thanks John and others for your thoughtful comments how easy is the creation of footprints in PADs ? (the proper name for the current version is PowerPCB ? 5.0?)
when making SMD footprints can you do it from a data sheet without having a calculator in hand? can you make useful descriptions or comments in some footprint field? how is their copper pour? can you draw conductive lines on genuine planes? and lastly :) what about their DRC ? does it work? thanks again Dennis Saputelli John Ross wrote: > > Dennis > > I use Pads V5 here and the extra features indicated to you do exist in Pads > (although I think the Pads features are over emphasised a bit by your > manager to make his point). > > Mostly when people mention Pads they forget that PowerPCB (aka Pads) is > typically only a back end. > > Options for capture are PowerLogic or (other Mentor offerings) you CAN use > Protel (and your retained skills/investment on the tools) > > Pads is most definitely not, the solution to all things to all people. But > Pads, like everything else has its own set of bugs, hidden nasties and > caveats which you do not want to be landed with on Friday afternoon at > 4.00pm! PowerLogic is a lump of junk and its database is not compatible with > any other tools (except their own). > > Most things will take the same time in Pads that it will in Protel. So no > productivity gains, in fact a penalty in having to learn Pads again. > > But if you need to have a dense board auto routed or need to do some rip > up/relay on a dense board then you will save time by using Pads/blaze, > including training time, over the time spend to struggle with Protel auto > router or cleanup afterwards as the 99SE/DXP offerings are no where near as > efficient as Blaze. > > You can always save the pads file back to V3.5 and open in Protel later if > you wish. > > Protels capture front end is one of the easiest to use I have ever come > across (exception is Ulticap now owned by EWB), and has came miles in > development with the introduction of DXP. The layout tools in Protel are > good. > > As I mentioned in the DXP lists, I use 2 sets of back end tools, Protel and > Pads depending on board complexity and real estate. But I use the same > front-end, Protel, as a lot of clients supply me designs in Orcad which I > can open in Protel but not in PowerLogic. The decision at netlist time over > which tool I should use to be productive is back under my control (most of > the time :-) ) > > My hope for an 'all doing' front end for both sets of back-end tools lies > with nVisage (DXP) but the nVisage=>PowerPCB netlist formatter still has a > bit to go yet.... > > Hope some of these hastily gathered comments is of some help. > > Best Regards > > John A. Ross > > RSD Communications Ltd > 8 BorrowMeadow Road > Springkerse Industrial Estate > Stirling, Scotland FK7 7UW > > Tel +44 [0]1786 450572 Ext 225 (Office) > Tel +44 [0]1786 450572 Ext 248 (Lab) > Fax +44 [0]1786 474653 > GSM +44 [0]7831 373727 > > Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > WWW http://www.rsd.tv > ========================================== > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Dennis Saputelli [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 4:52 PM > >To: Protel EDA Forum > >Subject: Re: [PEDA] PADS ? > > > >we are about to embark on a large project for an outside > >customer (second spin, one year in rev, 16 layers, yada yada) > > > >we will be using 99SE and probably spectra > > > >in talking with the manager (a very smart fellow BTW) > >at our customer's place he said: 'I HATE Protel!' quite vigorously > >i said "Oh?" (pretty diplomatic i thought) > > > >he said he watches his people tediously draw track segments and > >then when they have to move something, rip it up and re-draw everything > >segment by segment 'very primitive' as he put it > > > >he then went on to say that he used to do this stuff and he used PADs > > > >he said with PADS he could pick up a fully routed and fanned > >out QFP and plop it somewhere else all the traces would remain attached and > >reroute themselves around obstacles very fast and easy he claimed, like a > >mini-manual-autorouter > > > >anybody know about this or have experience with newer > >versions of PADS ? my last look at it was probably in the 70's :) > > > >As DXP does not seem to offer any productivity gains which i > >can see we may be looking for another package > > > > > >Dennis Saputelli > > > > ========= send only plain text please! - no HTML ========== > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get Hotmail on your mobile phone http://www.msn.co.uk/msnmobile -- Dennis Saputelli ========= send only plain text please! - no HTML ========== _______________________________________________________________________ Integrated Controls, Inc. www.integratedcontrolsinc.com 2851 21st Street tel: 415-647-0480 San Francisco, CA 94110 fax: 415-647-3003 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
