned out lib > parts, and it > works, there are many other disadvantages to this method. > My proposed feature is to create an associated fanout > pattern ( in the fanoout library) that can be automaticallly > be placed or associated to > components on a board. Fanout would be automatic when > pressing the > buttom "update pcb with fan out pattern" , no crunching > required. It > can be done within a sub menu of the library, ie you show > the component > and maybe several fan out patterns you created to choose > from. You choose > from pattern A ( which could be fanned in ) , pattern B which > could be fanned in and out), or any pattern you choose to create. > > I would realize huge time savings , would any of you ? Any > comments? > Any comments from Altium? > > > > > > Mike Reagan > EDSI > Frederick MD > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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/proteledaforum@techservinc.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
