What can I say, I am an advanced pcb designer 🙂
How does PCBCAD51 control gate, pin swapping? Like, where/how are they defined?
Swapping what? gates, pins, position (x,y,side)
How does PCBCAD51 control gate, pin swapping? Like, where/how are they defined?
The software swaps two component positions and if the net becomes shorter keeps the swap. It does this with all components until the net is as short as possible. There is also auto-auto-placing where it keeps reorganising component positions and remembering the best permutation. It uses factorial arrays to do this and tries every permutation. There is also rotational auto-placing where it rotates components and finds the shortest net.
But I find swap auto-place the best and quickest.
Pin swapping can be done in schematic and PCB entry.
But I find swap auto-place the best and quickest.
Pin swapping can be done in schematic and PCB entry.
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And gate swapping? back to how to define pin and gate swapping? What can swap with what? how to control what gets swapped with what?
Auto tools are great if they can be controlled properly.
Auto tools are great if they can be controlled properly.
It doesn't gate swap, just pin swapping.
You input the pin numbers into a dialogue box that you want to swap, simples.
The swap auto-placing is fully automatic as it needs no user input, it just does the job perfectly.
Any of the 3K customers ask for logic gate swapping feature? 🙂
I once had a design using a 1152 pin Xilinx FPGA that we did extensive pin swapping on, so that we untangle the rats nest of connections. The swapping properties were done in an ASCII file. This was Mentor BoardStation. Some how I think using an ASCII file would be faster way to enter 100's of swap pin prop's than a dialogue box.
I have it up and going , its for this project.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analog-line-level/320015-doa-discrete-op-amps-2.html#post5398281
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analog-line-level/320015-doa-discrete-op-amps-2.html#post5398281
You can gate swap by using the pin swap function.
Because of swap auto-placing the swap gate function is probably redundant.
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This is marketing you know. They have stripped the Altium Designer and all hobbyists, schools etc. will have a professional software and they will also take market shares from Eagle.
As with the so-called 'mergers' in my former industry oil/gas, the real goal is to totally eliminate a competitor.
Eagle definitely was showing up on the radar and became a target.
I would never have signed a purchase order for a product that prevented operation without an internet connection. Even worse are the web based programs.
Actually using such software violates fiduciary responsibilities in most companies.
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The lower end CAD packages are squeezed between the status packages like Altium and the free tools these days.
KiCad is up to 12,647 commits today, not bad for mostly volunteers.
Professional users should be spending their money on their parts database with symbols, footprints and models management
KiCad is up to 12,647 commits today, not bad for mostly volunteers.
Professional users should be spending their money on their parts database with symbols, footprints and models management
That's what Protel did with the original CircuitMaker 2000 which they purchased and promptly closed down. Fortunately, the last version is freely available for download, a quirky move by Protel in recent years but not unlike what they did with the original DOS version of TraxMaker.
I'm not familiar with any of the programs you mentioned, but I suspect that the follow-on program is truly far superior to the predecessor, so turning the predecessor into free-ware is not a threat to sales, while maintaining brand recognition and goodwill among users.
Dale
The PCBCAD market is a strange place.
There are quite a few free programs that do the job.
Yet there are still plenty of paid for programs.
I have seen some rubbish free stuff but also some very hard to use paid for stuff.
So far no issues or problems. I have not emailed any questions.
Its all fairly straight forward, if I have time will do a pdf cheat sheet in colloquial english.
Building up parts a library. Running on an old Vista 2g AMD laptop.
I may buy a touch screen win machine today for upcoming cruise.
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Its all fairly straight forward, if I have time will do a pdf cheat sheet in colloquial english.
Building up parts a library. Running on an old Vista 2g AMD laptop.
I may buy a touch screen win machine today for upcoming cruise.
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Sadly your suspicion is about as misplaced as you can get. The history of pcb software, since the migration to Windows from DOS in the late 1980's, is replete with poorly designed and malfunctioning bloatware that has left many a professional pcb designer with premature baldness and a rich vocabulary of invective very often deployed towards the authors of those grossly overpriced products on which they depended for their livelihoods...
I use KiCad for my diyAudio work. I like the fact that it's free, I can lay out any board size I like, and I can use as many PCB layers as I like.
Yep, the only footprints I use are the ones I created myself, same as many people here.
I do use some of their schematic symbols, I'd estimate maybe about 30. Many other schematic symbols, I drew myself. A quick EMACS macro extracted their names out of the (all ascii BTW) symbol library:
# Jumper3mm
# LM334
# LM385
# MHOLE
# MHOLE_andpin
# MJ_555
# MJ_78XX_VOLT_REG
# MJ_BUF_HA5002
# MJ_DIODE
# MJ_EDCOR_TRAFO
# MJ_FEEDTHRU
# MJ_LED
# MJ_NMOS_GDS
# MJ_OPAMP_SINGLE_8PINS
# MJ_OPTO1
# MJ_PMOS_GDS
# MJ_Res_vert_zz
# MJ_ResZigZag
# MJ_SCHOTTKY
# MJ_SPDT
# MJ_Trimpot
# MJ_ZENER
# MJ_dual_pot
# MJ_inrush_current_limiter
# R10W_vert
# TL431
Why did I bother drawing my own diode symbol and my own Zener diode symbol? Because the KiCad presupplied symbols have ridiculously stupid pin assignments for these, the exact opposite of the SPICE netlist convention. 3 minutes after realizing this, I had it fixed.
Yep, the only footprints I use are the ones I created myself, same as many people here.
I do use some of their schematic symbols, I'd estimate maybe about 30. Many other schematic symbols, I drew myself. A quick EMACS macro extracted their names out of the (all ascii BTW) symbol library:
# Jumper3mm
# LM334
# LM385
# MHOLE
# MHOLE_andpin
# MJ_555
# MJ_78XX_VOLT_REG
# MJ_BUF_HA5002
# MJ_DIODE
# MJ_EDCOR_TRAFO
# MJ_FEEDTHRU
# MJ_LED
# MJ_NMOS_GDS
# MJ_OPAMP_SINGLE_8PINS
# MJ_OPTO1
# MJ_PMOS_GDS
# MJ_Res_vert_zz
# MJ_ResZigZag
# MJ_SCHOTTKY
# MJ_SPDT
# MJ_Trimpot
# MJ_ZENER
# MJ_dual_pot
# MJ_inrush_current_limiter
# R10W_vert
# TL431
Why did I bother drawing my own diode symbol and my own Zener diode symbol? Because the KiCad presupplied symbols have ridiculously stupid pin assignments for these, the exact opposite of the SPICE netlist convention. 3 minutes after realizing this, I had it fixed.
I have seen PCBCAD packages with 100,000 library components but still not have the component I wanted.
I would suggest a good component wizard is vital.
I would suggest a good component wizard is vital.
Rats! In my haste, I forgot to include my heartfelt praise for KiCad's Auto-Router. I use it quite a lot, yes even on analog PCBs, yes even on phonostage PCBs. Sometimes I don't change a single thing about its routes. Often, I change a few things. Occasionally I discard its work entirely.
The router is nice because it starts from whatever you give it, which could include quite a bit of hand-routing. It does not insist upon routing all nets itself, starting from a bare board. So I'll often hand-route ground (really, the beginnings of the ground pour), supplies, and a few critical nodes. Then let the auto-router have a crack at the rest. If I like its output: done. If I don't, I either discard its routes or discard the worst of its routes. The ones I don't like.
To me the auto-router is like a very fast but slightly dense assistant. Eager to help but sometimes, doesn't do exactly what I wanted. Still, the overall project goes faster with the assistant on the team, than without.
Using an auto router for some circuits is a big no no.
Especially where ground loops are important and you need to lay a star ground.
Generally though, I tend to let the auto router have a go, then go in and fix what its done.
PCBCAD51 gives you the option of routing one track at a time so I can route important tracks first.
Especially where ground loops are important and you need to lay a star ground.
Generally though, I tend to let the auto router have a go, then go in and fix what its done.
PCBCAD51 gives you the option of routing one track at a time so I can route important tracks first.
Because KiCad follows the IPC PCB standards. Unfortunately SPICe doesn't.
PCB CAD software has to prioritise pick and place machine expectations
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